Khon len khong

This film essentially begins with a young woman by the name of "Boom" (Supakson Chaimongkol) having an affair with a rich businessman and accidentally getting pregnant during this time. Realizing that he is extremely wealthy, she goes to him and demands a large amount of money--which he immediately pays. Having done that, however, he then has her gang-raped by several associates just for spite. So, after recovering from this horrific event, she subsequently demands more money--but this time she is beaten up for her efforts. Completely enraged, she seeks out a practitioner in black magic who casts an evil spell on all of those who raped her--to include the businessman's entire family as well. Sure enough, not long afterward, all of these people die in such an extremely gruesome manner that it catches the attention of a journalist named "Danai" (Somchai Satuthum) who immediately begins to investigate these incidences under the suspicion that black magic is somehow involved. Meanwhile, thinking that her unborn child is now the only heir to a fortune, Boom is shocked to learn of a court settlement granting the businessman's estate to his former common law wife "Kamala" (Krongthong Ratchatawan) and her children instead. Quite livid at this new development, she quickly devises a plan to ingratiate herself with this family while at the same time employing the same black magic specialist to destroy them in the process. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film turned out to be a rather standard Thai horror film which suffered somewhat from a lack of character development and an overabundance of repetitive death scenes. That being said, while this wasn't necessarily a bad film by any means, it could have used some improvement and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Fans of unusual Asian horror will no doubt be familiar with the spate of weird and rather unsavoury films that emerged from Hong Kong in the early 80s; titles such as The Devil, Seeding of a Ghost, Centipede Horror, Calamity of Snakes, and Devil Fetus delivered disgusting gore mixed with black magic, and quite often featured a plethora of slimy or creepy critters (bugs, worms, eels, snakes etc.) crawling from corpses or victims' mouths.

Thailand's 2004 horror Art of the Devil, from director Tanit Jitnukul, is very reminiscent of such films: it's a revenge film that sees a woman using magic to torment and kill the family of a man who wronged her. It features some nasty gore, plenty of hokey voodoo rituals (including one that involves the use of a dead baby!), and LOTS of eels, but although it has the occasional good moment, the film is rather tedious overall, not as nasty as I had expected, and is hampered by some mediocre acting.

Jitnukul's direction is slick and the film has a very polished look, but with a narrative that meanders rather aimlessly until the predictable conclusion, plus lots of confusing flashbacks, it's hard to stay interested for the duration. Lead actresses Arisa Wills and Supakson Chaimongkol (as vengeful bitch, Boom) are both easy on the eye, and provide a little incentive to remain focused, but, in the end, Art of the Devil proves to be nothing more than another forgettable horror flick.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

In ART OF THE DEVIL, a woman uses black magic to destroy her ex-lover and his family, after he abuses and humiliates her.

This is an underrated, supernatural revenge film from Thailand. It uses religion, superstition, and human frailty to tell its story of betrayal and a family curse. Some of the death sequences are unforgettable, like the vomiting of razor blades, and a hospital room floor covered in blood and eels! Very effective, but not for the fainthearted!...

This is the Thai answer to all those black magic horror films made in Hong Kong during the 1970s and '80s. The plot is virtually the same, involving a jilted lover and her efforts to punish the man who abandoned her by resorting to black magic (the same plot was used in 1981's BEWITCHED). However, while those films have gone down as gruesome classics of horror cinema, ART OF THE DEVIL is a somewhat lacklustre retelling of the same story.

The problems lie in the technical details. This is a poorly edited film and the director doesn't seem to want to make the events that play out very clear. It's also overlong, with the second half of the movie introducing an unbelievable plot twist as the villainess goes after more innocent folk – this time her lover's ex-wife! It's little more than an excuse for more gruesome deaths but the novelty quickly wears off.

The cast isn't particularly good for a film of this calibre. There's plenty of overacting – especially from the villainess - and little subtlety, aside from the actor playing the investigative reporter. There ARE some good gruesome bits, one involving the old joke with a victim having an evil presence under his skin, and his efforts to cut it out. Of course there are also moments of bad taste, as is the norm for this genre of production. A guy vomits up eels in one unpleasant scene while the nastiest bit involves the rotting corpse of a baby being used in a ritual. Such moments come few and far between however, and this is a case of style over substance. In the end it's a disappointment, feeling like a half-hearted attempt to emulate the classics of old.

The title was intriguing but that's actually it. This movie was a complete disaster on every level. The acting was stiff and unconvincing, with performances that left me cringing instead of connecting with the characters. The plot? It felt like a jumbled mess, with no real direction or purpose, just dragging on without anything meaningful happening. The execution of the whole thing was just as bad-poor direction, sloppy pacing, and cringeworthy dialogue. If you're thinking about watching it, just take my word for it: I suffered through it so you don't have to. Save yourself the time and frustration.