The Thai horror films I've seen have all been pretty similar, neatly packaged (but effective) ghost stories heavy on the scares. This film goes for a much greater degree of complexity, but I'm afraid it may have overreached itself a little bit. Other reviews will familiarize you with the plot. I'll just say that the "twist" halfway through - that the entire movie up to then has been a movie in the filming process - is interesting, no doubt, but feels very unnecessary. The two segments have very little to do with each other, other than the first half serving as a gigantic red herring for the second. I will go ahead and reveal that the ghost responsible for the mayhem in the second part has no relation to the first part. In fact, it seems almost like the director had two very good ghost story ideas but couldn't make a full movie out of either, so simply decided to throw them together.
All that aside, if you're just after scares "The Victim" serves up its fair share. Even this aspect feels a little disorganized, though. There are a couple truly well-done, beautifully eerie scenes that really add to the atmosphere, but the movie is packed with rapid-fire scares that get very desensitizing very fast. I found myself actually wishing that they would slow down and build some tension.
As strange as it may sound, "The Victim" might do well as two short films. The theme of victim-hood certainly applies well to both halves. As two films in one, though, it's something of a mess. However, it still shows some really good ideas and even a certain touch of elegance, and might be preferable to many Asian horror flicks.
All that aside, if you're just after scares "The Victim" serves up its fair share. Even this aspect feels a little disorganized, though. There are a couple truly well-done, beautifully eerie scenes that really add to the atmosphere, but the movie is packed with rapid-fire scares that get very desensitizing very fast. I found myself actually wishing that they would slow down and build some tension.
As strange as it may sound, "The Victim" might do well as two short films. The theme of victim-hood certainly applies well to both halves. As two films in one, though, it's something of a mess. However, it still shows some really good ideas and even a certain touch of elegance, and might be preferable to many Asian horror flicks.