Tales from the Dark 1

Tales from the Dark 1

Year: 2013

Runtime: 114 mins

Language: Cantonese

Director: Lee Chi-Ngai

Horror

In the first of a two-part film project, three short stories from acclaimed Hong Kong writer Lilian Lee are adapted for the big screen in this horror anthology.

Dark
Bleak ending
Emotionally heavy
High intensity
Steady pacing
Moderate complexity

Warning: spoilers below!

Haven’t seen Tales from the Dark 1 yet? This summary contains major spoilers. Bookmark the page, watch the movie, and come back for the full breakdown. If you're ready, scroll on and relive the story!

Timeline & Setting – Tales from the Dark 1 (2013)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Tales from the Dark 1 (2013). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Location

Hong Kong

Hong Kong provides a dense, urban backdrop where neon-lit streets meet shadowed alleys. The story moves between crowded apartments, markets, and a looming columbarium where urns and secrets reside. The city’s blend of modern life and traditional beliefs amplifies the tension between the living and the dead. A sense of claustrophobia and secrecy pervades the setting as night falls.

🏙️ City 🕯️ Columbarium

Last Updated: October 03, 2025 at 06:39

Main Characters – Tales from the Dark 1 (2013)

Meet the key characters of Tales from the Dark 1 (2013), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Kwan (Simon Yam)

Kwan is an odd-job worker living in a cramped, coffin-like home who spirals into desperation. He begins breaking into a columbarium to steal funerary urns, leaving ransom notes for grieving families. The illicit money he pockets appears as grotesque hell banknotes, fueling his fear and moral decay. His crime culminates in a self-destructive blaze that foreshadows the story’s blending of the living and the dead.

🏚️ Cramped coffin-like home 💰 Desperation 🕯️ Columbarium theft

Ho (Tony Leung Ka Fai)

Ho is a seasoned fortune-teller who can see ghosts and search for truth beyond the ordinary. He plans to retire to spend more time with his wife and his son, and he teams up with Lan to uncover the haunted events surrounding Cheung and his wife. The discovery that his own son inherits his supernatural ability deepens the emotional stakes and binds the living and the dead.

🔮 Fortune-teller 🧠 Mentor

Lan (Kelly Chen)

Lan is a crystal seller and fellow fortune-teller who aids Ho in untangling the ghostly mystery. Practical and perceptive, she helps calm troubled spirits while keeping faith with the living. Her partnership with Ho reveals how empathy and perceptive insight can bridge the gap between worlds.

💎 Crystal seller 🧭 Investigative ally

Cheung Ka Chun (Eddie Li Yu-Yeung)

Cheung is a swimming coach whose past affair with Chan Siu-Ting leads to pregnancy and complications for his family. His haunting by the uncertain future and by Chan’s vengeful ghost forces him to confront the consequences of his actions. The investigation reveals a web of deceit that ties love, betrayal, and guilt together.

💔 Affair 🏊 Swimming coach

Chan Siu-Ting (Cherry Ngan)

Chan Siu-Ting is Cheung’s former student who becomes pregnant after their affair. She drowns herself at sea and returns as a ghost bent on revenge. Her spectral presence forces the living to reckon with the harms caused by passion and abandonment, culminating in a tragic cycle of guilt and retribution.

💔 Tragic love 👻 Ghost

Chu (Susan Shaw Yam-Yam)

Chu is a ritual performer who dispatches curses and uses paper effigies to target enemies for her clients. As the story unfolds, she discovers she herself is the ghost of a murdered woman, and she witnesses the kidnapping of a victim by her own son without intervention. The growing tension exposes the corruption and moral ambiguity at the heart of the ritual economy.

🔮 Curse 🕯️ Ritualist

Last Updated: October 03, 2025 at 06:39

Major Themes – Tales from the Dark 1 (2013)

Explore the central themes of Tales from the Dark 1 (2013), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

👻 Restless Spirits

The film weaves a world where ghosts linger beside the living, pushing characters toward reckoning. Chan Siu-Ting’s ghost returns to enact a painful past, while the ritual-driven crimes blur the line between punishment and mercy. The living are forced to confront guilt that transcends life, highlighting how unresolved emotions haunt the present. Spectral interference serves as a catalyst for empathy, confrontation, and forgiveness.

⚖️ Consequences

Crimes born from desire and deceit reverberate beyond the act, drawing in families, communities, and the dead. The ritualized 'hitting' and the cryptic curses reveal that harm exacts a price, regardless of intent. As secrets unravel, the characters face moral accountability and the inescapable costs of their choices. The narrative suggests that justice is not only punitive but transformative, forcing change in both realms.

🧬 Legacy

Ho’s discovery that his son inherits his ability to perceive the unseen adds a lineage-driven dimension to the story. This hereditary gift binds generations, shaping choices under pressure from ghostly presences. The idea of legacy deepens emotional stakes as past actions echo through time. It highlights how familial ties influence fear, memory, and the willingness to seek peace.

Last Updated: October 03, 2025 at 06:39

Mobile App Preview

Coming soon on iOS and Android

The Plot Explained Mobile App

From blockbusters to hidden gems — dive into movie stories anytime, anywhere. Save your favorites, discover plots faster, and never miss a twist again.

Sign up to be the first to know when we launch. Your email stays private — always.

Explore Movie Threads

Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Ghostly vengeance stories like Tales from the Dark 1

Somber tales where the dead return to deliver fatalistic justice to the guilty.Explore more movies like Tales from the Dark 1 where supernatural forces enact bleak justice. If you enjoyed these fatalistic tales of ghosts and retribution, you'll find similar films here about moral decay, guilt, and vengeful spirits from beyond the grave.

vengefulfatalisticgrimsombersupernaturalmelancholicanxious

Narrative Summary

Stories in this thread typically follow a pattern of moral transgression leading to supernatural consequences. Characters are haunted, literally or figuratively, by their past actions, and the narrative unfolds with a sense of inevitable doom, culminating in a bleak and unresolved ending for the guilty.

Why These Movies?

These movies are grouped together because they share a consistent dark tone, a focus on fatalistic outcomes, and a heavy emotional weight derived from themes of guilt and consequence. The supernatural elements serve as a direct mechanism for delivering poetic, often cruel, justice.

Horror anthology films similar to Tales from the Dark 1

Interconnected short stories that explore dark themes of human failing and cosmic justice.Find more anthology movies like Tales from the Dark 1. If you liked its structure of three separate supernatural tales linked by themes of revenge and guilt, this collection features other horror anthologies with dark, thematically connected stories and bleak outcomes.

anthologygrimthematicsomberfatalisticsegmentedmelancholic

Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern is structural: several short films are presented within a single movie, each telling a complete story. While plots differ, they are woven together by shared tones and themes, offering a multifaceted exploration of a central dark concept, such as moral decay or the futility of escaping fate.

Why These Movies?

These films are grouped by their unique anthology format and their consistent application of a dark, heavy tone across multiple segments. They provide a specific viewing experience where thematic resonance is built through variation and repetition, rather than a single linear plot.

Unlock the Full Story of Tales from the Dark 1

Don't stop at just watching — explore Tales from the Dark 1 in full detail. From the complete plot summary and scene-by-scene timeline to character breakdowns, thematic analysis, and a deep dive into the ending — every page helps you truly understand what Tales from the Dark 1 is all about. Plus, discover what's next after the movie.

Tales from the Dark 1 Summary

Read a complete plot summary of Tales from the Dark 1, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

Tales from the Dark 1 Summary

Tales from the Dark 1 Timeline

Track the full timeline of Tales from the Dark 1 with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.

Tales from the Dark 1 Timeline

Tales from the Dark 1 Spoiler-Free Summary

Get a quick, spoiler-free overview of Tales from the Dark 1 that covers the main plot points and key details without revealing any major twists or spoilers. Perfect for those who want to know what to expect before diving in.

Tales from the Dark 1 Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Tales from the Dark 1

Visit What's After the Movie to explore more about Tales from the Dark 1: box office results, cast and crew info, production details, post-credit scenes, and external links — all in one place for movie fans and researchers.

More About Tales from the Dark 1

Explore More About Movie Tales from the Dark 1

Tales from the Dark 1 (2013) Plot Summary & Movie Recap

Tales from the Dark 1 (2013) Scene-by-Scene Movie Timeline

Tales from the Dark 1 (2013) Spoiler-Free Summary & Key Flow