Filipino maid Rosa (Alessandra de Rossi) arrives in Singapore to work as a maid for the Teos, a family of Chinese opera singers. She has arrived during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar when the gates of hell supposedly open and offerings are made to appease the dead. There is also a strict code of conduct to be followed during this time. Of course, Rosa is unaware of this and breaks several rules and unleashes supernatural forces upon herself. Will she suffer the same fate as the Teos' previous maid Esther who mysteriously disappeared? In the documentary, the producer says that he knew director Kelvin Tong's idea would be a "very good premise for an international film" and this is very much a film aimed at export audiences with its English-language credits, English narration (stilted as it is), and prologue full of voice-overs explaining what happens during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar (perhaps more effectively than Eduardo Sanchez's SEVENTH MOON) as well as its selling of prosperous Singapore (likely the input of Singapore's Media Development commission who co-produced). Advertised as the first homegrown horror movie from Singapore, THE MAID is beautifully assembled with gorgeous cinematography, scoring and surround sound design (instead of separate music and sound designers, we get a "music and effects" credit during the opening) but the scares are very familiar to fans of the new wave of Asian horror films following RINGU and JU-ON: THE GRUDGE. The scare scenes are never built up and neither their abruptness nor the stings of the music score help. The script is messy. There are some surprising although derivative reversals in the second half (although the script takes too long to bring Esther into the story) and something subversive about an immigrant isolated by strict local traditions and rules, the breaking of which actually make her privy to dark secrets beneath respectable (and tourist-friendly). An interesting diversion but the English performances are awkward and the pacing is hopelessly muddled.