Mudborn is directed by Meng-Ju Shieh and the main cast includes Cecilia Choi, Tony Yang and Derek Chang.
TL;DR: Mudborn is a Taiwanese horror movie that mixes cursed dolls, traditional folklore, and VR technology, but the supernatural side ends up being much stronger than the gaming angle - it has some great creepy moments, a fantastic performance from Cecilia Choi, and enough nasty horror scenes to make it worth watching, even if the story plays things a little safe.
A Familiar Horror Story With Some Good Ideas
Mudborn is full of creepy imagery, old spiritual beliefs, unsettling objects, and the kind of supernatural problems that make you think maybe leaving strange things alone is actually a pretty good life choice, and the film takes a familiar cursed object setup and gives it a modern twist, but the traditional horror elements are where it really works best.
The biggest thing I liked about Mudborn is that it certainly understands the importance of atmosphere, spending time creating those uncomfortable little moments, and that slow build works well here because the movie lets you simply just sit with that feeling, even if the basic idea isn’t exactly new.
Horror has of course given us enough creepy dolls over the years to fill an entire toy store, and some of them probably need to be thrown into a fire just to be safe, even though they generally they come back (Hi Chucky), and Mudborn doesn’t completely offer much new with regards to that, but it does add enough of its own personality through Taiwanese folklore and its visual style to keep things interesting and watchable enough.
The VR gaming angle is also an interesting angle within the film, but it’s also the part that feels underused - the idea of combining ancient supernatural beliefs with virtual reality sounds like it could, and should have lead somewhere completely wild, but the movie mostly keeps that side in the background, even though there was a lot of potential in playing around with the difference between the real world and a digital version of reality.
But, Mudborn eventually decides to just become more of a traditional possession story, and the VR element feels more like the thing that starts the nightmare rather than something that continues shaping it, which does make the whole concept feel slightly unfinished, like the film has this really interesting ingredient sitting there but decides on only using a tiny amount of it.
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Some Creepy Moments
Where Mudborn does succeed quite well though is in making the supernatural side feel creepy, as there are some really good horror moments here, especially when the film focuses on small details rather than going for constant scares, and while there are jump scares here, they are spaced out enoughtwhich makes them work better, so when one happens, it doesn’t feel like the movie is just pressing a big red button labelled “jump scare”.
The film also has some brutal moments, and there is a lot more blood and unpleasant imagery than I had expected, with a few scenes that will probably make you feel a little bit uncomfortable at least, which is always nice.
Cecilia Choi
Cecilia Choi’s performance as Mu-Hua is really good too, where her performance changes depending on what the film needs from her - at one moment she feels completely normal and vulnerable, then the next she becomes a bit more unsettling - a lot of horror movies like this do struggle sometimes because the possessed character becomes more like a collection of creepy movements and scary faces rather than an actual person, but Mudborn still gives a sense of sadness and tragedy behind what is happening as well.
Tony Yang is fine as Hsu-Chuan too, but his character doesn’t leave quite the same impression - he works as the person trying to figure everything out, but he isn’t always the most interesting part of the movie, while Derek Chang’s Ah-Sheng is much more enjoyable, bringing some confidence and personality to the film, especially because he feels like someone who actually understands the supernatural side of things and every horror movie needs that one person who walks into a nightmare and doesn’t immediately look completely lost.
Could Have Done With a Trim
The main issue with Mudborn is that it’s longer than it needs to be, as while the movie has enough good material, it also stretches certain sections out when they could have been tighter - there are moments where the atmosphere is strong, but the story itself slows down way too much, and some parts could have reached the point much quicker.
The explanations behind the curse are also pretty familiar, as like many supernatural horror movies, there is a tragic history behind everything, which works because it gives the story some emotion, but it also means some of the reveals are easier to predict, but the folklore details do help separate Mudborn from a lot of similar movies though, as the film clearly has respect for the traditions it uses, and those elements give the story a bit more depth than similar films.
Final Thoughts
A solid enough Taiwanese horror film with some creepy, and occasionally nasty scenes, which ends up being a flawed but somewhat worthwhile horror watch.