23:59

Gilbert Chan

National service is a rite of passage for every Singaporean male and it comes replete with stories about haunted camps and unclean training grounds.

Among the most famous is the one about the bunk with the extra door at the Pulau Tekong camp, perhaps the result of a route march that chillingly ends in tragedy. Given the wealth of material out there, it is disappointing that this film did not do a better job of assimilating those tales into a coherent whole. And despite some creepy atmospherics, the slow-moving flick never quite gathers enough momentum to be truly unsettling.

As for the titular 23:59, writer-director Gilbert Chan points to it as the most potent time for a person to die as his or her spirit will then return to haunt the living. Unfortunately, this promising germ of an idea is never fully exploited. Instead, we get a largely Malaysian cast acting out various soldier stereotypes while Mark Lee (above left) plays the superstitious sergeant, a variation of his Hokkien Beng persona.

By the time the movie wanders into full-on demon-exorcism mode, it almost feels campy rather than horrific.

(ST)