WATCH: The Maid (2005)

The Maid is a 2005 Singaporean horror film, directed by Kelvin Tong, telling of a maid recently arrived from the Philippines.

She has to acclimate herself to the customs of the Chinese Ghost Month, during which she struggles with supernatural forces. The maid is employed by a Teochew opera family, a family with many secrets, who give her a place to stay in their dilapidated shophouse.

The film broke the box office record in Singapore for the horror genre, making S$700,000 on its opening weekend.

It won the European Fantastic Film Festival Federation (EFFFF) Asian Film Award at the 10th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan). The EFFFF Asian Film Award is a prize awarded to the best Asian film of the year by the federation, of which PiFan is a supporting member.

It stars Alessandra de Rossi, Hong Huifang, Benny Soh, Guan Zhenwei and Chen Shucheng, a veteran actor-compere.

PLOT

During the Chinese Seventh Month, the gates of hell open and spiritual forces are set loose upon the unsuspecting world. Hailing from a small village in the Philippines, 18-year-old Rosa Dimaano arrives in Singapore on the first day of the Seventh Month to work as a domestic maid. She urgently needs money to save her younger brother who is ill back home. Her employers, the elderly Mr. and Mrs. Teo, appear kindhearted and sympathetic. Their mentally handicapped son Ah Soon also takes to Rosa immediately.

Between cleaning house and helping the Teos out at their Teochew opera workplace, things start going seriously amiss. Rosa glimpses strange apparitions at night and also has vivid nightmares. She finds out that there was a maid two years before her called Esther. She apparently has the same good relationship with Ah Soon as she does. That is when Rosa begins to suspect things are seriously wrong.

As she explores around some of the shady areas of the house, she discovers the burnt corpse of Esther, the previous maid hidden in a concealed drum and through a ghostly vision that Esther's spirit shows her realizes that Esther was playing with Ah Soon in his room two years ago on that same day of the Ghost Festival when he suddenly, though unintentionally, raped her on the bed. When the parents witnessed this, they prevented Esther from calling police so Mr. Teo beat her to the ground, bundled her up and poured oil all over her before setting her on fire, burning her to death.

Frightened by the vision, Rosa tries to escape but gets abducted and double-crossed when she is suddenly confronted by Ah Soon. She quickly finds out that Ah Soon is also a ghost

Cast (in credits order)


	Alessandra de Rossi	...	Rosa Dimaano
	Huifang Hong	...	Mrs. Teo
	Benny Soh	...	Ah Soon
	Zhenwei Guan	...	Wati
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Mohd Haizad Bin Imram	...	Mailman
	Griffin Chan	...	Accident Boy
	Shucheng Chen	...	Mr. Teo
	Airick Chia	...	Cyclist
	Celine Chia	...	Ghost on the Ground
	Tan Ooh Chye	...	Mahjong Player
	Christina Goh	...	Girl on bridge
	Cecilia Heng	...	Maid Agency Boss
	Li Rong Heng	...	Little Girl
	Chua Swee Huang	...	Mahjong Player
	Nur Awal'liyah Ja'afar	...	Ester Santos
	Lim Hui Kee	...	Mahjong Player
	Zen Law	...	Mailbox Ghost
	Tay Chun Lian	...	Mahjong Player
	Doreen Lim	...	Mother of Accident Boy
	Yong Kiang Ng	...	Mahjong Player
	Sunny Pang	...	Young Hearse Driver
	Tian Chong Poh	...	Kopitism Assistant
	Emmanuel Kevin Suraiskumar	...	Bayani Dimaano
	Johnson Teng	...	Father of Accident Boy
	Stella Tham	...	Maig Agency Office Girl
	Sarah Tng	...	Chinese Maid
	Chun Keng Wah	...	Elder Hearse Driver
	Gan Kim Yan	...	Bus Stop Old Lady
	Tan Hong Zhi	...	Boy on bridge