Bunshinsaba | |
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Directed by | Ahn Byeong-ki |
Produced by | Pei Lin |
Screenplay by |
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Starring | |
Music by | Jeong Yong-jin |
Cinematography | Choi Sang-muk |
Edited by | Hahm Sung-won |
Release date
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Running time
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92 minutes |
Country | China |
Language | Mandarin |
Box office | US$9.93 million |
Bunshinsaba (simplified Chinese: 笔仙; traditional Chinese: 筆仙; pinyin: Bĭxiān) is a 2012 Chinese horror film directed by Ahn Byeong-ki." The film has the same title as Ahn Byeong-ki 2004 film Bunshinsaba, but contains an unrelated plot. The film is set in Beijing, where Xiao Ai (Mei Ting) has her horror novel rejected by her patient publisherfinds out her ex-husband, Qi Kun (Wu Chao), has been released from prison and is looking for Xiao Ai and her asthmatic son Xiao Xin (Zhu Jiangdi). Xiao Ai and Xiao Xin are offered an old house by her doctor where unexplainable events begin to happen.
A struggling novelist, Xiao Ai, has her horror novel rejected by her publisher. When her publisher notifies her that her husband, Qi Kun, who was imprisoned on charge of domestic abuse, has been released from prison, Xiao Ai decides to pack things up and move alongside her asthmatic son, Xiao Xin to a remote mansion owned by her friend and Xiao Xin's doctor, Yinan. Xiao Ai finds several cut-out photos of a girl and her mother inside a wardrobe, while Xiao Xin discovers a rag doll outside the mansion and takes an instant liking to it. Xiao Ai feels that ever since her son took the doll, the girl who is presumably the owner of the doll terrorizes her and makes Xiao Xin acts unnatural, though he claims that the girl is afraid of her abusive mother. During one of her attempts to write a draft, Xiao Ai finds that a story has been written in her laptop, seemingly by no one, and which updates itself every day. The story matches the tale told by Xiao Xin: a girl who was abused by her mother after her father left them.
Despite repeated attempts to dispose of the doll, it always materializes back and returns to Xiao Xin's possession. The hauntings grow increasingly violent and malevolent, with Xiao Ai becoming even more paranoid and worried because of Xiao Xin's claims about the girl and her mother, until one day, Xiao Xin goes missing. Yinan calls the authorities to search for Xiao Xin. Xiao Ai also learns that the previous occupants of the mansion were a girl and her mother as per the story, and that the mother killed her daughter and herself when she could not take the pains of her husband leaving her. However, a rumor goes that the girl escaped the incident alive and was brought up in an orphanage. During the search, Qi Kun manages to reach the mansion and demands that Xiao Ai tells him the whereabouts of their son until Yinan stops him. Qi Kun informs Yinan that he had researched of Xiao Ai's background and learned that she was raised in an orphanage while being diagnosed with amnesia and asthma. Xiao Ai, meanwhile, sustains a head injury and is taken to the hospital by Yinan and Qi Kun, but along the way the car crashes off. Xiao Ai heads back to the mansion immediately.