Horror Hotline... Big Head Monster (2001)

Charming and brutal

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Version: Cantonese, with English subtitles (by SBS)Wow. Talk about a dull movie. I figured a Hong-Kong horror movie with a silly name like 'Horror Hotline... Big Head Monster' being shown on the SBS cult-movie time slot could not possibly be bad. All the other cult-horror movies shown SBS are generally pretty good. Maybe I expected too much, but 'Horror Hotline' is just a boring movie.The Horror Hotline is a radio show that discusses the supernatural. Several callers talk about a big-headed infant they've seen, and the Horror Hotline reporters decide to investigate this, when, naturally, everything starts getting spooky.I don't know why, but I just could not get into 'Horror Hotline'. It seems like it could be a great eerie horror film, but I just found it rather boring, and it left no lasting effect afterwards.'Horror Hotline' could be something that I'll try to watch some other time. I may even enjoy it if I'm given enough time between viewings. As it stands, I thought it was rather dull. I'd still recommend it to other horror fans though, maybe you'll get more out of this than I did - 4/10

Whilst not the scariest movie ever there are moments when even the most die-hard horror fan will be moved out of their seat.The movie moved at a steady pace and stuck to the well crafted story, as seems to be staple with these movies. And while 'Horror Hotline... Big Head Monster' might sound like more of a humorous, or that the translator might have had a late night before naming this one DO NOT let that dissuade you.The ending gave way to a very deja-vu Blair Witch feeling but not so much as to overpower the movie or even make it much more than a minute observation - If you can tear your mind away from the action.Truly a great movie in its genre up, even if far from the greatest - Up there with so many of the great Asian horror masterpieces.

The summary says it all. Any movie with Francis Ng in a large role (in this case, the leading role) can't be completely bad. This is the case with HORROR HOTLINE, which despite the silly title and even sillier ending, the rest of the movie is a terrific suspense/horror. Again, the only thing that goes against HORROR HOTLINE is its reliance on trying to ape THE BLAIR WITCH, but otherwise it's an effective and moody film.Francis Ng delivers a terrific starring turn as the host of a radio program while Josie Ho has one of her better outings as an American reporter whose crew is in Hong Kong doing a story on Chinese urban legend. But the only reason to watch this film is for Francis Ng subtle and yet chilling performance.Good stuff that may be ruined by a goofy title and being too similar to BLAIR WITCH.6 out of 10.

hong kong films are many things -but subtlety is not their strong point. even the most brutal movies from there seem to cram in a bit of silly humour-see the untold story for an example. here is something else though..... influenced more by the japanese ring series than any hong kong film this film starts with an american film crew making a documentary on a popular hong kong radio series in which listeners tell ghost stories. this time a man phones in giving details of a childhood encounter with a baby with a deformed head,kept in a cage near his school. from here the film and radio crew attempt to look into this urban legend and terrifying things start to happen....... this film has a genuinely unnerving atmosphere,some moments that will make you jump and a choice of 2 endings that are very much in the blair witch style. some people might be put off by the fact that a lot of loose ends are not tied up but that just adds to the mystery of it all. don't be put off by the silly name-this is a hong kong horror that really delivers.