Some broken crockery, a lake monster and one terrible father come together to make a pretty solid mystery in Victor Vu’s period whodunnit.
“It only wants carnage and demands nothing else.”
In a small village in 19th century Vietnam, a string of corpses found drowned and without heads is causing panic. The story begins when a woman named Hai Man (Dien Ngoc Diep) summons the Judge’s Detective Kien (Quoc Huy) in order to find her ward Nga (Minh Anh Doan). People believe she was also taken by this mysterious river monster, but the lack of headless body leads Hai Man to think otherwise.
Kien is another in a string of master sleuths we’ve seen in films and TV, and he comes to a similar conclusion: that something else is afoot in the charming village. His investigation leads him to a number of ancillary characters, from friendly ceramist Thac (Quoc Anh), the chief and his daughter, Tuyet (Anh Pham), and village exile Dong (Si Toan).
In terms of pure plot, I found myself quite charmed by the events in Detective Kien. The mystery unfolds quite nicely and never resorts to cheap reveals or bad twists. It builds a very classic, good faith mystery that spends enough time looking at one part of the story long enough that you end up forgetting about other plot elements until it’s time for them to make their reappearance. Victor Vu brings a level of genre savviness to keep things moving at a good pace.
It’s not the most original film at times, though. There’s a delicate balance at play here: many mystery films relish at their novelty, often to the point of smugness. Detective Kein remains humble throughout, but is never afraid to try new things or try a kick ass action sequence when the need arises.
It’s biggest fault is honestly in how long it is. The film clocks in at well over two hours, which is wholly unnecessary. Minutes of Kien just sort of looking about could have been trimmed, as could the ending, which feels like The Return of the King with how often it pretends to wrap everything up. Still, it’s sometimes necessary and you get the impression that the movie wants to wrap everything up and tell a satisfying story.
And it does! Detective Kien: the Headless Horror is a great film, spinning multiple plates well as it juggles being a period drama, a supernatural horror and a murder mystery. Is it a bit reminiscent of Detectives both Dee and K? Yes. Of course. Their general attitudes, outfits and stories almost feels like there’s some sort of genre overlap going on here, but it’s not so jarring that Kien doesn’t feel like his own character. This is also heavily down to the work put in by lead Quoc Hu and the supporting cast. If this becomes a franchise I will happily be there to see what Kien investigates next.
Verdict: It might veer into the too-familiar from time to time, Detective Kien is very much its own slimy, waterlogged head-chomping beast.
Overall entertainment: 8/10
Violence: 5/10
Sex: 0/10
Mystery: 6.5/10
Title accuracy: The horror isn’t headless, it makes things headless
Kien: Apparently shows up in a previous Victor Vu film, but one that is stylistically very different. I have to check that out.
Detective Kien: The Headless Horror (2025)
Vietnamese
Director: Victor Vu
Writers: Victor Vu
CAST
Quoc Huy – Detective Kien
Dien Ngoc Diep – Hai Man
Quoc Anh Tran – Thac
Anh Pham – Tuyet
Si Toan – Dong
The Asian Cinema Critic 