Jom kha mung wej

I stumbled upon the 2005 Thai horror fantasy movie "Jom Kha Mung Wej" (aka "Necromancer"), and opted to watch it given the title. Sure, I had never heard about this movie from writers Piyapan Choopetch and Kittikorn Liasirikun, but Thailand tends to make some rather enjoyable horror movies. And of course with "Jom Kha Mung Wej" being an Asian horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I had to watch it.

Well, I didn't get much out of watching "Jom Kha Mung Wej". Perhaps it is because I am not a Thai, nor especially traversed with Thai folk lore and superstitions. The movie is heavily centered on superstitions, and if you are unfamiliar with Thai superstitions and rituals connected there to, then you won't actually find much entertainment value in "Jom Kha Mung Wej", I'm afraid.

"Jom Kha Mung Wej" fell short of providing me with much of any entertainment or enjoyment, and it was difficult to keep up with the story, as nothing made sense, and I literally didn't know or understand what went on. So "Jom Kha Mung Wej" is a movie for a select Thai audience.

I wasn't familiar with the actors and actresses in the movie, but they put on adequate enough performances, despite the fact that I didn't understand what was going on.

If you are a fan of Asian horror, then you shouldn't waste your time on "Jom Kha Mung Wej", unless you are familiar with Thai traditions and superstitions.

My rating of "Jom Kha Mung Wej" lands on a two out of ten stars.

I went to my local DVD rental store and i saw this movie in the list.

The description was intriguing. The police hunts a former police officer, able to use dark magic powers, that has escaped from prison in mysterious circumstances. I thought that mixing police and black magic was an unusual but interesting idea. Maybe it could be, but not in this movie.

From the first second to the last the movie was a continued and foolish cut and paste of scenes that always seemed disconnected among them. When you expected that someone was going to explain to you what was happening the scene changes radically and you can only feel something like "What the heck is happening now?"

The characters are badly introduced to the audience and it's impossible to understand why they are doing what they do. The only interesting character is Itti, the bad guy of the movie, but the attempts of explaining it's past are only confusing as is impossible to understand why he has his powers and why he is using them like that.

This is an awful film and I suggest to avoid it if you can!

The former corrupt police officer and necromancer Itti (Chatchai Plengpanich) escapes from prison using black magic and Lieutenant Santi (Puthichai Amatayakul) is assigned to chase him. Santi feels the supernatural powers of Itti and becomes obsessed to capture him, but realizes that he needs to become a necromancer to face Itti.

The premise of "Necromancer" is very interesting – a corrupt police officer that shifts to the dark side and an obstinate lieutenant that finds that only choosing the way of the shadows he will be able to destroy the criminal. However, the chaotic screenplay is completely disconnected and the cinematography is too much dark, making difficult to understand the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Necromancer"

Three cops from anti-sorcery department one day find that one of them (Itty) went too far with black magic. Having escaped from high-security prison Itty now looks for revenge being confronted by young police officer (Santi). Will occult powers bring any luck to those with good and bad intentions?

What pleased me most about this movie is that creators relied more on imagery, rather than dialogs, surprising me with how little has been spoken having told so lot.

As for the imagery itself it was full of style and sometimes stunning (in a way of Re-Cycle and Eye), being well infused with cultural motives (ceremonies, temple sequences) and genuine nuances (lunch scenes, hierarchical relations).

I always praise the sense of proportion and Necromancer didn't disappoint me. No excessive gore, and effects were used right to the necessary. In fact, in this aspect it was quite an opposite to the Arts of Devil already mentioned here.

In contrary to what have been written here the story wasn't confusing or demanding a deep Asian background, it was even not without some dramatic value (how far one can get with good intentions), and a good thought-provoking twist. Again nothing in common with the Arts of Devil, which was nothing more to me but an exotic Hostel-like slasher.

Acting and obviously directing were strong, nothing to complain. Even soundtrack was pleasing all the way with a relevant new-age-like background.

Making a decent horror movie about black magic is tricky by definition so I was eager to see the final stand. Surprisingly, although not without some minor reservations Necromancer passed even this test having delivered quite an impressive battle scene and not so easy to guess finale.

So, although Necromancer doesn't offer anything new in horror-making and doesn't scare much it nevertheless delivers as a high-quality exotic thriller with some stunning imagery and involving story. It's well worth seeing.