Blu-ray Review: Baby Blues (2014)

While watching Baby Blues I couldn’t help but think of the recent A Haunted House 2. Both films center largely on a possessed, creepy doll with a particularly strong hold on the main characters. But the latter film was intended as a deliberate comedy. Even though it’s a throwaway, some of its funniest moments involved star Marlon Wayans’ obsession with said doll. Baby Blues, on the other hand, suffers from an indistinct tone. Is it meant to be funny or scary? Unfortunately it’s neither, with veteran Chinese-British director Po-Chih Leong failing to establish a mood. At times, the film seems almost cobbled together from cut scenes for some unfinished video game.

Sing Kwan Janelle plays mother-to-be Tian Qing who, along with her husband Hao (Raymond Lam), is expecting twins. The husband is a stressed-out commercial songwriter. As the story begins, the young couple has moved into a new home. Left behind by the previous owners is a doll that, for some reason, entrances Tian Qing. She doesn’t even seem freaked out by the fact that this doll’s eyes periodically “cry” blood. A demented neighbor/tramp (Hoi-Pang Lo) warns the couple that their new home will bring them nothing but problems—not the least of which being the potential to eventually claim their lives.

The crux of the plot comes when Tian Qing births her children. One survives, one is stillborn. She “adopts” the creepy, crying doll as her second child. She names the kids, one human and one a doll, Adam and Jimmy (is screenwriter Bak-Ming Wong perhaps a big fan of Comedy Central’s The Man Show?). What follows is a bizarre, stilted mix of cheesy digital effects scenes and absolutely nothing approaching a genuine scare. Apparently the film was screened in 3D in some markets (a ridiculously overblown shot of a cigar tumbling end-over-end toward the camera is one notably sore-thumb moment).

Well Go USA has done a fine job presenting Baby Blues on Blu-ray, with Chi Ying Chan’s cinematography looking as clear and detailed as is generally expected from a recent, modestly-budgeted production. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio mix makes the looped dialogue all too apparent. The slightly over-prominent dialogue always sounds like it was recorded in a controlled studio environment. But there are no fidelity issues.

Besides a theatrical trailer, Baby Blues contains no special features. It’s just as well. With a movie as unmemorable as this, there isn’t really a need for supplements.