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Program na winyan akat (2008)
Not quite the scare
What a bloody confusing title. "Coming Soon is now showing!"
Sorry, had to do that.
The only redeeming thing about calling the film Coming Soon is that it makes sense, after you've actually seen it. It combines film piracy and horror, which I think is a far more effective way keeping film pirates away from movie prints than anti-piracy trailers. The two film pirates here are Yod and Shane, both working as cinema projectionists who are assigned the task of recording an unreleased horror film, Revengeful Spirit. Turns out this film isn't just spooky film-wise, it seems haunted! (I'm sure you didn't expect that.) When Yod goes missing, Shane is convinced the deranged woman in the film is out to get him, and for that matter, anyone who watches a particular scene. Kinda like in The Ring, except consistent with Sopon Sukdapisit's writing efforts (Shutter and Alone), the "ghost" also has a sob story to tell. That's where the twist comes in, but it wouldn't be a twist if I told you, so
heh.
I like my horror movies with a good, meaty story, and Coming Soon offers quite a good spread, except it's plagued by more flaws and loopholes than I would've liked. It's disappointing to see glimmers of something potentially good get buried under a pile of clichéd scare tactics, something the movie does incessantly. Also, it's a bit slow on the pacing, which takes away a good part of the horror and surprise. On the whole, it has a very promising idea, though sadly the script needed a few more re-writes, and the writer himself could do with hiring a different director. This is Sopon Sukdapisit's directorial debut, though it looks like he's better off just doing the writing.
I wouldn't call Coming Soon scary, unless you're easily frightened. Think heavy make-up and sound effects. It has very little of the dreaded tension in Shutter and Alone, though I think that's a flaw due to the film's pacing and directing than the actual script. Some scenes border on being repetitive and annoying, so much so I found myself going, "I get it, I get it, OK?" There's good use of ambiance though, and
well, dark empty cinemas are already creepy anyway. More dramatic than scary, you probably won't feel crept out while watching it in the same setting as the supposedly haunted one in the film. The novelty of a horror movie set in a cinema hasn't been met, and I hope someone else does something about it.
The Reaping (2007)
More suspenseful than scary
Imagine dismissing this film as B-grade trash. After all, everything about the cover art screams "Cheap horror thrills"; the font, the swamp of locusts, even the tagline. Suddenly, you find yourself doing a double take because, hey, isn't that Hilary Swank on the cover? And didn't Hilary Swank, like, win two Oscars? You pick the DVD up, inspect it, and think, "What the hell, it's Hilary Swank and that girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. No harm watching something that looks promising." After all, it's a gamble between Swank bending low to get her paycheck, and a really good movie with a budget big enough to accommodate recognizable stars.
The movie is a suspense thriller based on the 10 Biblical Plagues of Egypt set in the present world. Relying mostly on the strange phenomenal events occurring in the film to engage its viewers, The Reaping can't exactly be classified as a cheesy and predictable B-grade horror film. Depending on your knowledge of the Bible, the ten plagues will amaze you by keeping you on the edge of your seat anticipating the next plague. It's not a whole yard different from the thrills of Jumanji, where the audience is captivated entirely by whatever is going to appear from the enchanted board game. As part of the ten plagues, there are instances of locusts attacks, dead frogs, bloodied rivers, unidentified diseases, flies et cetera et cetera. It's weirdly horrifying, to say the least.
As an investigative scholar, Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank), together with assistant Ben (Idris Elba), then goes to the apparent "cursed" town to set things right with scientific facts and figures. At first everything seems explainable when Katherine discovers an illegal stash of toxic waste in an underground oil well, but as coincidence heap upon coincidence, Katherine is forced to question her faith in science and logic. The film is quite subtle in its "screw logic, miracles are real" message, though ironically it takes a scripted movie to bring across "proof" of God's existence.
The Reaping doesn't quite impress as a horror flick, though the suspense in the film is quite something. Up and coming child actress AnnaSophia does a splendid job as the mysterious, aura-shrouded McConnell kid on suspicion for the murder of her brother, and even somehow overshadows Swank for her age.