In Chinese folklore, the Nu Gui is a vengeful female ghost that typically faced some sort of injustice while alive. This myth is at the center of Malice: Nu Gui, which showcases the female spirit and lines up a slew of male and female victims that don’t stand much of a chance in her path. Directors Gustavo Diaz and Chaz Fenwick deserve props for bringing this bit of Chinese folklore to a potentially wider audience. However, with a very lean runtime, the feature’s concepts never fully materialize.

The film stars Martina Chen as the spirit Malice, though when she appears to her next male victim, she takes on another name. The story opens as Malice brutally overtakes one of her victims, Zheng Wei (Kent Lee). His begging doesn’t at all move the ghost to spare his life. His death is quite gory, to the point you can hear his bones crack as blood spurts from his mouth, making clear that Malice will have her revenge. No man is safe. After that grisly opening, we’re introduced to Joe (Jake Harrison), who goes on a date with Malice, though no one else in the restaurant can see her, making it seem like Joe talks to himself. This scene is a nice dash of humor. Malice also hooks her talons in Lee (Haoming Chen) to the dismay of Keo (Mya Lazorka). Yet, even Keo isn’t safe. Malice has a way of trapping women in a place called “the asylum,” forcing them to help her enact her revenge.

One positive about the film is that the cast is small, so we spend a fair amount of time with each character, while also getting Malice’s backstory and how exactly she morphed into such a dangerous ghost. Yet, while Malice’s characterization feels like enough, that’s not quite true of the rest of the cast. Because the runtime is so short, to the point it’s under 50 minutes, there’s not a ton of character exploration here before Malice targets the next victim. It’s not even clear why any of the men are all that attracted to her in the first place, unless she simply has supernatural power over them. She doesn’t exactly do a lot of seducing.

While Malice: Nu Gui certainly has a definitive ending and even a post-credits scene, there’s a lot more to examine here. The folklore intrigues, and Malice is a good character forged out of the lore. Yet, there’s an entire universe within this film, like the asylum, and characters other than Malice, that simply aren’t given enough time. I don’t know if a sequel is planned, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Malice crack a few more bones and claim a few more victims. Beyond that, the story needs more breathing room.

Malice: Nu Gui is currently streaming for free on Tubi.

6 Out of 10