Director: Cheng Wei-Hao
Notable Cast: River Huang, Tiffany Hsu, Yin-Shang
Liu, Yumi Wong, Chang Pai-Chou, Mario Pu, Pai Ming-Hua, Mei-Man Jin, Basang
Yawei
It wasn’t until the third film in the franchise that I
started to pay attention, but when I finally looked up a way to watch The
Tag-Along my curiosity was full-blown. Not only was this Taiwanese horror
flick well regarded in my horror circles (at least to the degree to pique my
interest), it was - at the time of its release - the highest-grossing horror
film in Taiwan. Although the film has seemingly floundered to find a mass
audience outside of its home, The Tag-Along is a remarkably adept horror
experience that blends its culturally ripe urban myth concept with classic
ghost story thrills into an atmospheric, jump scare littered ride. Don’t assume
it’s just another Ring knockoff. The Tag-Along hangs on with some
fascinating depth and still delivers the scares.
When so many ghost stories are birthed from older urban
legends or stories from historical texts, it’s always somewhat refreshing to
hear a relatively modern one. Usually, when they occur, it’s because a film is
attempting to cash in on the 15 minutes of internet fame of a new ‘creepypasta’
trend, ala Slenderman. The Tag-Along, however, is a blend of the
two. The origin of the urban myth only kicks back to the 1990s when a video
featuring a little girl in a red dress following some hikers was discovered, went
viral online, and then created entire new “experiences” of people seeing the
‘tag along spirit.’ It’s just intriguing enough in its unusualness to perk
interest and yet vague enough to be imbued with layered meaning for artists to
use.
This is where this 2015 franchise starter exists. The
Tag-Along tells the story of a young couple trying to find their path in
modern Taiwan through balancing schedules, family obligations, and the choices
in moving forward in their relationship. It’s only when their elderly neighbor
disappears and his grandmother quickly follows suit, that the two realize
something has befallen their lives that aims to pull them from their urban
lives and back to the dense forests that surround them.
Although the initial premise might seem like the usual post-Ring/Grudge
Asian ghost story, what director Cheng Wei-Hao is working with here feels
different. The lessons from those films, particularly in their fluidity of
story and atmospheric dread, are met with a relatively fresh injection of James
Wan's The Conjuring influence to balance the atmosphere out with a
mainstream jump scare tone. Whether it’s the long takes that establish the use
of its urban and forested settings or how the film will use the classic ‘ghost
pops up from off-frame while shrill music plays’, The Tag-Along has both
and it remixes it in a way that works on both ends.
The CGI for the ghosts is not the best (even by 2015
standards it can be pretty janky) and it ends up being one of the bigger
obstacles that the film must overcome, particularly in how it regularly shows
its ghosts in full. When the film is blending the CGI with more practical
effects, it works the best, but the fact that Cheng Wei-Hao isn’t afraid to
show it deserves some respect.
Yet, despite its solid scares, it’s the themes and
characters that make The Tag-Along the surprisingly effective horror
movie that it is. It regularly throws some spins into the script that will keep
its audience on their toes, including a shift of perspective that pops up about
halfway through the film that reveals who the real protagonist is for the
story. This aligns with the film’s themes around family, the fear of the future
based on the past, and a rather fascinating dynamic between its urban setting
and ghosts from the forest. The manner that the film manipulates the meaning of
the ghost, morien as it’s defined in the opening, to fit each of the characters
or greater themes from scene to scene is wildly impressive. For a film that
found so much mainstream success, there is a sense of layering that puts it up
there with some of the best of its peers.
The Tag-Along became a cultural phenomenon in Taiwan
leading to two sequels thus far and, to my surprise, it’s totally worth it and
deserves the attention. The performances are sturdy to keep the story grounded,
but the scares and themes of the film lift it up to the next level. It isn’t
perfect, thanks to some cheesy CGI and a few dropped subplots, but the overall
effectiveness of The Tag-Along definitely has me following this
franchise like a ghost latched onto a hiking trip.
Very excited to hit play on the sequel.
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