# Silk (2006 film)
**Silk** (Chinese: 诡丝; original title *Guisi*) is a 2006 Taiwanese science-fiction horror film written and directed by Su Chao-pin, in which a team of scientists captures the ghost of a young boy with an energy-trapping device and hires a lip-reading detective to uncover who the boy was and how he died.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486480/) • [2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) It premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival as an official out-of-competition selection, was the most expensive locally funded film in Taiwan's history at the time, and became the highest-grossing domestic film in Taiwan in 2006.[3](https://www.fridae.asia/gay-news/printable.php?articleid=7696) • [4](https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/10871/14386/1/LinY.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 詭絲 (*Guisi*); English title Silk[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486480/) |
| Director and writer | Su Chao-pin (蘇照彬), his second feature as director[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486480/) • [5](https://www.moriareviews.com/horror/silk-2006.htm) |
| Taiwan release | September 29, 2006; distributed by Twentieth Century Fox (Taiwan)[6](https://www.truemovie.com/2006moviedata/Silk.htm) • [7](https://www.scifi-movies.com/en/short/0002175/silk-2006/) |
| Budget | Reported as US$6.2 million by one source, US$6 million by another, and $4.8 million in pre-production reporting; about NT$200 million[3](https://www.fridae.asia/gay-news/printable.php?articleid=7696) • [2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [8](https://www.screendaily.com/taiwans-cmc-unveils-big-budget-silk/4023479.article) |
| Festival | 2006 Cannes Film Festival, official selection out of competition[3](https://www.fridae.asia/gay-news/printable.php?articleid=7696) • [9](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/p-library/books/pots/POTS.428.pdf) |
| Awards | Golden Horse Award for Best Visual Effects (2006); nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Music[10](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00020962) |
| Box office | Highest-grossing domestic film in Taiwan in 2006; Taipei box office NT$22.18 million[4](https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/10871/14386/1/LinY.pdf) • [6](https://www.truemovie.com/2006moviedata/Silk.htm) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The Japanese scientist Hashimoto (Yosuke Eguchi) leads a four-person anti-gravity research team from Kansai University, with members Su Yuen ([Barbie Hsu](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbie-hsu)), Ren (Chen Bolin), and Mei (Ning Chang), studying whether souls exist.[6](https://www.truemovie.com/2006moviedata/Silk.htm) • [10](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00020962) Using a newly invented device called the Menger Sponge, a cube derived from abstract mathematics that can trap energy and annul gravity, the team captures the ghost of a young boy in a rundown Taipei apartment, the first such capture in the film's world.[2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [13](https://www.asianmovieweb.com/en/reviews/silk.htm)
To learn the boy's identity and how he became a ghost, Hashimoto recruits special agent Ye Chi-tung ([Chang Chen](https://www.edgepedia.org/chang-chen)), a detective with extraordinary dynamic vision and the ability to read lips, who joins partly to learn about the afterlife while his mother lies dying in hospital.[2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [10](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00020962) Ye releases the boy and follows him through the rituals of his old life, learning that the boy was murdered by his mother and that his body was buried inside the torus of a cyclotron, which supplies his endless energy; the silk strands attached to the boy are a form of energy connecting the spiritual and human worlds.[2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [5](https://www.moriareviews.com/horror/silk-2006.htm) Believing the ghost feeds on hatred, Hashimoto pursues a secret plan to achieve immortality, and in doing so unleashes a fiercer spirit, the boy's mother, connected to her son by the silk threads, that hunts everyone involved in the project.[2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [5](https://www.moriareviews.com/horror/silk-2006.htm)
## Production
Taiwan's CMC Entertainment Group announced Silk in 2005 as Taiwan's biggest film since Chen Kuo-fu's *[Double Vision](https://www.edgepedia.org/double-vision-2002-film)* (2002). Unlike *Double Vision*, whose $7 million budget came from Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, Silk was fully financed with local money, reported at $4.8 million at the time of the announcement; it shot for three months followed by eight months of post-production.[8](https://www.screendaily.com/taiwans-cmc-unveils-big-budget-silk/4023479.article) Later reports put the figure higher: the Fridae Movie Club cited a reported US$6.2 million, an extraordinary figure for a Taiwanese production, and the Taipei Times called the US$6 million budget record-breaking.[3](https://www.fridae.asia/gay-news/printable.php?articleid=7696) • [2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) A Taiwanese film journal described the production cost as NT$200 million, the most expensive film in Taiwan's film history.[11](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/article/8069)
The production company was CMC Entertainment with Unit 9 Pictures, and the film was distributed in Taiwan by Twentieth Century Fox.[7](https://www.scifi-movies.com/en/short/0002175/silk-2006/) The international crew included Hong Kong cinematographer Arthur Wong, Japanese production designer Yohei Taneda (whose credits include *Kill Bill*), and composer Peter Kam; visual effects were by Menfond under supervisor Sing-Choong Foo.[2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [5](https://www.moriareviews.com/horror/silk-2006.htm) Taneda built an eerie replica of Taipei that the Taipei Times reviewer described as familiar and exotic at the same time; in a Cannes behind-the-scenes account, Taneda said he wanted Taiwanese viewers to recognize the city and yet feel it was not Taiwan.[2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [12](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2023/03/82915.pdf) Director Su said he did not want to shoot a dark horror or suspense movie.[12](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2023/03/82915.pdf)
## Cast
The film assembles an international cast: Chang Chen (張震) as Ye Chi-tung, Yosuke Eguchi (江口洋介) as Hashimoto, Karena Lam (林嘉欣) as Ye's girlfriend Du Jia-wei, Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) as Su Yuen, Chen Bolin (陳柏霖) as Ren, and Ning Chang (張鈞甯) as Mei, with Kuan-Po Chen as the ghost child and Wan Fang as the ghost mother.[2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [14](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486480/fullcredits/) Dialogue is in Mandarin, Japanese, English, and Taiwanese Hokkien.[10](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00020962) • [15](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2006/silk.shtml)
## Reception
Silk premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival as an official out-of-competition selection.[3](https://www.fridae.asia/gay-news/printable.php?articleid=7696) • [9](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/p-library/books/pots/POTS.428.pdf) It opened in Taiwan on September 29, 2006 and became the highest-grossing domestic film in Taiwan that year, with a Taipei box office of NT$22.18 million.[6](https://www.truemovie.com/2006moviedata/Silk.htm) • [4](https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/10871/14386/1/LinY.pdf) At the 2006 Golden Horse Awards it won Best Visual Effects and was nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Music.[10](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00020962)
Critical response was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 40% Tomatometer from 5 reviews and a 57% Popcornmeter score from more than 2,500 ratings.[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10006940-silk) Derek Elley of Variety wrote that the over-complicated script, which mixes science, ghost clichés, and the protagonists' personal problems, starts well but runs out of steam after the first 40 minutes.[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10006940-silk) The Taipei Times praised the lively cinematography, editing, and set design, and noted Chang Chen's growth as an actor, while criticizing the lack of character development and the shift of emphasis from the scientific premise to personal relationships.[2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid gave it 3 of 4 stars, crediting writer-director Su with keeping the little ghost in plain sight and creating spectral chills that jump-scares cannot equal.[15](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2006/silk.shtml) [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter)'s Ray Bennett found the film reliant on dramatic music for its thrills but easily forgave the flaws.[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10006940-silk) A Taiwan Cinema Year Book retrospective placed Silk among 2006's high-budget local productions that gave viewers an experience similar to *Double Vision* in 2002.[17](https://www.tfai.org.tw/Content/TFI/PublicInfo/%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%B9%B4%E9%91%912007%E5%B9%B4.pdf)
## Versions and legacy
Reported running times differ by source: 108 minutes in Taiwanese listings, 117 minutes in the Taipei Times film notes, and 107 minutes for the 2008 Japanese theatrical release.[10](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00020962) • [2](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765) • [18](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0006711) The Region 1 DVD was released on June 12, 2007, with a Tartan Video US edition including a making-of featurette, an alternate ending, deleted scenes, and outtakes.[6](https://www.truemovie.com/2006moviedata/Silk.htm) • [15](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2006/silk.shtml) A scholarly study of twenty-first-century Taiwan cinema records that Silk was the highest-grossing domestic film in Taiwan in 2006 and received a DVD release in Japan.[4](https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/10871/14386/1/LinY.pdf)
## References
1. [Silk (2006), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486480/)
2. [A sci-fi ghost story about love, Taipei Times, September 29, 2006](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2006/09/29/2003329765)
3. [Silk, Fridae Movie Club, October 10, 2006](https://www.fridae.asia/gay-news/printable.php?articleid=7696)
4. [Transnational Connections in Taiwan Cinema of the 21st Century, University of Exeter](https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/10871/14386/1/LinY.pdf)
5. [Silk (2006), Moria, The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review](https://www.moriareviews.com/horror/silk-2006.htm)
6. [詭絲 Silk, Truemovie](https://www.truemovie.com/2006moviedata/Silk.htm)
7. [Silk, Chao-Bin Su (2006), SciFi-Movies](https://www.scifi-movies.com/en/short/0002175/silk-2006/)
8. [Taiwan's CMC unveils big-budget Silk, Screen Daily, June 16, 2005](https://www.screendaily.com/taiwans-cmc-unveils-big-budget-silk/4023479.article)
9. [POTS No. 428, movie poster advertisement for Silk](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/p-library/books/pots/POTS.428.pdf)
10. [詭絲 Silk, LiTV](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00020962)
11. [值得驕傲的里程碑「詭絲（Silk）」, 放映週報 No. 79, 2006](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/article/8069)
12. [Silk, Behind the Scenes, Festival de Cannes](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2023/03/82915.pdf)
13. [Silk (Taiwan, 2006) review, AsianMovieWeb](https://www.asianmovieweb.com/en/reviews/silk.htm)
14. [Silk (2006) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486480/fullcredits/)
15. [Silk (2006) review, Combustible Celluloid](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2006/silk.shtml)
16. [Silk, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10006940-silk)
17. [2006年台灣電影回顧, Taiwan Cinema Year Book 2007](https://www.tfai.org.tw/Content/TFI/PublicInfo/%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E5%B9%B4%E9%91%912007%E5%B9%B4.pdf)
18. [シルク (2006), シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0006711)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Horror thriller films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026; Nov 11, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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