I've recently begun to explore the world of Thai cinema and I'm pleased to say that Thai action films certainly kick backside – I'm talking the likes of BANG RAJAN, ONG BAK, WARRIOR KING, and BORN TO FIGHT. But what, you might ask, of Thai horror films? My first experience of a fright flick from Thailand is LIZARD WOMAN and I'm afraid to say that it's a negative one; LIZARD WOMAN is an often dull, confusingly edited and derivative horror flick that makes little sense and instead recalls some of the really schlocky and cheesy horror films that came out of America in the 1980s.
Asia have had a long run of success when combining reptiles with horror – for instance, there were all those rampaging giant monster kaiju flicks from Japan and all of the possessed snake-woman flicks from Indonesia. LIZARD WOMAN could have recalled the latter glory days, but unfortunately it seems to rely on inferior US horror movies for inspiration. The opening scene, in which a group of cave-miners are picked off one by one by lizards in a haunted house, is extraordinarily reminiscent of cheesy US slasher movies, and things don't get much better after that.
The good points of the film lie in the camera-work, which is often crisp and clear and attractive, and the acting, which can't be faulted. Barijindakul, who played a supporting role in ONG BAK, is pretty good in the titular role and has something naturally eerie about her which she plays on successfully. The other characters tend to be a bit stereotypical (the dashing doctor, the tribal elder, etc.) but there's a good performance from another ONG BAK star, Pantanaunkul, who takes the role of David Warner in THE OMEN; he's a photographer who finds strange things appearing in the photos he takes. You might remember Pantanaunkul as the hulking, drug-injecting, tattooed bad guy whom Tony Jaa fought with at the end of ONG BAK, and while he doesn't really suit being on the side of good – Pantanaunkul as an actor just looks too evil for that – it's still great to have him along.
Another detraction in the film is the special effects, which are unfortunately done with CGI and therefore look very fake all the way through. Even the spraying blood is done with CGI. The lizards themselves never look like they're really interacting on screen with the actors. However, saying that, as a horror film the requisite blood and gore are present, albeit in short, sharp bursts. Faces are bitten by reptiles, eyeballs are torn out, and fingers and feet chewed away. There are also some very gory heart-tearing (and eating) scenes that surprisingly made it into a 15 certificate film. My favourite scene, though, recalled the bit in HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE where Maggie Smith jumps through a classroom and transforms into a cat halfway through the air; the same happens here, except the lizard woman turns into a lizard, jumps through a man's body, and emerges as a human from the other side! The film does have some fun, cheesy moments but these are few and far between. There's an exorcism copied straight from THE EXORCIST and a neat bit where the lizard woman shinnies up a tree, plus some disgusting blood vomiting and a rampage in a hospital. The denouement features a guy getting chewed on by about a hundred lizards and is good fun and somehow the film makers throw in some topless women to appeal to the male crowd. While these kind of features stop LIZARD WOMAN from being a total bore, unfortunately it fails to hang together as a complete film and serves as an oddity only.
Asia have had a long run of success when combining reptiles with horror – for instance, there were all those rampaging giant monster kaiju flicks from Japan and all of the possessed snake-woman flicks from Indonesia. LIZARD WOMAN could have recalled the latter glory days, but unfortunately it seems to rely on inferior US horror movies for inspiration. The opening scene, in which a group of cave-miners are picked off one by one by lizards in a haunted house, is extraordinarily reminiscent of cheesy US slasher movies, and things don't get much better after that.
The good points of the film lie in the camera-work, which is often crisp and clear and attractive, and the acting, which can't be faulted. Barijindakul, who played a supporting role in ONG BAK, is pretty good in the titular role and has something naturally eerie about her which she plays on successfully. The other characters tend to be a bit stereotypical (the dashing doctor, the tribal elder, etc.) but there's a good performance from another ONG BAK star, Pantanaunkul, who takes the role of David Warner in THE OMEN; he's a photographer who finds strange things appearing in the photos he takes. You might remember Pantanaunkul as the hulking, drug-injecting, tattooed bad guy whom Tony Jaa fought with at the end of ONG BAK, and while he doesn't really suit being on the side of good – Pantanaunkul as an actor just looks too evil for that – it's still great to have him along.
Another detraction in the film is the special effects, which are unfortunately done with CGI and therefore look very fake all the way through. Even the spraying blood is done with CGI. The lizards themselves never look like they're really interacting on screen with the actors. However, saying that, as a horror film the requisite blood and gore are present, albeit in short, sharp bursts. Faces are bitten by reptiles, eyeballs are torn out, and fingers and feet chewed away. There are also some very gory heart-tearing (and eating) scenes that surprisingly made it into a 15 certificate film. My favourite scene, though, recalled the bit in HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE where Maggie Smith jumps through a classroom and transforms into a cat halfway through the air; the same happens here, except the lizard woman turns into a lizard, jumps through a man's body, and emerges as a human from the other side! The film does have some fun, cheesy moments but these are few and far between. There's an exorcism copied straight from THE EXORCIST and a neat bit where the lizard woman shinnies up a tree, plus some disgusting blood vomiting and a rampage in a hospital. The denouement features a guy getting chewed on by about a hundred lizards and is good fun and somehow the film makers throw in some topless women to appeal to the male crowd. While these kind of features stop LIZARD WOMAN from being a total bore, unfortunately it fails to hang together as a complete film and serves as an oddity only.