31 Days of Asian Horror: The Tag-Along (2015)
The Tag-Along is an adaption of the well-known Taiwanese urban legend, The Little Girl in Red. In 1998 after a hike, a Taichung City resident suddenly passed away and when family members viewed footage from the hike they saw that they had been followed by a young girl in a red dress, this led to increased sightings of the little girl and the legend continued to gain popularity. The insertion of the well-known legend connected with local audiences, and when it premiered it became a huge success. It broke the ten year record of the best-selling horror film in Taiwan (previously held by Silk in 2006). Executive producer Tseng Han Hasien stated that he wanted to make more than just a movie.
“I'm well aware there aren't many Taiwanese horror movies, but if no one wants to start, aren't we going to be stuck forever?” Tseng told The News Lens, following the release of the film in November 2015. “Taiwanese are too afraid of failure, and a movie not working out is enough to shake people's confidence.” (source)
I really wanted to like this movie, and it was presented as one that I would enjoy. I like slow builds because find them a bit more creepy. I want to be able to settle in the atmosphere trying figure out the mystery. While the start of the movie set up a premise that I wanted, it started to crumble as the plot got messy towards it’s finally act. There were some good creepy moments, but at the end the movie’s faults and a direction for a character I don’t agree with muddied my enjoyment. Because of this I’m going to talk a little bit more about the ending. Spoilers below.
The story presents itself as one way, with Chih Wei assuming the central character in the first act. While I did find it interesting to switch to Yi Chan being the main character when he disappeared, it really was only to set up what happens to her later in the movie and despite having time with her character, they failed to set up her character’s actions for the end. Because of this, it directly conflicted with the little we do get to know of her. The only time we get a sense of who she is as a person isn’t during this time. While yes, we do see her struggle to find help for her missing boyfriend and the panic and grief that she is juggling while solely taking on the investigation, her background is not hinted at during this time.
We only get know more about who she is and what she stands for when she is with Chih Wei. One of the main conflicts between the two is that he has bought a house for them to live in together, without discussing it with her. It is revealed during this that Yi Chan doesn’t want to get married and doesn’t want kids, a point that she has already discussed it with Chih Wei who still tries to force her in the direction essentially guilt tripping her into it by surprising her with the house, and complaining about how long they had been together. There’s no nod to regret or some secret she has because of her stance, the story presents her as being independent and that this is just a clash between the two with no hint for it to be anything bigger.
The problem is, we need it to be bigger. We need it to have more consequence and have more nuance, or the events in the forest fail to live up as anything other than character assassination to tell the main agenda. It doesn’t make sense to who she is as a person, the one given by the script, and ultimately forces the stereotype that a woman must have some sort of horrid past that is tormenting her for not wanting to be a wife and mother and it’s a sad pivot for her as her own being. In a way, that’s all her character ever was. To her boyfriend and to the writer, Yi Chan’s actions - both in her aborting the child and her want to not be married and have kids - were taken away from her at the end. It’s obviously not the horror the writer wanted to portray, but it is the one we got.
While the ending was disappointing for me, I do feel that the movie had some general good moments and has some good moments that I do think a general audience will find creepy. Hsu Wei Ning did well within her role, bringing a lot to it. While I hated the way the reveal happened in the forest, her emotions are raw and honest and she really did well to keep up the weight of the movie (Wei Ning was just recently in Victims’ Game, a crime series currently streaming on Netflix, if you want to see more of her work I suggest giving that a look). I also think using the legend of the Little Girl in Red was an interesting take on the movie. It didn’t follow some of the main stories about the little girl, but took what was scary about her to create more of the mystery and I do see where a lot of the local audiences can connect with the story. Even if you don’t know a friend of a friend who had seen the girl, growing up hearing the legend helps you immerse yourself in the world because of that connection. The graphics were ok and while standard and overused, had some fun creepy moments. I think in general people will find this a pretty good movie and it is certainly not my least favorite despite my issues. The story did keep me guessing and the overall tone made it a mostly enjoyable watch. Combine that with Ning’s performance it was pretty decent till almost the end.
There is a 2017 sequel with both of the main actors returning to their role, and another movie in the series that focuses on a completely different legend. The sequel was a massive success, overtaking the original and becoming the highest-grossing local horror film of the past decade.
The Tag-Along is currently streaming on Tubi and AsianCrush.
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