Detective Kien: The Headless Horror – Review

In a remote early 19^th century Vietnamese town, The Drowning Ghost is claiming victims. This watery wraith claimed lives starting five years ago, killing locals and apparently “eating” their heads. Bodies are found, missing their skulls entirely. As the town mourns the dead and gives funeral processions, one body’s insides were found full of writhing snakes. Yikes. After eight victims stack up, the district remains on edge.

Moon Hai (Diep) writes Detective Kien (Huy) a letter, as her niece, Nga (Doan Minh Anh), has gone missing with only her slipper found by the river. She has vanished suddenly, and no one would dare to help, assuming the Ghost has taken her. Detective Kien rides in to aid her and help solve this baffling mystery. Moon is convinced that the Ghost is not the reason for Nga’s disappearance and spends all of her time searching for the girl, and remembers the detective from when he actually took down her own husband for corruption.

Nga’s father (Cuong) hasn’t seen her for five days or so, and gives very little to go on. The townsfolk also offer almost no clues. Moon however remembers a thief that broke into Nga’s room the night before she disappeared. Is this burglary and attack related?

As Kien digs into the locals, secrets are uncovered, and relationships are discovered. Small towns can only hide so much when a seasoned detective digs in. Can the pair of Kien and Moon find out what happened to Nga? Was the Ghost at fault, or is something even more sinister going on?

Detective Kien: The Headless Horror is beautifully shot, and well-acted. The serene setting of the past presents a gorgeous backdrop to the dark story presented within. There are many layers for Kien to unpeel, and plenty of character motivations to follow. The mystery’s premise is interesting and should give enough for viewers to want to see through, despite a longer runtime.

The main issue with this film is its pacing, as it trudges along too slowly and often reminisces with flashbacks of characters interacting. While it is supposed to add some drama and heft to the emotional resonance of the film, it really bogs down the trek which is already beefy with dialogue. It is based on a book, so maybe the script tried to jam in as much as possible, despite interrupting the flow of the story a bit. If you can handle a bit of a slower crawl, definitely check out this mystery flick.

Victor Vu’s prior film from 2023, The Last Wife, featured the character of Detective Kien in a smaller role. I have not seen this one.