The Maid

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For the Seinfeld episode, see The Maid (Seinfeld episode)

The Maid
Image:The Maid.jpg
Directed by	Kelvin Tong
Produced by	Chan Pui Yin Seah Saw Yam Titus Ho
Written by	Kelvin Tong
Starring	Alessandra De Rossi Chen Shu Cheng Hong Hui Fang Benny Soh
Music by	Alex Oh Joe Ng
Cinematography	Lucas Jodogne
Editing by	Lawrence Ang Low Hwee Ling
Distributed by	Fortissimo Films
Release date(s)	18 August 2005 (Singapore)
Running time	90 min.
Country	Singapore
Language	English, Mandarin, Dialects

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.

[edit] Story Outline

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 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 in the Philippines 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.

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.