Rule #1

Shawn Yue teams with Ekin Cheng for Rule #1, an entertaining supernatural cop thriller from director Kelvin Tong (The Maid). Beat cop Lee Kwok-keung (Yue) is shot in the line of duty but survives thanks to the intervention of a young girl's ghost. Lee's superiors don't buy his story, and he's soon reassigned to the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, a strange offshoot of the Hong Kong police force that resides in a dilapidated building. The department only has two employees; one of them is a creepy kid in a wheelchair and the other one is Inspector Wong (Ekin Cheng), a rumpled veteran cop who instructs Lee on the Miscellaneous Affairs Department's rule number one: “There are no ghosts”.

But, Lee believes that there are ghosts, and he soon discovers that Wong is a believer too. Rule #1 is basically X-Files meets Men In Black by way of the Pang Brothers. The film presents the idea of a small Hong Kong task force whose job is very specific and very top secret. The Miscellaneous Affairs Department deals with supernatural cases and hides their existence from the populace because, as Inspector Wong puts it, knowledge of ghosts and their powers would send the world “into chaos”. As Lee discovers, these ghosts are exceptionally powerful, and can move from person to person “like a virus”, leaving each host an empty shell. Things only get more difficult when a particularly nasty ghost shows up - and this one seems to have a particular interest in both Lee and Wong.

Rule #1 possesses a very intriguing concept, and director Kelvin Tong gets good mileage from the premise. Tong makes use of tried-and-true Asian horror style, milks his atmosphere and suspense smartly, and does the formula one better by giving his characters effective focus. Ekin Cheng is particularly engaging as the world-weary Inspector Wong, and gives his character greater weight and life than the script really allows. Cheng brings a lively charm and charisma to the character, and outshines his more prolific co-star, though Yue may have the more thankless role. The character of Lee is mostly skeptical and bothered, but Yue carries the film with a convincing intensity. For a commercial film, these are solid and even noteworthy performances, with each actor proving worthy of their star status.

There are some issues with suspension of disbelief. Rule #1 supposes that these cops are staving off chaos by performing their duty, but if ghosts really are as powerful and free as the film shows us, then just two guys are not enough to stop a possible undead Armageddon. Still, the horror film technique, sharp cinematography, and some effectively tense moments make the film gripping and entertaining, and Kelvin Tong’s willingness to steer the film into dark territory is particularly enthralling. There’s some frustration in how the film ends, but any lack of satisfaction is a testament to how much the actors and their characters come to mean to the viewer. Rule #1 manages scares, surprises and genuine emotions - and in an increasingly played out Asian horror genre, those are rare commodities indeed.