The Supernatural Events on Campus (2013) – Chinese Horror Film Review

The Supernatural Events on Campus (Xiao Hua Gui Yi Shi Jian) is a Chinese horror film starring Zhao Yihuan. Well-known in China, she is a popular actress and model.

The name of the film is misleading. It suggests most of the action will occur on a school campus. It doesn’t. Although the opening scenes are shot on campus, once you are three minutes into the film, the school is left behind. There are also a few flashback sequences towards the end of the film but school and school life play a minor role in the story and, although there are plenty of supernatural events throughout the film, only one happens on campus. Most of the film is set in a remote inn deep in a valley. It looks like the kind of place Count Dracula would call home if he ever decided to move to China.

The film opens with a few shots of campus and quickly introduces Susu (Zhao Yihuan), the school beauty. As she is walking through the campus, Susu rushes to catch up with a girl in front of her and then touches her shoulder to attract her attention. The figure that turns to face Susu is not a girl. It’s an old woman with white eyes.

The scene certainly has shock factor, but it doesn’t tie in well with the rest of the film. The next scene shows Susu walking alone in the mountains. Unfortunately, there has recently been a flash flood that has damaged the highway and sealed the mountain pass. It will take a week to clear it. Forced to change her plans, Susu looks down into the foggy valley below her, sees a large, gothic building and heads towards it. When she gets there, she sees a sign saying Safety Inn and goes inside to request a room.

To say the hotel looks dated inside would be an understatement. It’s like something from another era and the “Boss” wants 90 yen per night plus a 50 yen deposit. Susu tries to haggle but Boss is firm about the price. However, when she turns to leave, she is stopped by a woman who identifies herself as the landlady. She seems unusually keen for Susu to stay and eventually lets her have a room for 60 yen per day.

Landlady says she only has one room left. The inn is full because so many people have been stranded due to the flood. However, it quickly becomes apparent the inn is anything but full. The next day, at breakfast, there are only three other guests, Lu Miao, her boyfriend Yang Dong, and Lin Feng, who is a photography student. Susu has the feeling she and Lin Feng have met before but he does not confirm this. Either way, it’s obvious there is a mutual attraction.

The inn also has two more quests, that arrived during the night—the scary-looking Li Shujia and her young son, Haohao, who never join the others for breakfast.

Susu has many problems at the inn including encounters with spirits and strange goings on with a creepy doll that can talk and turns up in different areas of the inn and, at one point, appears outside her door.

However, it’s not all bad, she and Lin Feng are spending a lot of time together and, when bad things happen, it’s to him that she turns.

The Supernatural Events on Campus is a pretty good film. There’s a lot more going on than initially meets the eye but, unless I am missing something important, the scary woman scene at the beginning of the film does not tie in with the rest of the story.

The further you get into the film, the more interesting it gets. In most cases, so do the characters and I don’t mind admitting that, as all pieces began to fall into place, certain things took me by surprise. I also found I liked the characters more and more.

The Supernatural Events on Campus doesn’t have any blood or gore, making it refreshingly different from many other films that fall into the horror genre. As for special effects, I don’t remember any so, if the film has them they can’t be that special.

If you are a fan of Asian horror films and enjoy options such as The Ring or The Grudge, you will find The Supernatural Events on Campus tame in comparison. Instead of curses and vengeful ghosts, the film presents a love story set in a haunted inn.

As is often the case with lesser-known Asian horror films, if you want to watch The Supernatural Events on Campus, it may be hard to source it on Blu-ray or DVD. Depending on your location, you may find streaming options are more accessible.