During a wedding reception at a 5-star hotel, a seemingly carefree young woman named Ching (Sinje Lee, sometimes credited as Angelica Lee) discovers, to her horror, the most recent victim of a brutal kidney thief who’s been terrorizing Hong Kong. Ching suspects a mysterious, sullen woman named Ling (Kar Yan Lam, sometimes credited as Karena Lam) is behind the organ harvesting crime wave, but the police won’t believe her.

We soon learn that Ching’s life isn’t so carefree after all — not only does she desperately need an organ transplant, it’s revealed that Ling holds a bitter grudge against Ching’s boyfriend (played by Andy Chi-On Hui), with whom she shares a secret past. Unavoidably the lives of these two women, polar opposites of one another, collide and their fates become forever intertwined. 

Directed by the award-winning filmmaker Chi-Leung Law and written by Susan Chan, this story unfolds as part urban legend horror, part mystery and part drama… with a touch of Single White Female thrown in for good measure. Koma pulls no punches when it comes to blood (the impromptu surgeries are cringe-worthy) and violence (one character wields a deadly sharp ax and isn’t afraid to use it on the human body), but it’s the sense of suspense and ever-changing mystery that keeps you guessing and watching with bated breath.

Although both of the lead actresses are experienced thespians, I have only seen Lee’s previous work once (she was great in 2000’s supernatural spooker, The Eye, which also dealt with recycled body parts). Lee and Lam are like two peas in a pod on camera, so credible and symbiotic are their performances — the script calls for each of them to rely greatly on the other for believability and they pull it off perfectly.

Koma has a few problems; these include the cinematographer losing focus on his Steadycam shots, and script-wise, there some real leaps of faith required when it comes to logic. These are minor quibbles, though — I really enjoyed Koma and I recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a sleek and chic thriller with a dash of slasher-style horror.

By Staci Layne Wilson