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Reviews
Puen Tee Raluek (2017)
Competent ghost movie
Boum is 15 years old, the priveleged daughter of a property developer who reneges on a suicide pact with her friend, after their father's are both bankrupted in an economic crisis. 20 years later, she is refinancing the vacant and abandoned failed development that was the site of their broken pact when her teenage daughter attracts the attention of the restless and vengeful spirit of her dead friend.
It's a creepy premise and the stylish movie makes fairly good use of the excellent location (a real-life landmark in central Bangkok) and the plush apartment Boum now lives in.
The rules of the haunting are inconsistent, which is usual in movies trying to fit in as many jump scares. The ghost has the power to possess people in sleep, move objects, control lights and and can also manifest herself in various locations. Given how powerful she is it is not clear what is stopping her achieving her revenge on Boum. I found that aspect of the story unsatisfying.
For English language viewers the subtitles are pretty basic and you only get a general idea of what is being said (the ghosts name is translated as 'instrument'. I hope this movie gets an international release and better subtitles.
One thing to be aware of, if you are at all sensitive to suicidal depictions, don't watch it because there is a lot of it. It was unnecessary for mother and daughter to compete to purposefully commit suicide to satisfy the ghosts plan, another plot device would probably be scarier and more believable.
It Follows (2014)
restrained and effective
I enjoyed the movie. The audience I was watching it with were a little weird at first (tittering and talking back at the screen, it was a film festival, they always seem to want to demonstrate their engagement with the the film early) But after a big fake scare early on, they settled down. The film was naturalistic for a horror film, the actors were wearing minimal makeup, the indoor settings looked to be locations as opposed to sets, and the performances restrained. It kind of reminded me of the Virgin Suicides, lots of girls with long blonde hair lying around and a story revolving around sex and death. The soundtrack was effective but it was definitely visually scary as well. It didn't rely solely on tricks to get its scares. The story jumped in places, and lagged in other places (the shots of expressionless blonde girls lingered too long to sustain my interest) It felt like there was symbolism, deeper meanings and themes running throughout, but i couldn't understand them. If I was meant to get something from the film it wasn't overt enough to be satisfying. However it worked on an entertainment level. The sequences I found to be most memorable were the wheelchair scene, the first attack in the house (especially the very tall man), the beach scene. The scenes I really didn't get was the boat scene, the pool, and the ending. I actually wanted the movie to go on a little longer.