Aahana Swrup
The Taiwanese Mandarin horror film, ‘The Bridge Curse: Ritual,’ the second on-screen installment in the franchise, brings a haunting story about young people meddling with dark spirits. The CC University’s Da Ren building is notorious for the ghostly rumors surrounding it that revolve around a malicious warding practice at the time of construction. Inspired by the same, a group of students, including siblings Kai and Ting, decide to create a spooky augmented reality video game. However, things take a violent turn when the students’ test runs with dark rituals unleash evil spirits upon the building’s hallways.
As such, Ting must figure out the full scope of the horrors within the building to pull her brother out of a dreadful demise. As the characters’ story progresses, the supernatural-horror narrative unveils details about its world, adding new mysteries and stakes. Thus, viewers must be curious to explore what the story’s end brings for these characters. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Bridge Curse: Ritual Plot Synopsis
In 1966, during the lunar month, the CC University finished its construction. However, people believed that the Ra Den building was built in the realm where the worlds of the living and the dead collide. For the same reason, a Feng Shui master instructed the architect, Shu Wen Yen, to incorporate a bagua design meant to ward off evil spirits. Yet, the architect ended up inverting the symbol, condemning the Ra Den building to a future of fitful paranormal activities.
In 2016, a group of college students pitched the idea of creating a video game inspired by the paranormal urban legends about their university. Consequently, one night, Kai traverses into the building after hours, armed with a notebook detailing the university’s haunted history and rituals. The boy attempts one of the rituals on an elevator, only for unseen forces to attack him. As a result, Kai ends up in a hospital bed, under a coma for years, while his sister, Ting, works herself ragged to afford her brother’s medical bill, refusing to give up on his recovery.
Three years later, Kai’s friends continued creating the video game, reaching the testing part of the project. Ting volunteers to run a level test and straps herself into the handless phone device to experience the game as a make-do virtual reality. The game’s horror elements are enhanced due to the night, often leaving Ting to wonder if she’s being haunted in real life. Eventually, even after the level finishes, terrifying things continue happening around Ting, who gets locked in a room by some invisible force.
Therefore, by the time Ting’s friends come to her rescue, she begins believing the paranormal legends a bit more. As a result, she decides to look into the school’s haunted history in hopes of figuring out the reality of what happened to her brother. Consequently, she ends up back in the school’s elevator, attempting to recreate Kai’s misadventures, and encounters a new pair of vengeful spirits. Nevertheless, she manages to escape with her life intact and runs into the school guard, De, who might just know more than he lets on.
As such, the next day, Ting approaches De for his help. Although De, whom different spirits have been haunting for years, is reluctant to get involved, he still helps her locate the oil lamp that Kai was holding the night he underwent a coma. Soon, Ting includes her friends in her investigation and her supernatural encounters while testing their games’ rituals. Consequently, the group decides to test the final level, “Four Corners,” in the school library.
Predictably, the spirits come out in the open as the level comes to an end, attacking the group with their paranormal powers. One spirit in particular, with a distinct charm on his neck, overpowers everyone and comes close to killing Ting, sucking her life force into himself. Thus, in a monumental act of bravery, De confronts the ghost, tossing Kai’s lamp at it. Despite paranormal interference, the lamp lands on the spirit, eviscerating it and delivering Ting to safety. However, on the other side of town, Kai’s health worsens as the comatose man goes into shock.
The Bridge Curse Ritual Ending: Is Kai Trapped At The University? Did He Become a Ghost?
Unlike Ting’s paranormal encounters, Kai’s attack retains a level of mystery and intrigue due to its unseen nature. In order to make his video game, Kai traverses into the school late one night to test out the ritual in real life. However, due to the school’s actual supernatural disposition, his ritual ends up summoning a spirit that attempts to drag him out of the living world. As a result, the boy ends up in a coma for years with no sign of recovery.
Nevertheless, it isn’t until Ting embarks on similar adventures that she realizes the true potential of her brother’s situation. While testing the video game’s “Hide-n-Seek” level, Ting comes across a scratch on the door that makes her believe Kai’s soul could have been trapped inside the school. The outlandish theory starts to make more and more sense in the face of developing danger once Ting truly witnesses the school’s supernatural scope.
Therefore, after Kai’s health declines further on the heels of the oil lamp sustaining a crack, Ting realizes that the two must have a connection. Kai partook in a blood ritual by bleeding over the oil lamp. As such, his soul ended up bound to the lamp. For the same reason, Ting and De attempt the elevator level as the final ritual. Something about the ritual pulls the two out of the real world, turning them into unwitting paranormal entities that exist outside of time. During the same, Ting finds her brother hiding in a corner of the building, only to lose him again as the lamp’s oil runs out, taking Kai’s preserved spirit with it.
Thus, Ting and De runs throughout the campus, attempting to stop their past selves from breaking the lamp and interfering with the past through their own ghostly presence. As a result, Ting realizes she’s the reason her past self was locked in a room with a spirit, while De interferes in his past self’s attempt to defeat the charm ghost by throwing the lamp at him. In the end, De manages to save the lamp from cracking in the past. As a result, Kai’s spirit returns.
Even though Kai is still confined to the paranormal world as a ghost, he might be able to return to the living world with Ting and De if they outrun the vengeful spirits after them. Unlike the other ghosts, Kai has a functioning body awaiting him on the other side. Therefore, the man isn’t quite alive or dead yet, suspended in a tense limbo.
Does Kai Die?
Even though Ting reunites with her brother, the siblings have a difficult escape ahead of them before they can return to their regular lives. The vengeful spirits won’t allow Ting and the others to escape from their holds easily. Furthermore, unlike the other spirits, Kai can return to his life, which likely invites extra bitterness from the other ghosts.
In fact, one of the ghosts, The overpowered Charm spirit, is the architect, Shu Wen Yen, who condemned the University to its haunted disposition all those years ago. The building’s owners wronged Shu Wen Yen in some way, compelling him to kill his own girlfriend, Yu I Hsu, before he committed suicide. As a result, his complicated past lends to his bitterness, allowing him to harness extra power.
Thus, Shu Wen Yen utilizes the same power as Ting and the others, preventing them from escaping through the elevator. Furthermore, he binds the girl to the mirrors, rendering her helpless. As a result, Kai realizes he must make a significant sacrifice to save his sister. Kai has been Ting’s protector since they were young and under their abusive father’s roof. Although the pair killed the man together— in an instance of self-defense, Kai insisted on bearing the blame for it, unwilling to allow any trouble to befall his sister.
Therefore, Kai makes a similar sacrifice, leaving the elevator’s safe confines and confronting Shu’s spirit. Using the lamp’s light to overpower Shu, Kai sacrifices himself and saves Ting’s life. In the end, as the lamp breaks in order to deliver Shu away from the paranormal plane, Kai’s body gives out entirely, flatlining in the hospital. Ultimately, Kai dies, with his spirit departing from the University.
Is De Working With The Spirits?
Even though Ting’s involvement with the supernatural world concludes with Kai’s death— the same is not the case for De. While Ting remains haunted by her brother’s absence and seeks out the University’s spirits for a chance to save Kai, De is haunted by a different spirit— one that resides outside the campus. For the same reason, he’s hesitant to step out of the building, whose wards attract certain spirits while also keeping certain spirits out.
Years ago, De encountered a spirit who ended up having a hold on him. Consequently, a woman’s spirit begins haunting him, driving him near suicide whenever he steps out of the University grounds. After the ordeal with Kai, De becomes unable to reside within the University and grows prone to the female spirit’s influence.
As a result, De finally leaves the University and traverses into the outside world. Nevertheless, instead of chasing his own ambitions, De allows his actions to be dictated by the ghost over his shoulder, who wants to harm a specific reporter, Shu Yu Lian. For the same reason, he becomes a cameraman in an attempt to get close to Shu Yu Lian and points her toward the haunted Tun Hu University Bridge, rumored to be haunted by a female ghost.
Read More: Best Chinese Movies on Netflix
