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

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:

Broke the record for the largest production budget of any Taiwanese movie.

Movie Connections:

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

bio-terror, supernatural, or....?

Hey now, this movie is quite interesting and exciting up to a point, but then it loses steam or focus or...something. At any rate there are mysterious deaths taking place in Taiwan....one CEO freezes to death in his office, a woman is burned in her apartment which shows no sign of fire, etc. In comes FBI Agent Richter (David Morse) from Quantico, to help with the investigation. He is not exactly very welcome in the closed community and because of the language barrier he's made fun of while he's right there, but none of that bothers him. At any rate he finds an uneasy partnership with a cop that has some personal and family problems. He also finds that the cause of whatever is happening to the victims is somehow related to little pellets of some strange substance that affects the brain. Add to that some supernatural or Taoist beliefs and it leaves the viewer (at least, this one) somewhat confused as to what really IS happening. This is well filmed and the acting is great, but towards the end it seemed to all lose focus and and went all over the map. It's never clear as to what is causing all the strange murders; if it's some bio-terror thing or if it's merely a supernatural thing. Don't get me wrong, it is worth watching, but you may be somewhat disappointed with how it turns out, because it doesn't really make a lot of sense. Interesting to a point, though.