THAT DEMON WITHIN/MO JING

China, 2013, 112 minutes, Colour.
Daniel Wu, Nick Cheung.
Directed by Dante Lam.

That Demon Within is an arresting police drama from veteran director, Dante Lam. Lam directed several police dramas, using the tradition that was established in the Hong Kong action thrillers from the 1980s.

This thriller is one with a difference, indicated by the title.It opens with a focus on demonic masks, a group of thieves wearing the masks and reciting a ritual to the Demons and stating that they would confront the police. And attempted robbery ensues but the police have surveillance and one of the criminals, after killing some police, is wounded himself and goes to hospital.

He is in need of blood and one of the officers knows that he has the same type and offers help. When the chief of police arrives, he is upset at the collaboration of the policeman.

The film is then the story of this policeman, a rigid personality, sometimes causing upsets in the areas where he works, being questioned by internal affairs and by psychologists. He becomes obsessed with pursuing the criminal that he helped, and suddenly finds himself in surveillance on the other members of the group. It follows with some dire results.

The internal affairs officer asks her sister, a psychologist, to treat the policeman and she hypnotises him. This leads back to his grandmother, his harsh police father, an episode where someone is burnt alive and he feels responsible. The psychologist comes to the conclusion that he is schizophrenic, hears voices, is dealing with the criminal he helped – but in his imagination.

Ultimately, the film reaches a climax with the policeman himself, the internal affairs officer, the corrupt policeman, police in pursuit as well as some of the criminal gang.

It ends with a fiery apocalyptic climax. However, there is a postscript in which there is a flashback to the childhood of the policeman, the work that he did, kindly, but there is the dramatic, fiery and explosive ending.

1. The tradition of Hong Kong police movies? Investigations? Criminals? Violence? This film in this vein, a different?

2. The city locations, homes, streets, the police precincts, hospital? Realism? Musical score?

3. Fantasy, the Demon masks and their meaning, the group and its initial ritual, against the police?

4. A film of imagination, mental illness? Dave Wong as a character, real and unreal, his hallucinations, his memories? The experience of the hypnosis and reliving his past? The diagnosis of schizophrenia? Hon? His father? The pursuit of Hon? The build-up to the loft, the drama, the chase, shooting, crash, his father’s appearance, the image, trying to save the policeman, his death?

5. The group and the planning of the robbery? The police, surveillance, the attack? Hon killing the police? His being wounded, going to the hospital, the encounter with Dave, the need for blood, Dave giving it?

6. The police chief, the others, their anger, on guard at the hospital?

7. Dave, his growing unreliability, his being moved on? In himself, single-minded, righteous, wanting to help? His sense of his own inadequacy, his scourging himself with his belt?

8. Internal affairs, the officer, concerned, worry? Dave in denial about his mental state? Going to her sister, the interviews, the hypnosis?

9. The members of the gang, Effigy and his being caught, fleeing, being pursued by Dave? MC, Broker, Rookie? The role in the robbery, the diamonds?

10. Dave chasing Effigy? Discovering him, Rookie and his taking the blind girl, the attempted rape? Dave’s confrontation, Rookie’s death? MC and Broker,
Dave and Hon in his imagination urging them to set up against each other?

11. The reports, the police, going to the loft, the grandmother and her illness, Dave and his concern? Internal affairs, the phone? Her talking to Dave? Broker arriving, the shootout? The corrupt policeman?

12. The mayhem in the shootings?

13. The corrupt policeman escaping, Dave in pursuit? The car, the explosion? Dave trying to save the man, consumed in flames?

14. The epilogue, Dave as a child, the fire and the petrol, watching the flames, people being consumed, his father? His becoming a policeman, his oath? Helping the old lady with the oranges?

15. Dave being consumed by his life and work? The title and the comment about latent malice?