Don't look for any mentions of Haunted Karaoke in your highfalutin' new English-language Cahiers du cinéma: With no jolts, no jokes, and very little actual singing, this 1997 import is possibly the worst Hong Kong karaoke-horror-comedy ever made. Set one year after a devastating karaoke-club blaze, Haunted follows two dimwitted cops who are tormented by the ghosts of the victims. But the physical comedy is painfully strained (the actors look as though their only directorial note was "keep bungling!"), and the special effects are just slightly better than Freddy's Nightmares; the only real highlight is the scene in which a singer is attacked by multiple karaoke microphones. By the time the movie gets to the not-at-all-dated Tamagotchi reference, you're about ready to throw your region-free DVD player to the curb for bulk-trash day.
Still: Much, much better than Duets.
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