Jiney (Race Wong) studies art, focusing on painting and does photography in her spare time. Jas (Rosanne Wong) is a close friend who shares this interest but Jiney is starting to become obsessed with death. Obsessed with a last moment, a moment of death in photography and even at one point shoots tons of photographs of chickens being slaughtered. On her own with no parental figure present, the spiral is turning uncontrollable for Jiney which may put her life and sanity on the line...

The question of who is molding who, in terms of the pop star cast working with the director, is pretty quickly answered in Oxide Pang's favour as no karaoke-scenes or montages set to chart topping Canto-pop courtesy of 2R is present. No, Oxide is here to mold HIS story and to believe in his tools, some of which fail miserably while others add up to an atmospheric, sadistic, emotional core for Ab-Normal Beauty. But first and foremost being a look into the damaged mind of Jiney, the whole setup is almost too classical as there's evidence of a psycho in the making. And it's a chance Oxide and writer Pang Pak-Sing possibly took in order to toy with our expectations but it's way too slippery territory for these two to emerge alive out of. We're also suffering through flat acting by especially Rosanne Wong and Anson Leung (playing a fellow art student). Blending intense, jarring shots of the evocative kind that doesn't scream re-cycled tools but these tools when also employing poor, basic direction signals bad things overall for Oxide's intentions.

But he stays with it, getting our acceptance later on as he brings to life the true emotional being of Jiney. The first, familiar steps from being scared of fascination to riding the fascination is shown to be connected to a childhood trauma (shot in old time film flashback style... probably the worst stylistic excursion of Oxide's). And the unexpected, possibly disjointed trigger for her is correctly argued to make sense as the mind can't be mapped out that easy by anyone. As I said though, it will take the tug of the heartstrings to flesh out Pang's intentions and have us forget his crap steps getting to that point.

Rosanne Wong's Jas becomes equally important to Jiney (and the very apparent lesbian love is handled with grace) as will her strained relationship with an absent mother. Especially at this time of distress where she could've tried to hide her inner torment but having someone to bounce emotions off from is often times a good hindrance for a downwards spiral. The previous nil-factor to the psychological horror despite a pretty dynamite-looking package begins to score points on the board and we side by the fate of Jiney to get herself up thanks to her surroundings.

It's a a testament to the style-heavy Oxide that he knows to play tender moments at a suitable emotional volume combined with unexpected, stylistic playtime with his camera and while the surprise turn at the hour mark stretches credibility a bit too far, it's welcome in the sense because we start to remember that we're still in a pop duo vehicle! We're also on board to see if Oxide can play torture horror and character-director at the same time and truthfully, the quite superb strengths outweighs the really supreme weaknesses as the circle comes to a close with fine dedication by one of the Pang Brothers. Very special mention goes out to his lead actress Race Wong who is put through one hell of a ride and answers in a fine way the call to anchor the movie emotionally. Now we know which brother who managed to veer of course but stay afloat. I'd rather leave Danny alone then and follow Oxide wherever he goes.

With her new found fascination for death, her girlfriend Jas (Rosanne Wong) finds this new inspiration worrying, even to the point where she finds Jiney swinging from the railing of a tenement building, questioning suicide.

With Jiney's new obsession, it isn't long before she has a mental break down...

With the loving support of Jas, Jiney is put back on the right track. Until one night where Jiney finds a mysterious video tape left on her doorstep. Out of curiosity Jiney watches it.

Jiney is horrified to see a woman being beaten to death by a man with a pipe. Jiney contacts the police, but the video tape isn't enough evidence. Until one night where Jiney finds another video tape on her doorstep accompanied by Jas's mobile phone.

Review: Ab-Normal Beauty shows that Oxide Pang can still inject fear into the viewer. I found myself shouting out at the TV "Open The Door!!!".

The film does take a different turn in storylines going from a young woman's obsession with death to the young woman being stalked by a mystery killer. This turn in story had a 'Marmite' effect on the audience - Some love it and some hate it.

This movie had a suprisingly fresh cast, Rosanne and Race Wong (aka Pop Duo 'R2') and Anson Leung have all been in the indursty for a little time but have shown they could handle the complicated roles they were given. A noticeable, but brief appearance was from Ekin Cheng. Ekin Cheng played the driver to whom was in the car accident at the beginning of the movie. This scene had actaully linked in with another movie made that year.

"Leave Me Alone' directed by Oxide Pangs twin brother Danny. Both Ekin Cheng and Charlene Choi were leads in that movie. One scene involed Ekin Cheng's character getting into a car carsh, killing a woman. This was the woman that Race's character took photographs of. I guess it was just another crafty idea from the Pang Brothers.

Final Thoughts - a fresh story for the supense horror genre, worth a look! Yet the stalker was predictable, well to me it was.

Highlights

• Scene where Jiney hears Jas's phone outside
• Jiney getting the first video tape
• Jiney swinging from the railings

The movie stars Race Wong (one half of the popular bubblegum pop duo 2R) as an art student who is bored with her life until she sees a car accident (apparently, it's the same one featured in Leave Me Alone, since we see Ekin Cheng for a few seconds) and decides to take a picture of the accident's fatality. She becomes obessesed with death, which begins to worry her best friend/girlfriend, who is played by the other half of 2R, Race's sister, Rosanne Wong (there was a good bit of controversy before the movie came out that Pang was going to be having sisters playing lesbian lovers, but their relationship is very tame; they don't even do as much as holding hands, much less make out in the movie). After hitting rock-bottom during a tumultuous weekend where she ends up torturing one of her friends, Race seems to have recovered. Soon after though, she begins receiving disturbing photos and videotapes that indicate a dangerous stalker wants to suck her into his own twisted world of death.

Like the Pang brothers' other work, Ab-Normal Beauty is a very solid movie. Even though it is slow-paced for the most part, the inventive cinematography and solid performances (especially from Race Wong, who earned a Hong Kong Film Award nomination for her work) help to keep the viewer's interest. However, the third act does considerably ramp up the sex and violence quotient (let's just say the film fully earns its' Category III rating in the space of about five minutes) and that might leave some viewers feeling uncomfortable, as it tends to feel a bit cheap and tacked-on. Also, the explanation of who the stalker is comes off as simply ridiculous, like something from a CBS movie of the week, rather than an entry from one of Hong Kong's most promising young film-makers. Still, these are fairly minor quibbles. Once again, the Pang brothers have come through with a picture that's not quite like anything you've seen before, yet still accessible enough that it should entertain most any fan of scary movies.