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The requirement that horror/ghost movies should always have a logical explanation has often helped push the genre into areas unexplored by conventional Asian chillers that focus simply on shocks and visual effects at the expense of character and motivation. Sometimes the explanation is just a coda with a doctor or policeman making a speech; in more adventurous movies, the plot itself incorporates psychological elements that prove just as interesting as the scares. Without overrating The Deadly Strands -the second suspense drama by sibling directors Zhao Xiaoxi and Zhao Xiao\'ou following Invisible Connection - there\'s at least a theme running through the film: the need to keep a family together even when ambition and animosity are tearing it apart.
Well cast, and with sleek, cool photography by Xu Wei , Strands is an above-average entry in China\'s current horror boom that keeps the pot of suspicion bubbling in an entertaining way and even makes reasonable sense at the end. It\'s not especially scary but the twisty-turny plot is more than just a by-the-numbers murder mystery.
Deadly female hair has been a longtime staple of Asian horrors - during the past decade, from South Korean director Won Shin-yun\'s The Wig, through Japanese director Sono Sion\'s Exte: Hair Extensions , to the first episode of Thai anthology 3AM 3D and so it is (kind of) here. The film\'s production title was The Wig, and as various victims receive one from an anonymous donor you just know things are going to end badly for them. Strands, however, doesn\'t focus on the fetishistic angle; in fact, The Wig is more of a MacGuffin here than a major plot component. The film\'s true centre is how one man\'s ambition and philandering is wrecking his family.
As the radio celebrity who\'s already had one wife commit suicide and wants to keep the death of his second one hushed up, Leon Dai is well cast and reins back his frequent tendency to overplay. Kong Qianqian is a strong presence as his unlikeable, equally ambitious daughter, while Liang Jing pops up effectively in flashbacks as the late first wife. Chen Kun lookalike Zak zhai credited as a co-writer - looks the part of the family\'s hairdresser son, and seems comfortable opposite Kong, with whom he\'s already made two screamers. Most flavoursome, however, in a smaller role, is singer-actress Zhang Yao , as the son\'s nanny confidante.