From its release to the afternoon of May 18 (about 10 days), "The Underworld Beauty Salon" only grossed about 12.3 billion VND, a figure considered quite low compared to the initial expectations of the production crew.
In the context that the Vietnamese film market is showing signs of stagnation, this result makes the film's capital recovery difficult. This is also considered a notable step backwards for Ngoc Trinh after a period of recording positive effects from previous films she starred in.
Previously, the movie "Infernal Beauty Salon" was expected to continue the growth momentum of the Vietnamese horror film genre, which is showing many positive signs. Exploiting the beauty salon setting combined with spiritual elements and black magic is considered a new direction, easily creating curiosity with the general audience.
In terms of idea, "The Underworld Beauty Salon" is not without highlights. The beauty salon space is built gloomily, with a stuffy color, combined with makeup and relatively neat art design. Some segments exploiting spiritual elements also create a certain creepy feeling in the early stages.
However, according to many opinions from the audience, the biggest limitation of the film lies in the lack of tightness of the script. The knots are raised but the solutions are not satisfactory, causing the storyline to fall into a disjointed state. The main character's motives are not convincing enough, especially in the context of constantly facing strange phenomena but still choosing to stay at the beauty salon.
Besides, the film depends quite a lot on familiar scare tactics such as unexpected sounds, sudden images or deformed shapes. Repeating these details with high frequency causes the horror effect to quickly erode, instead of creating a long-lasting haunting feeling.
In that context, Ngoc Trinh's acting became the focus of debate. Taking on the female lead Thanh, a young doctor caught up in a spiritual vortex, Ngoc Trinh is expected to have a clear "makeover". However, many viewers believe that her way of expressing emotions is still monotonous, mainly based on facial expressions and strong reactions, not creating the necessary psychological depth.
Some important segments such as when the character is mentally manipulated or faces the truth have not achieved persuasiveness, making the central character line lack weight.
Previously, her role in "Sisters and Sisters 2" helped her receive more positive feedback when she showed a clear psychological change of the character. The film also grossed hundreds of billions, helping Ngoc Trinh's name to heat up.
In "Sister-in-law", Ngoc Trinh continued to have a role that was assessed as emotionally progressive, contributing to helping the film achieve hundreds of billions of VND in revenue. However, these positive signals have not been maintained stably when stepping into "The Underworld Beauty Salon".
The fact that the new work did not meet expectations made Ngoc Trinh's transformation journey in cinema once again questioned.
In the context of the increasingly fierce competition in the Vietnamese film market, especially in the horror genre, the pressure for faces who are changing direction like Ngoc Trinh is not only in personal appeal but also largely depends on the quality of the script and the overall work. "The Underworld Beauty Salon" is therefore seen as an incomplete test in this journey.
