Pee Mak Phrakanong

I saw this yesterday with kids in Netflix. Family friendly Thai movie. The genre is horror-comedy but it had more comedy than horror really.

Most of the ideas looks like we have copied in Tamil movies (specifically there is a scene completely copied in Darling movie- ghost gopal varma). It is stretched at places and would have done good to reduce the content.

Overall - it had some really laugh out loud comedy and I should say it used comedy very cleverly. It is a period film but makes current references - right from movies to history.

See if you have time to kill.

Pee mak Phrakanong was a movie that was surprisely good. The Director managed to have a nice mix of Comedy, Romance and Horror. It wasn't too much of anything.

I think you have to get adapted to the Thai humor. It is completely different compared western comedies, but I must admit that I can appreciate the Thai humor more than nowadays.

The movie didn't have way too much romance and the horror part was good. It wasn't the best horror or romance movie you'll probably have watched, but this three genre's are making it into a great movie. One of the better ones for me in 2013.

I watched this movie yesterday along with some new friends in Singapore,and this is the first Thai movie I have watched.I had watched the trailer of Pee Mak and thought I should watch it and boy,I was in for a treat as it turned out to be an amazing movie.What I liked the most about the movie is the perfect combination of horror and comedy.Its not like "scary movies" where the ghost is also funny and all.There is time where you are terrified with the horrific events but then the movie takes you to the opposite end of those emotions by putting some genuine comedy around it.I repeat,I quite liked how perfect the combination is.The stupidity of the boy characters and how well those characters are played out bring a lot of laughter (with tears in my case) is brilliant.And there is drama, some tiny plots that goes quite well with the story,and human emotions of love which does not want to let go of love even after death.This movie is highly recommended if you like to laugh a lot, and missing it just because you are not a fan of horror movies or Thai movies in common, would be a big miss.

I think the only other Thai movie I have seen before was the thrilling and haunting horror film "Shutter" (2004). After I watched "Pee Mak," I discovered that these two films were actually directed by the same man, Banjong Pisanthanakun. "Shutter" was his directorial debut, "Pee Mak" is his latest and biggest hit.

Mak came home from the battlefield with his four soldier friends, namely Puak (with the winged victory hairstyle), Ter (with the glasses), Shin (with the bun) and Aey (with the mustache). They were met by his beautiful wife Nak with their newborn baby boy. However, it did not take long for his four friends to notice something strange about Nak. This leads to a merry comedy of errors and terrors, Thai style.

Being in a foreign language and in set in the past, I am sure a lot of the nuances are lost in translation. However visual horror and slapstick comedy is universal. While "Pee Mak" is also a horror film, the more commercial and memorable aspect of this film is actually more of its comedy. The horror takes a back seat to the comedy here.

You just simple have to watch those hilarious sequences of the silly gang at the dinner table, playing charades, in the haunted house of the amusement park, the boat on the river and in the Buddhist temple with the monk! These scenes were laugh-out-loud funny beyond words!

A deglamorized Thai/German actor/model Mario Maurer(as Mak)and the four actors playing his friends indeed have great comic chemistry and timing together. They were such a delight playing cartoonish nincompoops and stupid idiots as they were terrorized by the ghostly presence around them.

Thai/Belgian actress/model Daveeka Hoorne also has her dramatic moments as Nak, as her character was mainly the straight man of this farce. I am sure she had a difficult time keeping a straight face in front of all that livid foolishness around her.

I am sure Filipino film fans will have a good time watching "Pee Mak". The inane comedy/horror genre is also very popular here. I am sure we can even think up of specific local comedians who can play these crazy roles. What "Pee Mak" adds is the Thai cultural setting that gives it that unique exotic and mystic feel that should not be missed. 7/10.

We were not disappointed. We laughed until our stomachs ached. Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter, Alone, 4bia, Phobia 2) is a freaking genius!  This time he used the over-used Nang Nak legend and craft out a comedy-horror fest. Yup, it's comedy first followed by horror.

If you are a fan of the best part of 4bia and Phobia 2, you will find yourself in the familiar company of the four irrelevant dudes. I thought we would be jaded since we are fans of the mentioned anthologies but we were laughing like nuts at all the ingenious situational comedy.  There are also quite a number of pop-culture references like Ang Lee, David Blaine, 300, Last Samurai thrown out at us with gusto.

It did get a bit repetitive in the middle act but the final climatic act in the monastery saved it. Pisanthanakun even brought on the indispensable melodrama then and it managed to surprise me with a nice twist on the legend I know quite well. Pisanthanakun could also balance the movie very well - shifting from comedy to horror in a heartbeat. But he had great help from the 4 actors whose comic timing is just impeccable.