''That Demon Within'' (Mo Ging,

traditional Chinese character Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages. In Taiwan, the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the '' Standard Form of ...

: 魔警) is a 2014 Hong Kong

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

film directed by

Dante Lam Dante Lam Chiu-yin (, born 1 July 1964) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, actor and action choreographer. Background He was trained in the tradition of John Woo as an assistant director and worked as an actor and producer. He often writes and supervises ...

and starring

Daniel Wu Daniel Wu Neh-Tsu (; born September 30, 1974) is an American actor. He is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese language film industry. Since his film debut in 1998, he has been featured in over 60 films. A three- ...

and

Nick Cheung Nicholas Cheung Ka-fai (; born 2 December 1964) is a Hong Kong actor, singer and director. He first gained recognition for his roles in '' The Conman'' (1998) and '' The Tricky Master'' (1999). He went on to star in the films '' Beast Stalker'' (20 ...

. It premiered at the

64th Berlin International Film Festival The 64th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 6 to 16 February 2014. Wes Anderson's film ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'' opened the festival. British film director Ken Loach was presented with the Golden Bear#Golden Bear .E2.80. ...

in February 2014 and also included on the 16 edition of Far East Film Festival in Udine . The film was released on 18 April 2014. The movie was presented by Dante Lam at the 16th

Far East Film Festival Far East Film Festival (FEFF) is an annual film festival held in Udine, Italy. It is one of the most important events promoting Asian Cinema in Europe. It focuses mainly on the films from East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. ...

2014 in

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

, Italy with Lam's '' Unbeatable'' (2013).

Plot

Reclusive cop Dave Wong (

) unwittingly saves the life of criminal gang leader Hon Kong (

) by donating his blood to him. The gang members hide their faces behind traditional demon masks when committing their violent crimes. During psychotic episodes, Dave experiences his own demons within as he sets out to play off the gang members against each other, resulting in everyone's annihilation. It is then revealed that Dave was brought up by a high expressed emotion father in a socio-economically disadvantaged living environment. He witnessed his father's death inadvertently caused by the responsible policeman who resembled Hon Kong. As a young, innocent soul who had lost his father, he impulsively went on to take revenge, resulting in excessive guilt that predisposed the onset of psychosis later in his life. The event whereby he rescued Hon Kong reminded him of his suppressed memories as a child who had done wrong but trying the hardest to make reparation. Before his inevitable death, there was an opportunity for him to resolve his subconscious intrapersonal conflicts which was to have the courage to fix a mistake done.

Cast

as Dave Wong *

as Hon Kong / Riot police officer *Christie Chen as Liz Kwok *

Andy On Andy On () (born May 11, 1977) is an American actor and martial artist. Life and career On was born on May 11, 1977, in Providence, Rhode Island. He can speak English, Mandarin, and a bit of Cantonese. Andy On did not graduate from high school ...

as Ben Chan *

Liu Kai-chi Dick Liu Kai-chi (, 30 September 1953 – 28 March 2021) was a Hong Kong actor, best known for his everyman supporting roles. His career spanned over 40 years, with appearances in over 90 television series and 70 films. He earned eight nomina ...

as Broker *

Dominic Lam Dominic Lam Ka-wah (Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: ; born 2 April 1957) is a Hong Kong-Canadian actor and radio personality for Fairchild Radio in Richmond Hill, Canada. His acting career spans four decades, beginning with his tele ...

as Inspector Mok (pops.) *Joseph Lee as Effigy * Stephen Au as MC * Chi Kuan-chun as Dave's father *Ken Wong as Smart Ass *

Deep Ng Deep Ng is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor. He is the winner of the 21st annual New Talent Singing Awards Hong Kong Regional Finals. Deep was well received by the viewers since the New Talent Singing Awards in 2002. His first EP ''Deep' ...

as Kwong *Samuel Leung as Rookie *Lam Tsing as Chanter *

Philip Keung Philip Keung Ho-man (; born 26 October 1966) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. Keung began his acting career as a television actor in 1985 for Asia Television (ATV), and also began appearing in films from 1988. He eventually left ATV in 201 ...

as Station Sergeant * Astrid Chan as Stephanie *

Alice Fung So-bor Alice Fung So-bor (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 馮素波; born August 7, 1944), also known as 波姐 (lit. Sister Bor), is a Hong Kong actress. She is an actress of ViuTV and has worked for Asia Television (ATV), TVB, and Hong Kong T ...

as Granny *Wu Ying-man as Private nurse

References

External links

* Films directed by Dante Lam 2014 films 2014 action thriller films 2014 psychological thriller films Hong Kong action thriller films Hong Kong psychological thriller films 2010s Hong Kong films {{2010s-HongKong-film-stub