The urban legends of each locality are always interesting to visually develop stories on the big screen for the benefit of the entertainment and terror of the spectators. But not all scary legends usually have that spark that catches the eye of the audience. It can even backfire if the story is extremely fantastic and lacks dark elements, leaving it entirely as an extremely absurd satire. The Tag Along: Devil Fish shows a little of what to do and not to do when it comes to developing a story about local stories.

I usually write a long description for each film I review but there is so much happening in this one that I can only mention the basic plotline: three men catch and eat a possessed fish. One of the men ends up being possessed by the demon-fish but he’s exorcised by a not-so-powerful medium as he transfers the demon to another fish and release it to a river. Now, two kids catch this new fish, history repeats itself and by now it has become a vicious cycle that makes you wonder why is everyone so easily distracted.

The Tag Along: Devil Fish is the third film in The Tag Along series. The first two films take basis on a Taiwanese urban legend about a girl dressed in red killing people. If you haven’t watched the previews two films, go ahead and give it a try. For the look of it, it doesn’t seem to follow any of the previous films as it takes on a different urban legend, just like Halloween took a twist for its third film in the original series to turn it into an anthology. According to the producers of The Tag Along, they want to take it into that direction. But, is it entertaining enough to turn it into the film equivalence of American Horror Story?

The film stands as a supernatural drama with a very horror story using mostly the basic scare-jumps with a mix of a decent photography and crafty filmmaking. At first glance it looks very confusing but once the train leaves the station it gets interesting with its overdeveloped dramatic plot and preformed character profiles— it shows some strength by pushing their stories in a quick introduction by showing what each can do. Unfortunately, the cheesy dialogue makes the plot feel a little rotten forming the possibility the audience could be dissatisfied by its abrupt initial development when there is much more ahead.

The Tag Along: Devil Fish isn’t fresh out of water. It serves a cold dish with a nice garnish and a side of a quirky story with great acting but questionable development. It might not give you nightmares as it won’t remain that long in your memory but it could make you wonder if it is safe to open up a can of tuna every now and then.

3 OUT OF 10 FISHERMEN