Shuang tong (2002)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Kuo-fu Chen

Writers:

Kuo-fu Chen (writer)
Chao-Bin Su (writer)

Release Date:

25 October 2002 (Taiwan)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

There Is Only What You Believe.

Plot:

An FBI Agent pairs with a troubled Taiwan cop to hunt for a serial killer who's embedding a mysterious fungus in the brains of victims. |

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Taiwan | Serial Killer | Karma | Taoism

Awards:

1 win & 9 nominations

Cast

Tony Leung Ka Fai	...	Huang Huo-tu
David Morse	...	Kevin Richter
Rene Liu	...	Ching-fang
Leon Dai	...	Li Feng-bo
Kuei-Mei Yang	...	Coroner
Sihung Lung	...	Taoist Expert
Brett Climo	...	Serial Killer
Wei-Han Huang	...	Mei-Mei
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Han Chang	...	Detective Chang
Han Lin
David Newell	...	FBI Agent
David Ross Paterson	...	FBI Agent (as David Paterson)
Doug Penty	...	CNN Journalist
Angus McLaren	...	St. Louis Murder Victim (uncredited)

Directed by
Kuo-fu Chen

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kuo-fu Chen		writer
Chao-Bin Su		writer

Produced by
Kuo-fu Chen	....	executive producer
Kuo-fu Chen	....	producer
Rita Fung	....	line producer
Chih-ming Huang	....	producer
Ricky Strauss	....	associate producer
Te-Sheng Wei	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Sin-yun Lee

Cinematography by
Arthur Wong

Film Editing by
Kuo-fu Chen
Te-Sheng Wei

Casting by
Jia-fung Kuo
Shiu-lan Lee

Art Direction by
Silver Cheung
Ringo Fung
Eddie Wong
Timmy Yip

Set Decoration by
Ringo Fung
Eddi Wong

Costume Design by
Angelo Castilho
Timmy Yip

Makeup Department
Paul Katte	....	special makeup effects supervisor: Make-up Effects Group
Nick Nicolaou	....	special makeup effects supervisor: Make-up Effects Group

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chi-shiang Lin	....	first assistant director
Sherrie Liu	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Milo Angel	....	graphic artist

Sound Department
Thanos Kazakos	....	sound re-recording mixer: English dub
Andrew Neil	....	sound
Paul Pirola	....	sound
Shiang-Chu Tang	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Kevin Chisnall	....	special effects supervisor
Paul Katte	....	special effects makeup
Nick Nicolaou	....	special effects makeup

Visual Effects by
Paul Buckley	....	lead 3D animator
Mark Dickson	....	digital compositor
Mike Dunn	....	3D animator
Alan Fairlie	....	digital compositor
Aaron Gardiner	....	3D animator
Michael Gracey	....	digital compositor
Ineke Majoor	....	visual effects producer
Ellie Meure	....	digital compositor
Bruce Phillips	....	visual effects supervisor
Peter Webb	....	visual effects supervisor

Stunts
Tony Leung Siu Hung	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Saeed Adyani	....	still photographer
Raymond Lam	....	Steadicam operator
Jamie Leckie	....	assistant grip: Australia
Jimmy Wong	....	Steadicam operator

Other crew
Sharon Kahn	....	unit publicist
Peggy Lee	....	production controller

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia
• Nan Fang Film Productions

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia (2002) (worldwide) (all media)
• Columbia TriStar Italia (2003) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures
• Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International
• ERA Home Entertainment (2003) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Nelonen (2007) (Finland) (TV)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) (USA)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2003) (Finland) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Makeup Effects Group Studio
• Phenomena at AAV

Other Companies

• Arrow Cinematic Group  lighting equipment supplied by
• Atlab  digital film scanning
• Cinevex  film processing
• Mandarin Laboratory (International) Ltd.  subtitles
• Props Company  firearms
• Salon Films  camera equipment supplied by
• Soundfirm  post-production sound services
• Tai Fung (Tsu's) Co. Ltd.  film stock supplied by: Fujifilm

Also Known As:

Double Vision (USA)
Doble visión (Argentina) (video title) (Spain) [es]
Doppelt gesehen (Austria) [de]
Double Vision (Finland) (DVD title) [fi]
Double Vision - Fünf Höllen bis zur Unsterblichkeit (Germany) (DVD box title) [de]
Double vision - rituaalimurhaajan katse (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Eglimata se dipli diastasi (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
Ilusão de Morte (Brazil) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence/gore.

Runtime:

Argentina:112 min | France:110 min (Cannes Film Festival) | Japan:113 min

Country:

Taiwan | Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Hokkien | English

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-18 | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:18 | UK:18 | Hong Kong:III | Argentina:13 | Denmark:15 | Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:R | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia

Trivia:

The shot of Ching-fang (Rene Liu) riding the scooter with her daughter required 27 takes.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'Double Vision' (2002) (TV)

Slick serial killer horror

Stylish hybrid of serial killer and supernatural horror flicks is well shot and fairly slick, with mostly good acting and some mild suspense. Tony Leung Kar-fei is soulful and very effective as the troubled police officer who is partnered up with FBI agent David Morse. While usually a fine actor, Morse seems out of synch with the rest of the cast--which seems appropriate for his character, at least initially, since he is the unwanted lone American lending his expertise to resentful Chinese police. Unfortunately, as is usually the case with English language characters in Hong Kong movies, his dialogue sucks and the director doesn't seem to have a clue of how to direct his non-Chinese cast member. The murders are kind of ridiculous, colorful but impossible unless the supernatural is involved, making the movie's early attempts to provide a scientific basis for the deaths seem like a ludicrous waste of time. Still, Double Vision is fairly creepy and effective for most of it's length, building to a shockingly violent confrontation in a Taoist Temple that was constructed within the walls of normal looking office building. The scene is good but would have been even more effective without several obvious and not very good computer effects that are both unnecessary and distracting. (Why do a decapitation with a computer effect and make it look like something out of a Playstation game when old fashioned make-up effects look so much better?) Unfortunately after this scene Double Vision goes completely off the rails, going on for an unnecessary twenty minutes more filled with trippy effects and seemingly endless scenes that make no sense. All in all this one's more than worth a look, but it could have been a lot better.