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 legend of the ghost of Nang Nak is a part of Thai folklore, the story of an 19th Century 'angry ghost' who lived in a bucolic palm-fringed village outside of Bangkok named Pra Khanong..

By 2005, Pra Khanong is part of the dirty old metropolis, the giant grey concrete slab of Bangkok. No longer a place for a rural ghost.

I have never even been there - there's no compelling reason to go. It is ten minutes from where I live, but it is just another part of inner city urban blight nowadays.

This movie works because it treats Bangkok not as a glitzy tourist venue, full of pachyderms, tuk tuks, ladyboys and long-tail boats, but a functioning, ordinary, third-world city in which regular Thai people live with limited budgets and modern fears.

Into this is transported a semi-Gothic, semi J-Horror story, that derives from the old mythology.

Thai movies are often unsophisticated, self-referential and burlesque. This one doesn't fall into that trap, perhaps because it is Directed by a Westerner and doesn't play to stereotype.

I liked it.

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.

There are so many things that went wrong in this movie that it's hard to find any redeeming factors. This is complete garbage and a massive waste of time.

The ghost was one of the most pathetic attempts at horror I've ever seen. The special effects were cringe-worthy and the acting was over the top in a laughable attempt to make us empathize with the characters. The actors simply recited their lines, which often consisted of redundant information we heard ten times before in the movie. We hear the same lines over and over again. Apparently the scriptwriter thought we need to have the most obvious information spelled out for us, and then repeated some 100 times in case we forgot.

The story, while not horrible, was uninspired, paper-thin and full of plot holes you could see from a mile, while the plot progression and pace were mostly non-existent. Nothing ever happens in this movie except for some Final Destination inspired deaths. Characters appear and then disappear without ever knowing what happened to them or why they were in the movie at all, in an effort to increase the body count. It's nothing you've never seen before, but this takes the cake for bad execution of an average story.

The only thing that might incite some interest might be the good insight into the traditions and legends of Thai culture. The movie sure takes its time to illustrate some rituals and ceremonies, but by then you'll surely be too bored to even care.

It baffles me that people have found this movie to be more than average. I decided to watch it based on the relatively good reviews on this site, but now I must say it's among the worst movies I've seen in the Asian horror genre or Asian cinema for that matter. Avoid like the plague!

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.