Reviewed by: bkasten Date: 01/13/2005 Summary: Excellent, but quite disturbing... In light of Leslie Cheung's death, this movie takes on a slightly different meaning...which is why I went back to watch it. Leslie Cheung plays a workaholic psychiatrist who takes on a patient (Karena Lam) who is related to a colleague of his (always a bad idea). She claims to see ghosts (a rather common theme these days). The plot and the character relationships develop quite nicely with several interesting twists, and then a rather large twist near the end, with a very satisfying denouement. Some of the imagery in the movie I found to be disturbing--especially in light of Leslie's suicide. Apart from that, the movie is a bit creepy, but certainly not bone chilling scary. And ultimately the story is not as much about ghosts as "skeletons in the closet" and how we deal with them. Other asides, the sultry Valerie Chow and the innocent looking Karena Lam look just great. Leslie Cheung's (last) performance was great as well. Because of what Cheung has meant to me as a performer over the years, this movie, being his last, will always be special. But it's still very disturbing when juxtaposed with the reality and nature of his death. Apart from that, a good movie. Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 01/18/2003 Summary: To sum it up, 1. This movie is NOT ONE BIT SCARY. Believe me, I wanted it to be, but the more I wanted, the less scary it was. I know it wanted to achieve some scare, but it didn't happen. The scariest moment was when some guy hits Leslie Cheung's head. Does that sound scary? 2. I personally found the last part the best of the whole. I disagree that the first part showed promise; it was cliched stuff that you see in every ghost movie, nothing that I wouldn't have expected, and no suspense. I think the final flash back is very sweet, and it makes up for the dull beginning. I'm glad to see Derek Yee in the "making of." He is actually younger than Leslie Cheung but looks a bit older. But Yee is easily the more handsome of the two today. So watch this movie and be surprised or be unsurprised. [7/10]

Reviewed by: danton Date: 12/26/2002 another one of the many "I see ghosts" films that came out in HK this year, starring Leslie Cheung as a psychiatrist trying to help a young woman played by the fetching Karena Lam who is haunted and repeatedly driven to attempt suicide by recurring visions of otherworldly encounters. Not quite as scary as The Eye (a much better film by any means), Inner Senses suffers from never quite being able to decide whether to commit to the requirements of the ghost movie genre or whether to give the story a logical reason grounded in psychology rather than superstition. So the film ends up oscillating between rational exploration of human neuroses triggered by traumatic experiences and the usual "haunted house" conventions such as lights going out, creaky noises, and ghoulish ghosts. Production values are fairly high, and the two stars do a reasonable job with a script that could have benefitted from a few cuts, but in the end their effort is not enough to rescue the movie from mediocrity. Also not helpful is the fact that the script makes a 180 degree turn about midway through. Marginal recommendation.

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 12/02/2002 Summary: Not bad Actually pretty good in most places, a refreshing change for the last year or so. 3.5/5

Reviewed by: magic-8 Date: 07/23/2002 Summary: Silly and Predictable Ending Producer Derek Yee and Director Law Chi Leung team up once more for "Inner Senses," starring Leslie Cheung and Karena Lam. Following "Double Tap," Yee and Law tread seemingly familiar territory in Hong Kong cinema by taking their stab at a ghost story involving unresolved mental states and the workings of the mind. Karena Lam suffers from poor self-esteem and begins to see ghosts. She is sent to Leslie Cheung, playing a shrink, to shed some light on her problems. "Inner Senses" turns the ghost sighting into a defensive mechanism of the mind, as it plays tricks on those who suffer from mental illness. For most of the film, this plot device works well with the conflict between the mind's fiction and reality. Cheung and Lam stumble into the common trappings of a patient falling for her doctor. Cheung begins to suffer from the same malady as his patient, Lam, but that's when the audience can no longer suspend its disbelief, especially after Cheung gives himself some electro-shock treatment. Just as Yee and Law's "Double Tap" suffered from too much psychological pandering, "Inner Senses" also heads down the same problematic path. As with most Yee projects, "Inner Sense" has very good production values, including a full musical score. Law's direction is tight and fluid. The film moves along at a brisk pace, but it can't keep up with its own momentum to the finale, where everything falls apart. The ending turns silly and predictable. The let down after such good build up will leave viewers feeling gypped.

Reviewed by: MilesC Date: 06/29/2002 Summary: Disappointing The first hour or so of this film feels like a decent setup for what will hopefully be a more intense third act. Unfortunately, at the hour mark the movie detours into cringe-country with the introduction of romance and never recovers. Contrary to what I'd heard, this is not a scary movie. It has a few parts that might've been a little creepy, if they didn't feel ripped from The Ring and Kairo. The "climactic" ending is more ludicrous than anything, and I won't say too much, but in the end it comes too close to pedophilic necrophilia for my tastes! I didn't hate the movie. I enjoyed seeing something well-made from HK again, as well as seeing Leslie Cheung and Waise Lee again. Really, I just enjoyed hearing some Cantonese again, it's been a while. But in the end, I felt that the reasonable amount of promise showed in the first half of the movie wasn't nearly enough to overcome the weak climax and resolution. Still, at least it wasn't filled with bad comedy like so many HK horror films.

Reviewed by: reelcool Date: 06/13/2002 Summary: Surprise, I Think First, I thought it was going to be a "rip-off" of the "Sixth Sense". The lead actress, "Karena Lam", even says, "I see ghosts" to psychiatrist, "Leslie Cheung". After that's said and done, the movie is happily on its own, with its own twists and turns, and surprises. Check it out.

Reviewed by: trenty Date: 06/10/2002 Summary: A 9/10 movie. It has been awhile since I get a creep from Hong Kong horror movies. This movie maybe a good start again since those cheap budgeted "Troublesome" series. After watching "Inner Senses", I think there are more to discover from the Hong Kong horror movie market. The movie started out with a very Hollywood style, especially the opening. It seems like you were watching a Hollywood made movie. When you try to dig out the following of this movie, you will find that it looked like a popular Hollywood movie you watched before. Yes, it's the movie, "The 6th sense". Also, some parts of this movie you might find it looks like the famous Japanese horror movie "The Ring". Some viewers might find this is a clone of "The 6th sense" and taken some styles from "The Ring", however, when the movie goes along till the end, it created a horror movie of itself, in other words, it's not a clone at all. A great introduction by Jim (Leslie Cheung) describing many great theories of mind. Then, the direction changed to one of his paitent, Yan (Karena Lam), who started to see ghosts since she had a terrible incident of her own. And the finale was switched back to Jim where he has his own issues to solve before he leads us to the ending of this movie. A very great story plot is being executed by the director here. Moreover, the use of special/sound effects really give the viewers a new look to the sense of creeps. Although some viewers might find the ending is a lose one, but I personally think the ending reflected the theories told by Jim at the beginning of the movie. A not very powerful or surprise ending I expected but a solid ending overall. As to the performances, Lesile Cheung was pretty good in his role, he did executed his character very well as a therapist of Yan. A newcomer, Karena Lam, was also well acted here. She did provided the viewers her sense of fears of her character, I am looking forward to her other roles. Other supporting roles by Wasie Lee and Valerie Chow are up to their standards but nothing special from them. A must see for fans of horror/thriller genre, or at least a better film than those disappointing horror movies you watched a while ago, especially the "Troublesome" series.

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 05/26/2002 Summary: Pretty stupid Leslie Cheung doesn't make a lot of movies these days, so the chance to see his latest on the big screen was reason enough for me to drag my ass into the city on a Saturday. It seems like since sixth sense every man and his uncle can see ghosts, and this time it's new young actress Karena Lam with the dubious gift. Or is she just mad? That's what her family assumes, so they send her to see psychiatrist Leslie Cheung. The movie is probably less about Karena's sixth sense (sorry, inner sense) than it is about Leslie's own issues. The movie starts of promisingly, with some very smart observations about people and psychology, had me thinking "hmmm, good observation" quite a bit. Further good promise comes from Karena's acting, which I would say is pretty good. Things are obviously a little bit derivative of sixth sense, but the movie eventually peels away and sets off in its own direction. Which is where it all falls apart :(. The nice intelligent feel that the early parts of the movie show is quickly betrayed, as the interesting questions it promised to address are dismissed with completely shallow and illogical plot progressions. Characters are developed to about 3mm depth, and gaping plot holes leave a general sense of "whatever". All of this builds to a conclusion so stupid and cheesy that the positive feelings I had at the start of the movie were a source of great embarrassment. I didn't really like The Sixth Sense - I thought it was pretty shallow and dumb, and certainly overhyped. Inner Senses is much worse though. I haven't seen Visible Secret, the other conspicuous HK knock-off, so I can't say how it compares to that. Leslie is a great actor in my opinion, but not a completely versatile one. This wasn't a good role for him to take. Maybe Francis Ng could have turned the script around and given the character depth enough to gloss over the movie's flaws, but Leslie just isn't *that* good. I can't really recommend the movie, but then I'm not a big fan of ghost movies. I can't say it's particularly scary, but I rarely do find movies scary. At least this one is actually trying, unlike the usual horror-comedy hybrids that Hong Kong film makers can churn out on a budget of $5 and half a day's work. If you liked Sixth Sense, you might like this too. Probably not *very* much though .

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 05/15/2002 Summary: Pretty good I saw this movie in bits and pieces first time around and then watched the whole movie so it may of reduced the tension and atmosphere i could of got. This feels like a hollywood movie for some reason, which is good because hk movie makers are not good at thrillers. Leslie Cheung is back which is good to see. The film did not scare me but i believe it's because of my bits and pieces viewing i had first time. Paul Fox has said a lot so i'll leave it at that!! 7/10

Reviewed by: Paul Fox Date: 04/14/2002 Summary: A Creepy Treat For the Senses The ghost genre is familiar territory for Hong Kong filmmakers, but typically these stories fall into the low budget "Troublesome" category with green lit actors, cheap effects and even cheaper scares. While these films often tend to be quite fun, their sensibility leaves much to be desired. Thus filmmaker Law Chi-Leung brings Inner Senses to the big screen. A 'not so typical' Hong Kong ghost story that rides the line between psychosis and the paranormal. The director certainly knows what he is doing and while his style may at times seem to mimic that of the US blockbuster The Sixth Sense(1999), this is a film that stands firmly on its own. The story is about the relationship between a patient named Yan (Karena Lam) and her therapist Jim Law (Leslie Cheung). Yan sees dead people and lives a rather haggard life, Jim believes her visions are not actually the dearly departed, but caused by her own subconscious. The performance by veteran Cheung is outstanding and although Miss Lam's inexperience does peek through a few times, she more than manages to hold her own with the veteran actor. Given that this is only her third film, it is a safe bet to say one can expect great things from her in the future. Arguably Inner Senses is by far the creepiest film to come out of Hong Kong for some time. The tight script bounces the issue of paranormal vs psychological back and forth right up to the end. Some viewers may find themselves pondering over the issue even after they leave the theater. Additionally the director's use of lighting, sounds and strange images does much to enhance the eerie sensation for the audience. These along with an equally creepy score make the film work as well as it does in the genre. Unfortunately the later part of the film loses a bit of this flavor during a final chase scene, but not by much. For those in the mood to give their own senses a good scare, you won't want to miss this film. Overall review rating - 4 (out of 5) Review by Paul Fox Location: AMC Festival Walk Time: Tuesday 9 April 2002 5:10pm