Film: Phobia
Release date: 10th May 2010
Release date: 10th May 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 111 mins
Director: Paween Purikitpanya, Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom
Starring: Laila Boonyasak, Pongsatorn Jongwilak, Maneerat Kham-uanGenre: Horror/Thriller/Mystery
Studio: Icon
Format: DVD
Country: Thailand
Horror anthologies tend to be a mixed bag, containing stories which are sometimes memorable (in the case of “Dumplings” in 3 Extremes, unforgettable - no matter how hard you try!), and others which could charitably be called filler material.
Phobia (or 4-bia!) contains four stories which, while not directly connected, exist in the same plane of existence. In “Happiness”, a housebound young woman strikes up a relationship-by-text message with a young man who may not be what he seems. In “Tit-For-Tat”, a bullied schoolboy takes deadly revenge on the gang who’ve tormented him. “In the Middle” sees four guys undertake a whitewater rafting trip they’ll never forget, and in “Last Fright”, an air-stewardess must survive a flight on a plane empty of passengers, save for a corpse...
Happily, all four stories here, although very different in tone, work very well.
“Happiness” kicks things off with a story about a young woman with a broken leg, stuck in her apartment with her leg in a cast, being harried by her landlady for her late rent and awaiting the return of her room-mate. One evening she receives a text message from someone she doesn’t know, and ends up conversing with him through the night. Things are quite cute and buoyant until the boy asks for a photo, and she asks for one in return. When she receives it, she’s puzzled – it’s the same picture that she sent to him. However, to the left of her head is a ghostly image. Her chat-mate soon turns malevolent and some creepy goings on convince her she’s been flirting with a ghost – who’s now on his way to see her. This story manages to get a lot of chills from its single location – the girl’s small flat. With judicial editing and a few sound FX (the buzz of the girl’s phone seems to get more and more angry), “Happiness” successfully delivers some scares.
“Tit For Tat” is the most bloody of the tales, and doesn’t hold back on the impaling, eye-gougings and taunting demonic apparitions. It’s also the most convoluted of the quartet, and relies on our protagonists (who are actually a bunch of violent delinquents, and don’t deserve our sympathy) having knowledge of different types of deadly curses in order to info-dump exposition for the audience. Having said that, it’s quite a fast-paced tale, and the gore FX are handled rather well. The CGI demons, unfortunately, look very dated.
“In The Middle” plays for comedy, with four horror-movie obsessed teens camping in the woods, scaring each other with ghost stories at night and white-water rafting during the day. When their raft capsizes, three manage to scramble to the shore, but one remains missing until late that night – and there seems to be something a little off about his behaviour. It’s a pretty funny segment, as they tease each other about the films they haven’t seen. There’s a couple of digs at the Thai Film industry (complaining that they just rip off Hollywood ideas) and Asian ghost stories in general (why must they all have pale women with long black hair in front of their face?). However the punch line of the tale is rather silly, and very abrupt.
“Last Fright” sees a flight attendant being called in for a special duty. She is to be the stewardess on a flight taking a princess back to her home country. The stewardess has been specifically requested by the princess, as she was previously on-board her honeymoon flight. However, we soon learn that there is a more malevolent reason. The princess is being divorced by her husband – because he’s having an affair with our Stewardess! What’s more, the princess knows that it’s her – she has photographs of the two of them together and plans to torment her for the entire flight. However, a ‘mishap’ with the Princess’ food (she demands to be given the stewardess’ food, even though it’s noodles and shrimp and she’s allergic to shellfish) makes her violently ill, and she soon dies in hospital. The stewardess is told to escort the body back to Thailand, and then prepare for an enquiry into the death. The second half of the story is excellent in mood and execution, and brings to mind the “Terror At 20,000ft” story from the Twilight Zone.
The stories are very loosely connected – if you search carefully there is a reference in each to one of the other stories, and the tone overall resembles a Thai version of the EC Comics (Tales From The Darkside, etc). A fun anthology – the stories are well-produced and a couple are genuinely scary. I look forward to seeing Phobia 2. MOW
Phobia (or 4-bia!) contains four stories which, while not directly connected, exist in the same plane of existence. In “Happiness”, a housebound young woman strikes up a relationship-by-text message with a young man who may not be what he seems. In “Tit-For-Tat”, a bullied schoolboy takes deadly revenge on the gang who’ve tormented him. “In the Middle” sees four guys undertake a whitewater rafting trip they’ll never forget, and in “Last Fright”, an air-stewardess must survive a flight on a plane empty of passengers, save for a corpse...
Happily, all four stories here, although very different in tone, work very well.
“Happiness” kicks things off with a story about a young woman with a broken leg, stuck in her apartment with her leg in a cast, being harried by her landlady for her late rent and awaiting the return of her room-mate. One evening she receives a text message from someone she doesn’t know, and ends up conversing with him through the night. Things are quite cute and buoyant until the boy asks for a photo, and she asks for one in return. When she receives it, she’s puzzled – it’s the same picture that she sent to him. However, to the left of her head is a ghostly image. Her chat-mate soon turns malevolent and some creepy goings on convince her she’s been flirting with a ghost – who’s now on his way to see her. This story manages to get a lot of chills from its single location – the girl’s small flat. With judicial editing and a few sound FX (the buzz of the girl’s phone seems to get more and more angry), “Happiness” successfully delivers some scares.
“Tit For Tat” is the most bloody of the tales, and doesn’t hold back on the impaling, eye-gougings and taunting demonic apparitions. It’s also the most convoluted of the quartet, and relies on our protagonists (who are actually a bunch of violent delinquents, and don’t deserve our sympathy) having knowledge of different types of deadly curses in order to info-dump exposition for the audience. Having said that, it’s quite a fast-paced tale, and the gore FX are handled rather well. The CGI demons, unfortunately, look very dated.
“In The Middle” plays for comedy, with four horror-movie obsessed teens camping in the woods, scaring each other with ghost stories at night and white-water rafting during the day. When their raft capsizes, three manage to scramble to the shore, but one remains missing until late that night – and there seems to be something a little off about his behaviour. It’s a pretty funny segment, as they tease each other about the films they haven’t seen. There’s a couple of digs at the Thai Film industry (complaining that they just rip off Hollywood ideas) and Asian ghost stories in general (why must they all have pale women with long black hair in front of their face?). However the punch line of the tale is rather silly, and very abrupt.
“Last Fright” sees a flight attendant being called in for a special duty. She is to be the stewardess on a flight taking a princess back to her home country. The stewardess has been specifically requested by the princess, as she was previously on-board her honeymoon flight. However, we soon learn that there is a more malevolent reason. The princess is being divorced by her husband – because he’s having an affair with our Stewardess! What’s more, the princess knows that it’s her – she has photographs of the two of them together and plans to torment her for the entire flight. However, a ‘mishap’ with the Princess’ food (she demands to be given the stewardess’ food, even though it’s noodles and shrimp and she’s allergic to shellfish) makes her violently ill, and she soon dies in hospital. The stewardess is told to escort the body back to Thailand, and then prepare for an enquiry into the death. The second half of the story is excellent in mood and execution, and brings to mind the “Terror At 20,000ft” story from the Twilight Zone.
The stories are very loosely connected – if you search carefully there is a reference in each to one of the other stories, and the tone overall resembles a Thai version of the EC Comics (Tales From The Darkside, etc). A fun anthology – the stories are well-produced and a couple are genuinely scary. I look forward to seeing Phobia 2. MOW
