Anh Pham, Detective Kien: The Headless Horror, Dinh Ngoc Diep, Doan Minh Anh, horror, movies, My Uyen, Ngoc Diep, Quoc Anh, Quoc Cuong, Quoc Tan, reviews, Sy Toan, Tin Nguyen, Victor Vu, Vietnam, Vo Dien Gia Huy, Xuan Trang
May 31, 2025
by Carla Hay
“Detective Kien: The Headless Horror”
Directed by Victor Vu
Vietnamese with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in 19th century Vietnam, the horror film “Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A detective is summoned to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a woman in a community where decapitated bodies have been showing up on the river banks, and many people think an evil ghost is responsible.
Culture Audience: “Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and are interested in watching an absorbing movie that is both horror movie and a crime thriller.
“Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” seamlessly blends a murder mystery with supernatural horror, a love triangle, and suspenseful action. There are many intriguing twists and turns in this story that takes place in 19th century Vietnam. The movie skillfully brings forth dilemmas for beliefs that are based on facts versus faith.
Directed by Victor Vu, “Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” takes place in a rural village in Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty, which ruled Vietnam for most of the 1800s. The movie’s title character Detective Kien (played by Quốc Huy) first appeared in Vu’s 2023 film “The Last Wife.” Detective Kien is skilled in martial arts
In the beginning of “Detective Kien: The Headless Horror,” a woman named Hai Man, also known as Miss Moon (played by Dinh Ngọc Diệp, also known as Ngọc Diệp) can be heard reading a letter that she has written to Detective Kien. Hai Man pleads Detective Kien to come to her village to help her find her missing young-adult niece Nga (played by Đoàn Minh Anh) because the local police have not been helpful. Detective Liem Quan (played by Xuan Trang) is the village’s chief investigator, who has a callous personality
The village (which is not named in the movie) has also been plagued by a series of murders, which began five years ago. Decapitated bodies are found on the banks of a river. Many of the villagers believe an evil spirit they call the Drowning Ghost has been kidnapping people, drowning them, and then beheading them. Some people in the village also claim to have seen this ghost.
Nga is a bachelorette who works as a seamstress and lives a modest home. Even though Nga is an young adult, Hai Man still feel responsible for Nga because she took care of Nga as a child after both of Nga’s parents abandoned her. Nga’s mother is Hai Man’s older sister.
Before she disappeared, Nga and a local man named Thac (played by Quốc Anh) were having a passionate romance. Thac wanted to marry Nga, but he couldn’t because he was in an arranged engagement with Tuyet (played by Anh Phạm), which was a marriage that was planned ever since Thac and Tuyet were children. Tuyet is the spoiled daughter of Detective Liem Quan and his strong-willed wife Lady Vuong (played by Mỹ Uyên), who has a close relationship with Tuyet.
Another decapitated body is found on the river bank after Nga has disappeared. A village shaman named Thầy Tinh (played by Quốc Tân) sees something moving in the corpse stomach. He slices open the stomach in front of other villagers and finds snakes inside. The villages trust Thầy Tinh because he provides spiritual guidance to people who say they’ve seen the ghost.
Hai Man tells Detective Kien that she doesn’t think the Drowning Ghost has taken Nga because Nga’s decapitated body would’ve been found by now. Hai Ma says that one of Nga’s slippers was left behind at the place in the woods where Nga was last seen. Hai Mai believes that it’s a clue that Nga was abducted a human because all the people who were later found decapitated did not have any items of clothing left behind where they were believed to have been abducted.
Detective Kien is skeptical about the ghost theory too because he wants to solve the case based on evidence, not superstitions. Other people who affect what happens in the story include Lady Vuong’s shy maid Mui (played by Tín Nguyễn), a local thief named Dong (played by Sỹ Toàn), a villager named Mr. Vinh (played by Quốc Cường) and Detective Kien’s investigative sidekick Đinh (played by Võ Điền Gia Huy), who considers Detective Kien to be his mentor.
Most of the horror in “Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” has to do with the gruesome imagery of the decapitated corpses and the ghost sightings. The investigation is not a typical procedural because Detective Kien constantly has people telling him to give up the investigation because he can’t win against the ghost. Many people in the village already assume that Nga is dead.
“Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” uses flashbacks to tell more about the personal backgrounds of all the main characters. These flashbacks reveal that Hai Man wasn’t always the loving and devoted aunt that she appears to be. Other characters also have secrets that are eventually revealed.
Although some of the movie occasionally resembles a soap opera, “Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” has above-average acting and cinematography. And the story is well-written and absorbing, with only a few parts of the movie with pacing that drags. Detective Kien is intuitive, ethical and compassionate. He’s the type of detective protagonist who would be endearing to fans of Agatha Christie novels.
“Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” has a little bit of comedy when Hai Man develops a crush on him and flirts with him, while Detective Kien tries to remain professional. “Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” is the best type of murder mystery: Even if you think you can guess the outcome, there still are more surprises up until the very end, which essentially shows that the story is continuing in a sequel.
3388 Films released “Detective Kien: The Headless Horror” in U.S. cinemas on May 29, 2025. The movie was released in Vietnam on April 30, 2025.