Dumplings: The First Horror Movie To Scare Me

*Spoilers for Dumplings below*

I wrote about how Kill List had frightened me and hailed it for doing so as I am a psyc normally don't scare easily. The moment I published that post I had flashbacks of various Japanese and Chinese horror films I'd seen over the years that had me quaking and one film in particular had me punching myself for forgetting that I had known fear. The fear wasn't due to shocks and the grotesque which we normally see in more conventional horror, the scares came from the storyline itself, the kind of storyline that puts me off of my food. Watching the film while I was on the way to get food wasn't a good idea. That film was Dumplings.

I've never been a fan of dumplings myself, I just never got the taste for it and after watching this film I never will. It's odd how a film named after said edible object could make my heart pump and make my face pull multiple expressions of disgust. The 2004 film which was adapted from the short Three... Extremes follows Mei (Bai Ling), a chef and former abortionist who has a recipe for women to keep their youth. The recipe happens to be that of dumplings with a special filling, foetuses. She crosses paths with Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung), an ageing trophy wife and former actress, who is growing older and believes she is losing the interest of her husband so she requests Mei help her regain her youthful beauty.

The story escalates as Mrs. Li is unhappy that the treatments aren't lasting as long as she'd like and requests that Mei find her a more effective and long lasting remedy, all the while knowing what Mei's secret ingredient is. The story becomes more convoluted as the philandering Mr. Li confronts Mei about the dumplings and whether they work or not, leading him to take her as a lover. Sadly these domestic messes collide with a young girl who had been abused and in the care of Mei whilst pregnant. I probably don't have to elaborate even further, the outcome isn't a happy one.

The use of aborted foetuses to stay young is stomach turning, I'm pro-choice but I still have empathy for what could have been living creatures. They could have been people like you or I and they shouldn't end up as someone's main course. I understand in some cultures that there are an array of delicacies that are uncommon in the West but this is not seen as a delicacy or for nutritional value, it's for the sake of vanity. It's likely that I wouldn't be as passionate about this if I didn't see the foetuses being prepared which made me clench my eye lids shut, I'd never really given much thought to it post-abortion until I watched this film.

Another thing that completely boggles me is the lengths that some people would go to be aesthetically pleasing to others. Are there really people that would knowingly go to these lengths? Thinking about it I can probably say yes, there probably are. In this crazy bubble that we live in youth and beauty seems to be admired above all else when it comes to women, people are changing their features surgically and injected whatever into themselves to get to the ideal of what the media is telling us we should be. Is this really that far off from it? It's a frightening thought but I believe that some people would genuinely buy into this if there was any chance of success.

So I lied, Kill List wasn't the only horror movie to scare me, there is now a short list and Dumplings is right at the top. The film took taboo matters like abortion and incest and slapped me around the face with it, and I'm glad it did. It made me think.

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