Long khong

The horror was pretty basic, but for a 2005 film this might be pretty shocking back then. What amaze me the most is the writing and how (what the kids says these days) "woke" it is even by 2020 standards that there are no heroes nor villains in life.

This film essentially begins with a young high school student named "Ta" (Namo Tongkumnerd) having a serious problem with his stepmother "Aajaan Panor" (Napakpapha Nakprasitte) who physically and verbally abuses him at every opportunity. Although he doesn't disclose much to his friends, they all have a mutual problem with the high school coach who bullies them mercilessly. So, when a rumor begins that both Aajaan--who is a teacher at their high school--and the coach are having an affair, they decide to video the two of them in the act in order to turn the tables on them. What they don't count on is the coach becoming aware of their spying and in a fit of rage forcing them to watch as he sexually abuses one of the female students. Horrified at this turn of events--and fearful of their future safety--they visit a local practitioner of black magic who reluctantly puts a deadly curse upon him. Not long afterward, the coach dies an extremely gory and brutal death. At the same time, the video of him and Aajaan goes public which not only humiliates her but forces her to go into seclusion into the countryside. Eventually, time passes and two years later, all six of the high school students reunite and go to the countryside to visit Ta and his family. What they don't realize is that Aajaan has suspected at least one of them for releasing the video and has some powerful black magic of her own in store for them when they arrive. Now rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this movie had several good things going for it which includes some beautiful jungle scenery, decent horror for the most part and an extremely gorgeous actress in Napakpapha Nakprasitte. One obvious fault, however, was the extremely sophomoric English dubbing which would have been perfect for a cartoon--but definitely not for a horror film of this sort. To that extent, I would have much preferred listening to it in Thai and having barely passable English subtitles instead. It was really that bad. Again though, it did have some good qualities and--all things being equal--I have rated this film accordingly. Average.

In Art of the Devil 2, which is not a sequel in any traditional sense of the word, the Seven Ronin team of directors delve into another exploration of Thai witchcraft, which apparently shares little with its Western counterpart. In this movie, as in the first, the object is revenge, the tools are those of black magic, and the price is sanity. The witchcraft of these movies is messy, deadly, and the cost to the practitioner is as great as to the victim. Six students visit the remote home of a former teacher, who is also the stepmother of one of the youths. Death and blood follow as the young people learn that their actions, as a group and as individuals, have marked them for vengeance. Art of the Devil 2 is related to the first only by the theme of Thai curses, which are by far more imaginative than anything brought to the American screen. There are weaknesses, such as the quality of the translation track and the cheap effect, but the movie succeeds by imagining a world in which dangerous curses can kill from a distance, where witches can appear and disappear at will, in which the dead dance silently just out of sight of everyone but you, and in which the cost of revenge is the soul of the wronged. This is not gentle stuff; cannibalism, corpse mutilation and bloody rituals are abundant, but on the whole the picture succeeds in doing something not seen from American directors in many years.

Remember that movie about the guy who wanted revenge for the death of his son and had a monster unleashed that he could not control? I can't remember the name, but the warning is the same. Dabble in black magic and it could come back to bite you.

That's all I can say about this movie. Thai Black magic and some really gory stuff. The problem is that it takes a lifetime to get there, and the trip is very painful. Painful in the sense that there wasn't anyone in this film that resembled an actor.

If it's blood you are fishing for, then you'll catch it, but at what cost?

In Bangkok, five former high school friends are informed that the father of their friend Ta committed suicide. Ta is the son of Prowaet, who got married with their English teacher Panor and together they had a son, Nong. The student of medicine Kim and her boyfriend Por that studies in law school, the student of engineering Ko and Noot that is studying English to move to Australia with her gay friend Tair decide to reunite and travel to the country for the ceremony of cremation. While traveling by train, Kim recalls an incident two years ago in their last year in school, when they had been abused by their couch and lover of Panor when they found their affair. The students, seeking revenge, asked the Cambodian voodooist Pawn to cast a black magic against the couch, who mysteriously died after fishing. Once in the village, they spend the night with Ta and his stepmother Panor in their isolated house in the jungle nearby a river, when creepy things happen and their horror begin.

"Long Khong" is a creepy, gruesome and gore tale of witchcraft and insanity. The story is really scary, and has some nasty and cruel scenes: the worst is the sequence when the teenager is tortured with hot water and burned by a torch. The story follows the pattern of the good Asian horror movies, with secrets and revelations being disclosed in the last moments, like the last parts of a puzzle. This macabre type of voodoo with corpses is unusual in Western movies. The screenplay is very well tight, with great lines, and I liked the wise thought of Kim: "The future is what we want to be; the past defines us". The direction is very precise, the special effects are impressive and the cast has great performances. The lead actress is extremely gorgeous, and unfortunately I do not know her name. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Arte do Demônio" ("The Art of the Devil")