Ghost of Mae Nak

Ghost of Mae Nak is not the traditional horror film viewers of the genre may be accustomed to. Although the movie makers obviously attempt to frighten the audience, the film is based on Thai folklore, and in this sense works more as a story that could be told to children around a camp fire, than a grisly tale destined to provoke fear. For those after a film that provides an endless amount of terror, you may want to look elsewhere. If you are interested in a movie where the horror elements take a backseat, while the story consistently remains in the foreground, then this particular feature might be for you.

Unlike other films in the horror genre, where the audience is treated only to small glimpses of the apparition for the majority of the feature until the final quarter, in this particular film, viewers are immediately greeted by Mae Nak in the first few minutes. The image of a woman with jet black eyes and a gaping mouth is not something we haven't seen before, and the inclusion of a hole in the center of her forehead does little to heighten the level of terror.

On many an occasion, moments meant to scare the audience are not only predictable, but more than half the time the movie falls into the trap of enveloping many of its scenes under the shroud of darkness, and rather than reeling backwards in terror, we are leaning forwards, squinting at the screen. Due to the level of darkness, a vast number of shadows are present, and it seems that an opportunity to use these to advantageously increase the level of horror was unfortunately overlooked.

Again, in contrast with horror movies that frequently use stereotypical genre tropes, Ghost of Mae Nak becomes heavily reliant on music, to the point that sometimes it seemed the score reserved for moments of horror was being played unnecessarily to provoke a response. Due to this, the suspenseful moments of the film, although sometimes initially exciting, never truly keep the audience enthused.

Moreover, although a couple of the death scenes are very impressive in their execution, the level of overacting that occasionally accompanies these moments prevents the audience from taking the scene seriously. Before one particular individual is decapitated, the scene of his mouth wide open in fear, hands extended out before him, appears less like legitimate fear, and more like a poor imitation.

This aside, Pataratida Pacharawirapong as Nak deserves kudos for her acting capabilities, exhibiting reactions that are as entertaining as they are real. She, alongside fiancé Mak (Siwat Chotchaicharin) purchase a house in Phrakhanong for them to move into once they are wed, the place they will soon call their residence having a long history, been one of the oldest homes in the area. Mak is immediately plagued by ghostly images in his dreams, but after a horrific tragedy cripples the young couple, they are forced to turn towards otherworldly means of support. Though the ghost of Mae Nak appears eager to assist the couple, how can you trust a ghost, especially one with a vengeful past, for what ulterior motives could she possibly possess?

The familial bonds, alongside the connections of friendship and love are well articulated, and the character dramas that transpire are effectively incorporated into the plot. Furthermore, despite the aforementioned scenes of darkness, the environments viewers are presented with really bring the world the characters reside in to life, Thailand been shown for the country it is, rather than the mirage that outsiders may occasionally imbue it as, a tactic similarly used in the Singaporean horror film The Maid.

Although Ghost of Mae Nak could never be hailed as a terrific horror movie, the film captures the culture and feel of the region, and does justice to a traditional folk story that obviously has much significance.

The synopsis and the DVD cover to this movie does have a certain appeal, and it does give you some sense of hope and expectation to the movie. However, don't get your hopes up too high.

For a horror movie, then "Ghost of Mae Nak" is fairly slow and anything but scary, bordering on being overly predictable at times. Plus there are random scenes where the ghost is shown and then they just cut to some other scene, leaving you clueless as to what happened after the ghost appeared, and also raises a big question mark as to why people wouldn't be scared out of their pants after having seen a ghost that up close and personal.

The story told in "Ghost of Mae Nak" is about an ancient tale of love between Mae Nak and Mak. And oddly enough, it today's time, there is a young couple in love with similar names Nak and Mak. It is said that the ghost of Mae Nak will come between anyone who would stand between her and her true love.

I will say that the storyline itself is adequate, although there are no scares at any times throughout the movie. Plus it also becomes rather predictable at times. The movie was suffering from an overhanging sense that no one was really scared given their predicament and situation, which made the movie have an approach which just lead to you not really buying that much into it.

As for the special effects, well they were there, and they were adequate. Not top of the line Hollywood blockbuster effects, but effective enough and doing what they are supposed to do.

There was a single turn of events that I hadn't seen coming. Without saying what it was, it is towards the end of the movie, at the temple scene. It was actually a nice touch, but it didn't manage to pull up the overall enjoyment of the movie as a whole.

The idea with the bone amulet was a nice touch to the movie, though, I will say that much.

For a Thai ghost and horror movie, then "Ghost of Mae Nak" is a fairly standard movie, that offers nothing new to the genre, nor does it hold any scares or overly spooky moments. If you enjoy Thai and Asian horror (and ghost) movies, then there are far better movies available.

Siwat Chotchaicharin is a very good actor in this movie. It is custom that if spirits like this show up its because they are there to to protect you. Good scary movie and the English subtitles are good for learning English.

This movie essentially begins with a young man named "Mak" (Siwat Chotchaicharin) having recurring nightmares about a ghastly woman with black teeth and a black rectangular mark on her forehead coming toward him. These dreams cause him to wake up in a state of panic. So he tells his fiancé, "Nak" (Pataratida Pacharawirapong) about it and she does her best to reassure him that everything will be fine after their wedding in another week. Unfortunately, the dreams intensify immediately after they get married and buy a home. Yet, although the apparition is indeed frightening, it also takes a deadly vengeance on those who attempt to wrong either Mak or Nak. Such is the wraith's violent nature. But one day when Mak is involved in an accident, which causes him to go into a coma, things begin to take a terrible turn for the worse. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie, I will just say that this is not the original story of the ghost known as "Mae Nak" (played in this particular film by Porntip Papanai) but rather a continuation of the legend transplanted into a modern urban location. The acting was decent and the special effects were adequate enough as well. Likewise, having two attractive actresses like Karnchanit Summakul (as "Noi") along with the aforementioned Pataratida Pacharawirapong certainly didn't hurt matters either. Additionally, I liked the location of the film (Bangkok) and I thought the CD cover was quite artistic as well. However, having said all of that I must confess that there weren't very many scenes out of the ordinary which would have made this movie really stand out. In short, it was an interesting movie but nothing really special and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Moving into a new house, a newlywed and her husband come under attack by a malevolent ghost that soon turns its attention to their friends, forcing her to discover the long-held secret of her return and stop the rampage from continuing.

This one turned out better than expected. One of the elements that's really impressive here is the fact that the haunting scenes are top- notch, delivering a lot of nice scenes. The opening dream opens the film strong with the initial appearance of the ghost delivers a solid shock with it's banging noises and really off-beat jump, as well as a couple of other brief ghostly visions from out-of-nowhere especially work. The appearance in the house during the walk-through is pretty nice with the unearthly noises that only he can hear, the gag with the mirror and the second dream-sequence complete with the disappearance and a brilliant gag to wrap it in, make this one a real highlight. The stand-out sequence, where the ghost attacks thieves inside a small van, is an absolutely classic using darkness mixed with the brilliant gag of flashing light intermittently to see coupled with the comeuppance of the gang at the end, which makes this so fun. The film's other supernatural action is also really enjoyable, including the two main hospital scenes. The first sequence with the levitating body in front of the priest while the others disturb the burial site is one of the better scenes in the film, as the surgeon's test where the ghost physically prevents others from interacting with the body is a great visual and comes off rather well. The action-packed finale where the race to get the ghost action resolved meshes well with the exorcism performed elsewhere, and a fun twist capped onto the end of it all makes for a rather enjoyable and exciting conclusion. Along with the fact that the ghost is actually really creepy with its faded eyes, blacked-out mouth and teeth and an eerie dark spot on its head and the great kills in here, these film's good points here are more than enough to hold up over the couple flaws to this one. One of the biggest is that this one really has a convoluted back-story that is so hard to understand, there are repeated attempts to explain it and none of them do much good. One of the biggest obstacles in that regard is that the characters in the flashback have the same names as the current protagonists even though there's no possession going on, along with the fact that it seems to wipe out the meaning of events after they happened and offer up a second, slightly different explanation for it all just makes it all the more confusing and incredibly hard to understand. There's also the flaw in here where the film's languid pacing produces a long opening at the begging as it does take a while to get going with its good scenes while there's also the rather overlong and unneeded flashback scene which just drags the film out a little longer than what it should be. These here are the film's problems.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language.