Film Review: ‘The Tenants Downstairs’

The major difference between Ko’s novel and his screenplay is the
introduction of a conventional interrogation-and-flashback format.
Before his dreadful deeds are shown, the unnamed and unrepentant
landlord (Yam) tells a police detective (Kai Fung) to prepare for “a
story out of your imagination.” That’s about it for traditional
narrative. What follows is a parade of increasingly kinky sequences that
make good on the landlord’s promise but provide little insight into his
background or motives. With no sympathetic characters emerging anywhere
else, many viewers will be hard pressed to feel much besides shock as
the freak show unfolds.