P

Most Asian horror over the last two decades has been largely fantastic. Rings, Audition and Grudge to name but three. On the strength of those, i decided to give this a go.

So we have a movie that deals with poverty, witchcraft, underage prostitution and evil vampire spirits as its themes.

The acting is basic as is most things about this movie. However, it did keep me interested until the end with some twists and turns along the way.

There were some loose ends at the end of the movie that were never addressed such as the police officer and his investigation. The CGI was poor, as was the cinematography. It at this budget, what do you expect.

A young girl leaves her home in rural Thailand for a new start in the city of Bangkok. But not before an encounter leaves her possessed by an evil spirit. And when things start to go south in Bangkok, the girl and the spirit react.

P, I've only seen in Thai, with no subtitles, and I understand zero Thai. But I stll enjoyed it. It's a slow burn but well made and looks good. And is eerie in tone.

'P' is a film that explores the misuse of magic and when it can backfire and the need to resort to it to gain an upper hand over rivals or people who have hurt you. This is a strange film to have a horror theme but that is not to say it doesn't work - it works quite well in the surroundings the film has set up.

The film tells the story of Dau, a poor girl living in rural Thailand whose grandmother has taught her the arts of witchcraft. There are three rules apparently that can make a spell backfire on the person if they break them:

1. Never cross under a clothes line 2. Never eat raw meat 3. You can share the knowledge of the spells but do not accept any form of payment

Dau goes to work in a brothel in Bangkok in order to make money to send to her sick grandmother and ends up being in the usual competition with the other girls. So she decides to put some of her useful magic knowledge to good (or bad depending on how you want to look at it) use to gain an upperhand on some of them.

The performances in the film are pretty decent with the leading actress being very convincing in terms of the cute girl trapped in a world she doesn't really want to be in. The film also gives light social commentary on the lives of these girls who work in such places - they are in it for the money and it also shows how foreigners (mainly white guys) come in simply just to be entertained and to have sexual acts with them. In fact, the bar the girls work in is a bar for foreigners.

Out of the three rules, the first one doesn't really make sense to me - the other two made more sense as the film progressed but I don't see how going under a clothes line will cause any harm - but if it is the rules it is the rules.

The film perhaps gets less scary once you know what is going to happen with Dau once the supernatural elements kick in and it sort of goes into slasher territory but it is part of the fun. In fact, the first 40 mins or so feels more like the film is a story about a sex worker than a horror film but it spends time developing the context of its story so that was pretty well done.

It is a good film if you're a horror fan and it is weird to see this combined with elements of prostitution in its story - some parts don't work as well but overall it is pretty solid.

P is an excellent supernatural horror film from Thailand. The story is about a young girl who must leave her rural life for the city of Bangkok, in order to help her ailing grandmother. Upon arrival, she discovers that she must work as a dancer / prostitute to survive. When her co-workers begin to sabotage her efforts, she falls back on her grandmother's magical training to get even. Unfortunately, she ignores her grandmother's warnings, and drifts into the dark side of magic, leading to demonic possession, murder, and mutilation. A frightening cautionary tale...

I rate this movie 8, not because of the scares or supernatural effects. The rating is entirely based on the performances of the actresses and accurate depiction of how many girls get conned into a life of prostitution.

It's worth a watch for anyone interested in Thailand or other countries such as Philippines where girls can be rented at bars and clubs. It puts a human perspective on the whole affair which those frequenting the places might not think about or choose to ignore.

I'm not sure whether the movie glorifies the empowerment of girls who choose to work as prostitutes because of the high pay or condemns the exploitation of the innocent who are made to believe they're being done a favor when they're told someone *might* have "work" for them, during the initial stages of recruitment, keeping the facade until it is too late to back out.

The director and his friends certainly enjoy the Thai night life privately. The movie stands on its own though and I feel it does a good job at removing the veil on the business. How people react must be a personal decision. Both sides are shown, which avoids a preachy or too exploitative feeling.

The performances by the actresses were particularly authentic, considering most of them grew up in slums or work as porn stars or bar girls. The main actress had never acted before and donated her entire earnings to her sick mother. Eerily similar to the circumstances in the movie, although the real life events apparently had a happier outcome.

Though the "scary" parts of the movie don't mesh well with Western ideas of ghosts and magic, it closely fits with popular myth and superstition in Thailand and other neighboring countries. Especially the idea of human monsters that can feast on other people due to a variety of specific circumstances.

The sex in the movie is very low key. I think we spotted a couple of nip slips. The few sex scenes are more suggestive than explicit and they don't last very long. There is a fair amount of dancing, but it's also tame. The girls are pretty though and it's enjoyable to watch.

It's not a masterpiece, but to my knowledge it's unique in its scope and subject matter. The lead actress did a superb job and I hope we see more from her in the future.

My wife and I both enjoyed this movie and I think anyone with an open mind and an interest in eastern Asia will too.