The Maid

Infobox Film
name = The Maid


caption = Official film poster
director = Kelvin Tong
producer = Chan Pui Yin
Seah Saw Yam
Titus Ho
writer = Kelvin Tong
narrator =
starring = Alessandra de Rossi
Chen Shu Cheng
Hong Hui Fang
Benny Soh
music = Alex Oh
Joe Ng
cinematography = Lucas Jodogne
editing = Lawrence Ang
Low Hwee Ling
distributor = MediaCorp Raintree Pictures
Fortissimo Films
Tartan Films
released = Flagicon|Singapore 18 August 2005
flagicon|United States 12 September 2006
runtime = 93 min.
country = Singapore
language = English, Teochew, Tagalog, Filipino
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.mediacorpraintree.com/themaid/themaid.html
amg_id = 1:353000
imdb_id = 0474791

"The Maid" is a 2005 Singaporean horror film telling of a maid recently arriving from the Philippines. She has to acclimate herself to the customs of the Taoist 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 spirits are let loose upon an unsuspecting world. For 30 days, the dead walk among the living. To protect themselves, mortals devise rules. Rules such as: Do not swim during the Seventh Month; do not turn back at night when someone calls out your name; do not talk to strangers on a deserted stretch of road. For Rosa Dimaano, all those are just a bunch of old wives’ tales.

Hailing from a small village in the Philippines, the 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 ill brother back home and ghosts are the last things on her mind. Happily for Rosa, life in Singapore cannot be rosier. Her employers, the elderly and gentle Mr. and Mrs. Teo, are a godsend, caring for her as if she is their own daughter. Their mentally-handicapped son Ah Soon also takes to Rosa immediately.

Between cleaning house and helping the Teos out at their Chinese opera workplace, Rosa experiences the exotic sights and sounds of Singapore to her delight. Then, things start going amiss. Glimpsing strange apparitions at night, Rosa soon finds herself tumbling into the world of the dead. Unknown to the innocent girl, she had unwittingly broken many rules on the first few days of the Seventh Month.

She finds out that there was a maid two years before her called Esther when Ah Soon calls her Esther while they were playing with paint. When she goes to wash the stains off, she finds out that she was being watched by another maid. She catches her at a supermarket and chases after her when she tries to escape. In the end, the maid tells her about Esther. When Rosa asked for more details, the maid stands up and says "You ask your boss", and walks away. That night, she asks Mrs. Teo who was Esther. At first, Mrs. Teo ignored her until Rosa produces a letter with the name, Esther Santos on it. Mrs Teo sighed and told her that Esther was just like her, good, honest, kind and helpful. She and Ah Soon were sort of "best friends". Suddenly, one day she disappeared. She and her husband reported her disappearance to the police and received the news that there are many girls like Esther who came to work but find a boyfriend and run away. Mrs. Teo brushes off the matter by saying that she kept the news from her as she did not want Rosa to end up like Esther. Though she was still doubtful, Rosa believed her. Mrs. Teo then changed the subject to Ah Soon being frightened by mirrors and threatened to send her back to Philippines. Rosa apologised profusely and soon the whole matter was forgotten. But it turns out that it was just one big lie.

As the festivities reach a fever pitch in Singapore, Rosa’s life turns into a nightmare. A mutilated boy haunts her. A faceless woman appears in the Teos’ house. Rosa feels as if she is losing her mind. Her employers urge her to bear with the sightings. But Rosa is uncertain. Someone somewhere seems to be trying to reach out to her. To keep her job, the poor girl has to stifle her screams and fear. She hears a noise upstairs and finds a key to unlock a door. A drum is making sounds and she rips the drum open and finds Esther's burnt body inside. Esther's spirit talks to Rosa and shows her what happened to her as she died. Rosa tries to run away but collapses and is brought back home where they tie her up and plan to kill her like they did Esther. Apparently Ah Soon had raped Esther. They killed her to stop her from reporting to the police. Ah Soon had also committed suicide after Esther's death. Rosa and the Teos have been talking to his spirit. Mrs. Teo tortures Rosa, trying to get her to agree to marry her dead son. The Teos' plan to hang Rosa. Ah Soon's ghost realizes what is happening and hits Mr. Teo, knocking him into some candles and is burnt to death. Esther burnts the rope to catch on fire and burn in two before Rosa is suffocated. Rosa escapes of the house but Mrs Teo comes after her with a knife. She is hit by a truck and killed. The movie ends as Rosa's maid agent brings her to Singapore Changi Airport. Rosa is carrying her luggage and Esther's ashes back home. As the automatic doors slides and closes, a reflection of the Teos' are seen.

External links

* [http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw14890.html Scifi.com Review]
*imdb title|id=0474791|title=The Maid
* [http://www.mediacorpraintree.com/themaid/themaid.html Official Website]