Safe Return Doubtful

Vietnam 2025 – folk horror, crime, historic

I can’t recall watching many Vietnamese films before, if any. 

On the face of it, this is a solid mystery story with hints of the supernatural. A Detective of the Judge arrives to a remote community in north Vietnam in the nineteenth century, the Nguyen Dynasty, to investigate a headless body that has been found in the lake, and that the local people think is a victim of ‘The Drowning Ghost’. At the same time a young woman goes missing, and the worst is feared. 

That brief synopsis in itself is not a reason why the film deserves to be watched. The scenery is spectacular, to say the least, as are the 200 handmade costumes. It’s a window into a way of life most viewers will know very little about; a reason to love world cinema.

IMDb score 6.6 / 10 – My score 8 / 10