Tee Yod

A family living in a farm is struck with supernatural occurrences which coincide with one member getting sick. The story's structure, like the other commenters said, is typical, even the personalities of some of the characters. That's not necessarily bad, but the film has to have strong details to make it unique from the others in the genre, not to mention cohesive storytelling--and that's where the film missed the mark.

Folk horror films rely heavily on the legend, and this legend has to be explained, especially if the film makers intend to screen it internationally. The legend of the antagonist on this film was just scratched on the surface, and the "rules" were sketchy. Too much exposition is bad but it should be enough for the viewers to understand how things really work. We didn't get that here. Maybe on the sequel?

From the first third of the film, there were already disconnects. There were reactions from characters that were out-of-place; sometimes they reacted too much considering what they only knew, sometimes they said things too early. It's like there were deleted scenes or maybe misplaced ones.

The acting in this film was mixed. One actor was great but there were some who I don't know if they just chose to act that way or the film makers told them to. One character looks overly concerned at times while one character was often nonchalant. I'm not sure if it was meant to be comedic but it made me laugh, I thought it was a horror-comedy film. That's a minus for the atmosphere.

There were also too many characters. That two-hour run time should have been used to flesh out the legend, give more time to the antagonist rather than give dialogue to characters that were hardly used.

The positive on this film is it had creepy moments scattered across those two hours. It had a nice opening scene, the antagonist was scary, the characters are likable, and early on I thought it had the potential to be like 2021's The Medium; however, the insufficient legend information, and the confusing storytelling and atmosphere made this film a wasted opportunity.

I should be giving this film a 6 if not for the big contradictory information it had. There were two contradicting statements made about a character. It's an important detail in the mystery so it's surprising it went unchecked. I'm hoping the sequel is better.

This is one first Thai films I have watched and I watched with English subtitles. These did not always translate well so I felt a little confused about what was happening at times and some of the jokes didn't really make sense when translated. I also found that the plot was very formulaic and it was difficult to understand what the characters motivations were. Some of the characters like the two brothers contributed nothing to the plot and just felt like they were there because they were in the original story. I still found it scary but I didn't think it brought anything new to the table in terms of the horror genre. Overall, good film but not amazing.

As another reviewer already mentioned, this movie feels a little like the Thai version of Evil Dead. The production value is obviously not as high, and I don't even want to compare the two. However, I had a decent time with this horror movie and thought it had a few genuinely well-crafted scares.

There are also lots of cheap jump scares, and the effects look a little poor at times, but it wasn't too distracting to the point of breaking immersion. The characters and dialogue were a little wonky at times, and the premise is nothing too original. However, the movie is crafted with passion and has a really dark atmosphere and provides some nice moments for fans of gore.

It ends with a big cliffhanger leading into the second part, which has already been released. Because of this, it works much better as a double feature, as the ending of this movie alone felt quite unsatisfying.

Overall, it's a decent horror movie from Thailand, and I enjoyed the majority of it, though I think the runtime could have been trimmed a little for a smoother narrative [5.9/10]

Plus points:

• Very good-looking actors, ok use of sound
• The film itself is a no-brainer, therefore, suitable for average audience looking for pure entertainment

Minus points:

• Awkward interaction between characters as a family.

• The acting is almost too obvious
• Tee Yod regurgitates every element of a stereotypical horror movies, especially the overwhelming number of jump-scares. The film is generic as a result.

• Weak scriptwriting - no intensification, easy problem-solving throughout which renders the film ending extremely frustrating.

• Horrible visual effects
• A lot of underdeveloped characters
• The film fails to accentuate the power of the villain, thereby the devil seems to be an insane person rather than a transcendental entity.

Enjoyed it, very much so that it wasn't scary to be suspenseful. I love the scary movies, I'm afraid of ghosts, but the mind wants to fight them and find out, and we don't expect them to be this gruesome. The story is an excellent story, for me, midway through to the end, there's hardly any time to catch a breath from a ghost, because ghosts are present most of the time, and ghosts are incredibly distracting to keep you confused. Although I was somewhat disappointed in the story, which could have been told a little more in depth. As of now, it's not quite as detailed yet, + the movie goes on formula. A ghost movie that can only guess what will happen next, and some elements don't seem entirely natural.