Tales from the Dark 1

A down-on-his-luck odd-job worker, Kwan loses his restaurant gig and turns to breaking into a columbarium at night. He steals funerary urns and leaves ransom notes, hoping grieving families will contact him to reclaim what he's taken. The grim urban night sets the mood for a crime that blurs the line between the living and the dead.

Kwan pockets the money from the urn exchanges, only to discover it appears as grotesque hell banknotes. The strange currency unsettles him, hinting at a supernatural cost to his crimes. He begins to fear what these notes might demand from him.

During a ransom contact, the cousin of a supposed victim reveals herself to be speaking with the victim's ghost. The interaction hints that the theft has drawn a restless spirit into the living world. The haunting escalates the moral weight of Kwan's crimes.

Kwan tries to burn the hell banknotes, hoping to sever their grip on him. Flames spiral out of control, symbolizing his descent into guilt and the inescapable consequences of theft from the dead. He dies in a fire that consumes his own body.

Ho, a seasoned fortune-teller who sees ghosts, plans to retire to spend more time with his wife and son. His last assignments concern Cheung, a swimming coach, and Cheung's pregnant wife, who claims she is haunted by a malevolent presence. The case sets the stage for a broader supernatural investigation.

Ho teams up with Lan, a crystal seller and fellow fortune-teller, to untangle sorrow, deceit, and spectral interference. The two bring complementary powers to bear on the haunting plaguing Cheung and his wife. Their partnership marks the shift from private duties to a joint spiritual investigation.

The investigation uncovers that Cheung had an affair with his student, Chan Siu-Ting, who becomes pregnant. When Cheung rejected her, Chan drowns herself at sea and returns as a vengeful ghost. Ho and Lan confront the spectral unrest tied to romance and betrayal.

Ho and Lan work to calm Chan's anger, urging the ghost to release her thirst for revenge and seek peace in the afterlife. The ritual underscores the costs of betrayal and the possibility of forgiveness. The haunting becomes a path to healing for the living as well as the dead.

In a personal twist, Ho discovers that his son has inherited his ability to perceive the unseen. This revelation deepens the emotional stakes of their investigation and foreshadows a passing of the torch. The family dynamic adds urgency to resolving the hauntings.

Chu operates as a ritual practitioner who curses clients' enemies with paper effigies and chants. Her clientele range from a wealthy woman with a grievance against her daughter-in-law to a man whose name echoes the Hong Kong Chief Executive. Each hit escalates the moral weight of her craft.

Chu accepts a final commission from a young woman seeking three men and a woman cursed, intending to perform the hitting herself. As she works, she realizes she herself is the ghost of a murdered woman, among whose killers is her own son. The revelation places her between victim and perpetrator.

Chu witnesses the kidnapping of the woman by her son and his partners, yet she does nothing to intervene. The moment crystallizes the bond between guilt, complicity, and supernatural consequence. Her inaction seals the tragic outcome.

With the curses growing more brutal, the boundary between the living and dead blurs as the victims' fates collide with those who harmed them. The ritual's power spirals beyond control, drawing in both Chu and the others. The tension marks a tipping point for all involved.

The stories of Kwan, Ho, Lan, Cheung, Chan Siu-Ting, Chu, and her son converge toward a shared, unsettling closure. The living and the dead bear the cost of betrayal, greed, and vengeance as their destinies become inextricably linked. The city holds its breath as the final act unfolds.

In the final tableau, the boundaries of life and afterlife stay porous, leaving a lingering sense that the dead still walk among the living. The film closes on eerie quiet, acknowledging that every crime echoes beyond its moment. A grim, interwoven aftermath lingers in the audience.