Ah yes, Thailand's Shutter. The horror movie that singlehandedly made me afraid of the dark. Not to mention its American counterpart of the same name, which cured me lmao
Yeah. Indian cinema is not only underrated, it's overrated as a laughing hub. nobody watches the good movies and act like all Indian movies are as bad as those cheesy movies from YEARS ago! They are also racist... For some... Reason..?
Fun fact : Shutter and P'mak is actually directed by the same person. It's amazing that how he manage to deliver the almost two complete different emotion to the max in each film.
I'm Thai, and I'm so glad you decided to talk about Thai horror movies. I'm personally not a fan of horror, but my country LOVE ghost stories. We can't have enough of it. And your point of Buddhist philosophy in movies is spot on. Not only horror genre, but most if not all dramas, movies, made in Thailand have some Buddhist influence in them, things like karma, heaven and hell, and inner peace the core values of Buddhism can be found in almost all Thai film/series/dramas. Because Thailand is the largest Buddhist country in the world, and our culture is so rooted in it, it's no surprise for Thai people to see Buddhist influence anywhere. But a lot of times (like you said again in the video) people are becoming less "traditional", if your know what I mean. I'm not saying it's bad but things like greed, and materialism is being promoted in a way. It's complicated topic and I don't want to drive in it, as this is a film video. Thanks for bringing some lights to Thai horror movies.
Hi! I love Thai films and my favorite director right now is Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit. Could you recommend some good films? Even non-horror ones? I just saw One Day and it was good but I'm looking for stuff as strong as Happy Old Year?
I cried a river during the reveal near the end. That movie made me laugh and scared at the same time for the most part and made me cry my eyes out near the end. What a ride, really.
The story of Pee Mak are re-iteration of the old folk tale "the ghost of maenak" ( แม่นาคพระขโนง) which at the time of Pee Mak has became cliche horror here in thailand. So Pee Mak was not only a good movie but also a genre-destroyer too. And about the secularism , right now in thailand there are huge generation gap between religious and conservative old people and young , fierce and mostly secular younger gen so it's quite real. Other two films imo is good is a sci-fi thriller "black bird at bang pleng" and "Buppah rahtree" , the latter has entered legendary status for thais audience. It's an extremely good combination of horror and comedy which swing might be on par or even better than Pee Mak.
Malaysian here,so ya' know we watch your stuff-gobble them up in fact! _Black bird at Bang Pleng_ is something I've never heard of (I don't remember Seeing its poster in theaters). Pee Mak was produced by the Studio GTH, right? Also the one behind _Shutter_ and _Alone_ and _Laddaland_ ? I haven't see any horror from them lately. Are there any?
@@lyndiss.2017 Blackbirds at Bangpleng is essentially a Thai version of the novel "The Midwich Cuckoos " which had also been adapted into the film "Village of the Damned" starring Christopher Reeve before his tragic accident.
Lol as a Vietnamese, I strongly approve this. Man, me and my friends watched one horror Thai movie about spells in high school and I never watch other Thai horror again.
Thai Folklores are 10x scarier than the philippine's myth you think. edit: i love thailand, and indonesia. many infrastructures are extremely related but culture is different
Actually about Pee Mak, for Thai people the story of Mak and his ghost wife is well known like a traditional scary myth (there were even several movies about it with the same character and story line), so almost every Thai people in theaters knew that the wife is already dead, but what makes this movie different is that it was named Mak(husband) rather than Nak(wife) which usually the name of the story itself and the story line was entirely different because it focuses on Mak side and his friends even more the twist was just mind blowing, because in original story when Mak realizes his wife is a ghost, he scared and ran away which ended up by asking legendary Buddhist monk to trapped her soul forever, but in this one the twist happened to be Mak himself already knew from the beginning that his wife was dead but didn’t reveal it to her, even if he was so scared, and the food his ghost wife cook was not edible at all, he still pretending like nothing happened just to keep her with him, it’s even more touching than the original. I was so surprised that other than the jokes this movie has, it also has a pretty deep level of emotional roller coaster if one think about it
As a Thai people. I am really thankful for you mentioning of our Thai culture and realizing our impact from Buddhism Religion,how big it is and how much integrated in day to day life. I never see any foreigner taking such a good lesson from Thai cinema this well before. So thank you very much 🙂😃 and keep learning our culture, you will definitely enjoy it.
"Thai horrors are underrated" Well not in Southeast Asia lol. In Indonesia Thai horrors are notorious, but Thai movies are quite popular as well here, not to mention Thai ads that often become viral sensation in Indonesia. Kudos for the Thai storytelling skill! Anyway, never laughed harder than the time I watched Pee Mak. Especially the boat scene where they ride with Nak. "I thought you can't swim, now you swim like Michael Phelps!"
Lol but here I see Chinese one because Thai ones do not come here. There was a time when I was seeing sone horror drama or movie in Thailand it was pretty scary though.
Over here in the west Thai horror is very underrated. Most people aren’t willing to read the subtitles at all and if they are they’ll only watch something from Japan. I really think a lot of people are missing out on some really great movies.
Buddhism is like a Religion that view ghost as a Spirit that still have a connection to the place they die, and they pity them as it is suffering, so it's normal for Buddhist to not be scared of ghost and even try to respect their territories, and the Ghost will respect them back. So when a Buddhist scared of a pacticular Ghost, you know it's serious.
Well... Not really. The Thai term of being a "Buddhist" is so diverted from its original meaning. Buddhism states no where about spirit. They just believe in karma and the many, many story about Buddha I had to learn growing up. Thai culture is mixed with Hindu culture, Taoism, animalism, etc. These were all mixed into the Thai Buddhism. Plus, the Thai ghosts like the Preat (the tall ghost) or even ghosts like Krasue (flying one with lungs hanging out) weren't even part of the Buddhism karma/hell for afterlife. Its just Thai for ya. Oh, one thing, we *are* very much scared of ghosts. I think the thing you're thinking about it that we were always told to respect them and not taunt them. The ghost respecting us back is a concept well lost in some peoples mind after seeing horror movies.
@@esidarap-9565 From the root, you say? If the 4 years of religion study class in a "Buddhist" school taught me anything is that we are further from the root than we can ever be.
@@Lisa-xr6ty i'm a thai person and i learn and study about bhuddist since i'm a child, and yes some people do believe in spirit because the rumor and etc, but most of the monk don't care about that thing like spirit the only goal for them is to ascend their soul from the loop of life. PS. sorry for my bad english.
@@esidarap-9565 I'm also thai. Im not only talking about spirits and spook. I'm talking Thai culture as a whole. E.g. te many psychics and the "you can't name your child that name because the letter you used will give him bad luck depending on the day of the week he was born" bs. Infact, the original Buddhism from India/Nepal didn't even BELIEVED in ghosts!
Movie list for later: -Shutter (2004) -Pee Mak (2013) -The Promise (2017) -Coming Soon (2008) -Art of the Devil (2004) -4Bia (2008) -Long Weekend (2013) -Laddaland (2011) Thanks for the video as always and inside view of the films.
I've lived in Bangkok for about 15 years now, so though I'm not Thai, I've seen a lot of Thai movies. One thing I would like to point out is that the abandoned skyscraper in The Promise is based on an actual building called The Sathorn Ghost Tower in Bangkok. Basically when the economy crashed it was 80 percent completed and has sat abandoned ever since.
There are actual stories of ppl going up there to kill themselves as well, so rn it's illegal to go up. The funny thing is there is probably an ad hanging from it rn.
This building is popular when someone walk up there to take pictures and found death hang body. he was so scar he did not know what lvl was it. so he post the event in popular webboard. took many hours to recover the body.
Watch the Thai version. It's sooo much better - the horror, ghost, and superstition elements actually have context in Thai culture. I always thought it was silly in the "American" version, that white guy and white girl gets blurry photos and automatically jumps to "ghost photos". Lol.
I'm grateful for this reintroduction to Thai cinema, i am Nigerian and as a kid my first introduction to Thai cinema was Ong bak i and my siblings were obsessed with martial art and any sort of "action" movies we were generally used to watching Chinese or American martial art movies till we came across ong bak. It was mind blowing to say the least i became obsessed with Muay Thai lol a few years into high school i came across a collection of Thai horror movies as it was the trend at that time to have movies of the same genre in a cd collection it really was unlike anything i had seen at that time. Over the years i kinda lost interest in watching movies idk maybe its because I'm older or the movie industries that i mainly consume from are saturated and become boring. Your channel really encourages me to find that part of me again I'm excited.
The first time I watched Thai horror was in the cinema. The Coffin. A friend of mine covered his face with a tissue paper when he got scared. Another friend grabbed my wrist and screamed, and i screamed because she suddenly grabbed my hand. Good times.
in highschool I had a good friend from Thailand, she massively got me into Thai horror, in fact Shutter was the first one she made me watch, as well as a lot of the LBGT+ films (like the Iron Ladies) that come from there, very underrated movie market.
Hi! I'm from Thailand. Yeah. I gotta admit that we place less emphasis on religion and seniority. But it's not a bad thing since our generation is starting to focus on the individual. Both things above are like.. how can I explain it. "Programmed to be pleased with adults without asking any question" and we're trying to break the wall and be "ourselves" that it reflects on movies in the last decade. It's kind of generation gap thingy at least for me. Political and cultural changes is a thing for now in Thailand. Also, The Pee Mak movie is actually a parody film of Nang Nak (1999) and its "Mae Nak" franchise. It even comes from the (kind of) same company.
"Programmed to be pleased with adults without asking any question" is called filial piety :) I hail from Reddit's /r/AsianParentStories and there's so many people struggling to find their individuality away from their parents too.
@@ngkhaijie For me Thai tradition is the same as in the past recent years. But as for the comment said about senoirity and religious...in that case, yes we're incline to be ourself rather than influenced by family or something.
I loved The Unseeable. Been about 10 years since I saw it but boy did it stick with me... Creepy as hell, with some pretty heavy themes for the mind to mull over...
Being in Malaysia and so close to Thailand we loved watching Thai movies on the big screen. It absolutely scares you shitless and at the same time brings you on emotional roller coaster every time.
Sampai depressed gantung mati atau tanda takut sayang Allah walaupun takut citer hantu thai baru tahu kerja tuhan barulah sentap hati kau korang !!!!! ....
My mother is Thai. She used to bring home many many Thai movies in disc, and it became a part of my childhood. It has been 5 years since my last Thai flim (other than the one where a girl cheats on tests), but this video just awaken part of my childhood once again. I hope the discs are still in the storage room. Thank you for bringing attention on Thai films. P. S. Their adverts are also a work of art, you should look them up sometimes ☺️
Kit Whitfield This one th-cam.com/video/Az2yDglMow8/w-d-xo.html Or the famous Thai life insurance “unsung hero” one th-cam.com/video/uaWA2GbcnJU/w-d-xo.html
As a southeast asian, I also grow up with thai films from action, horror up to romantic comedies. Pee Mak is the amalgamation of everything I love about thai cinema. Me and my friends screamed, laughed and cried throughout the runtime of the film and to this day it still holds a very special place in my heart.
I just watched "Coming Soon" by the same director of The Promise and oh wow, amazing film. Thai horror is, as you correctly described in the title, underrated. Btw, one of my favorites is "Art of the Devil 2".
My cousin told me "After watching Thai horror, watching American horrors feels like watching cheap knock offs". I have to agree. Except for some classics, modern horror in Hollywood kinda meh
I've been so long leaving American horror aside, they just look 'mehhh' for me even from the trailer alone. I'm not saying they're all bad, surely there are good ones in between. But since most of them just didn't work out for me, I never bother again.
That explains a lot. Like aside from Paranormal Activity, anything I've seen after Coming Soon a decade ago or so has just not had the same affect on me. I actually scrambled out of my chair for that one and I don't know that one little moment scared me so much.
@@keenanrogers9486 VVitch was a solid horror movie. I remember watching it and having this unsettling feeling in my gut. I hope Hollywood would focus on movies like that with dark atmosphere and suspense instead of cheap jumpscares and gore.
Your endorsement style is really good. You genuinely make me believe you think it's a good product, which has never happened to me before with any other youtuber. They just sound like they're rattling off a list of things they need to say about the product because they want to make extra money. But you sound like you do your own research, actually try to work with the product yourself, actually enjoy it enough to want to endorse it, and try to present it in ways that a user would actually be interested to hear about. I hope your endorsers start paying you extra, I've never seen better. Might be a weird compliment. I just really appreciate that you're so transparent and detail-oriented in everything you do!
I'm from Thailand and one of my favorite Thai horror is "Buppah Rathree." You should do a video on it! It is a very well balanced Thai Comedy Horror. Sometimes feels very real.
As a kid I'm always easily scared (still do sometimes). Part of that is how Thai horror shaped me, sometimes I'm even too scared to watch and have to listen the summary and it'll still keep me up at night. I think Thai horrors are scary because it taps into the unknown and our deep fear inside. Western horror usually focus more into the physical horror, the creepy shot, but Thai stories horror just creeps up on you then reveal it's heartbreaking side of the ghost. The ghost is evil because of the cirscumstances push them there.
That “dream/deja vu” scene from Pee Mak where one of his friends have “experienced” what apparently was going to happen, but still fell off the stairs kills me every time. Ingenious writing.
11:09 The best stories are the ones that make the audiences feel the same emotions as the characters. Instead “Oh, the character’s scared”, it’s “This is terrifying.” It closes the gap between the audience and the protagonist, which is immensely effective for emotional gut-punches and creating drama and suspense.
Pixels She’s a good wife too, but also sorta murderous. If ur the husband you would be fine but your friends and family will either be afraid or die from her
Actually, Spoilers! The wife was never murderous, just wanting to scare off her husband's friends who didn't approve of the dead/living pair. The town drunk herself was just that, drunk and fell into the river by herself. The entire thing was also misguided, as the husband knew all along that the wife was already dead since they warned him during a game of charades. By the end of it they run a haunted house and scare off people who don't like the wife.
Honestly the wife seemed pretty loving and her main intentions didn’t seem murderous at all and it just seemed like she wanted to be with her husband so if it was me as long as she’s not trying to harm me i wouldn’t mind.
Dylan Monstrum I think that you think you are being clever, but considering your comment cues in on zero context- this is more of a joke going over your head. A 14 year old should really be screaming “whoosh” at you right now.
I remember during my younger years, watching Shutter for the first time gave me trouble sleeping, especially at the end when the ghost was all along with him.
When I was in middle skl I saw the ring, the grudge, they gave me that lingering fear for weeks. In high skl a friend showed me HK horror, 山村老尸 n such, the story and concept themselves give me the chills. Then, in college my roommate n I watched a couple of Thai... for years you get those feeling... don't look at the mirror when brushing teeth, somethings behind you, don't look up in shower, something is watching you, don't look back on empty hallway, something is chasing you, don't look up the windows in an dark ally, old lady is starring at you, close your eyes at night, a girl in white is standing next to your bed... etc. Nowadays I only watch American horror as comedy :)
For sure! Those horrors are especially amplified when I went to boarding school… at night, when everyone else is asleep, so terrifying no one can hear the scream stuck in your throat…
I remember Shutter from the times I lived at the countryside. This damn movie, allied with the Grudge, made me sleep with lighrs on for years, and only glazing at the scenes brought me back.
DUDE u should watch “Alone”! it’s another good Thai horror film that makes you so unnerved as hell + love your videos and how they branch out from just the East Asian take to more Asian countries! thank you for the representation man
Shutter and Alone were always played in TVs here in the Philippines when I was younger. Two great movies that scared the genuine heck out of me. Would recommend!
Maybe in the great big world, but here in southeast asia they have a long standing reputation for films. Action, romcoms, historicals and esp comedy and horror. Their folklore/black ritual based horror are one of the most terrifying things i've seen😅 if you want quality horror, thai is always a great choice Ps: thailand also makes the best funny commercials😂 10/10 would recommend for your leisurely viewing
Thailand as a country is just very overlooked outside of South East Asia, which is a shame. The culture is so lively and the cinematic culture is top notch. Also yes, Thai commercial is absolutely great. But I'm also scare to watch them because they get stuck in my head for days. Not even Japanese commercial can do that.
@@AccentedCinema southeast asians generally always look down or squabble with each other but i feel with thailand they are abit exempt and sometimes its a point of pride to be associated with them. But maybe thats just me and my observation. Its feels good when any country from SEA gets abit of positive appreciation every now and then
I remember watching Pee Mak and i fell in love with the plot and how the story played out. It was beautifully written and honestly it was so good to watch
These are 2 things I always wanted to see coming from the Thai horror film industry: - A sequel to _Coming Soon_ titled _Now Playing_ - 6Bia, with an segment called "In the Beginning". Only a Thai horror fan will understand.
I really liked 'coming soon' but 4bia was okay. However, I loved the short story about the film crew, it was scary and also funny. The great thing about Thia horror movies is that they are based on moral values.
I love watching foreign horror films. Not knowing the tropes they'll use makes them unpredictable and having to read the subtitles means I can't look away or I'll miss something. It makes the experience so much more tense and I love it. And you're right, I love learning about different cultures from movies and other media. I can't wait to watch these movies
The Promise was so good. I was rooting for her to save her daughter but a part of me was also like.. you left her to die alone when yall pinky promised.
I was going through a really hard time in 2015 it had been months since I genuinely laughed, thats when I watched Pee Mak, I was laughing uncontrollably, the last time I laughed in a movie like that was Kungfu Hustle. Pee Mak is my comfort film.
For me, Pee Mak is the funniest Thai movie I've ever watched, I even watched it twice in theater. The movie is also easy to watch and understand by Thais because it's based on the widely-known Thai ghost story "Mae Nak" (Pee Mak's ghost wife's name), which has been made into a movie so many times. Ps. Months ago, I found and sub to your channel when I was searching for Thai horror film video essay. Now my wish came true, thank you for this amazing vid!! Edit: I just finished the video. IMO, I agree with you, buddhist is slowly fading away from our life. I dont even go to temple anymore except for a funeral, and most of my friend think less about karma but be more focus on action-consequence instead.
Quite interesting how such culture seems to be fading in most if not all countries (I'm talking about traditional culture). I don't think it's completely about materialism, nor so much about Westernization. Perhaps some combination of it all, though. Traditions require determination and patience (eg. going to temple for more than just funeral). I also think most of Asian culture hasn't, for the lack of a better term, been updated. Rituals and traditions are easy to pass through generations but without the logic behind them being passed on, us youth will lack motivation to continue them. Like, karma went from being simply "all actions have consequences, good or bad, so one must be prepared to accept the fruits of labour" to "good action = good karma, bad action = bad karma". I would like you know your opinion on this.
@@meghnadfilmclub2389 That's another way to describe it. Without logic and reason behind the action, tradition became a useless thing which waste money and resource. Most of the new generation, hate old-fashioned mind set of "you have to do that because I did it before" kinda thing. If you keep an eye on Thai political news lately, you will start seeing kids-young teens protest for their freewill.
@@ElleBernard I'll try to look into it. I like researching cultures and rituals to sort of trace them back to their origins to understand their reasoning. Eg. turmeric being sacred because of it's healing qualities or sitting underneath a peepal tree because it produces the most amount of oxygen during the day. Do you know any ritual or tradition in your culture that you know the logic behind, i.e. you know why it's followed?
wow!! i am not Thai, but living here for over a decade, I am so happy ppl. like you are promoting their work. If anyone sees this, I recommend "Body 19" a Thai psychology horror
Haha one thing that caught my attention... Manga overlay :P Have you considered covering anime flims more extensively. Really enjoyed the one where you covered whisper of the heart.
As a thai person, thank you so much for making this video! I've been waiting for soo long for thai horror movies to be mentioned in the film community. Love from Thailand! ขอบคุณนะคร้าาาาบ
Saw laddaland in the sample vid at the beginning. Got really excited but kinda disappointed that you didnt cover it in full. It was state that it was the current Thai scariest film by Thais viewers.
"Thai Horror is so Underrated" Me remembering the ones I grew up with: The Mother and The Eye...and then there was Shutter ...i loved Pee Mak tho, so wholesome, but the original was definitely scarier as Pee Mak was more horror comedy
I'm embarrassed to admit I thought 'Shutter' was Korean. Great content as always- I look forward to telling everyone that Thai horror cinema is the next big thing, probably as smugly as possible!
I was like 9 years old when The Shutter came out, and as I was a kid I couldn't see the depth of the film beside just a very scary film. I was surprised on how you connected the film and Buddhism's belief together and as a Thai I didn't even see it that way at all. I never get to watch The Promise because..... well the trailer didn't look that scary, and I moved to the US at that time already so I didn't hear how the film did back in Thailand. After this review I gonna check it out. I think I stopped watching most of Thai Horror movies because ever since the Shutter came out everyone tried to make films with very twisted and unpredictable ending like what The Shutter did, and bunch of them were just either not that scary or it has just okay-ish story or plot. There are some good one that came out every once in awhile like Body (ศพ #19), The Unseeable (เปนชู้กับผี), Dorm (เด็กหอ). I'm really glad and enjoy your take on Asian films, and I hope that you will make more movie review on Thai Horror movies.
I'm Thai I recommend you to check out "The eye" and "303 Fear Faith Revenge" when I was 7or 8 my uncle took me to the cinema and we watched "303" I could not sleep for a week. And my grandma constantly blame him for a month lmao
Just discovered your channel recently and I’m really enjoying your content. I’ve found two of these films on Netflix and look forward to seeing them. I’m currently exploring Korean and Japanese cinema and loving it too.
I was in high school when my friends and I started watching a collection of Thai horror. It was really foreign to me because it heavily showed their culture and environment. Besides the movies shown in this essay, there's also a notable series called Art of the Devil that was really gory. But our favorite is Coming Soon. It really gave us nightmares after.
Oh, my Thai horror is such a roller coaster and I love it! my favourite is maenak. I'm from malaysia. . if have time try some malaysia horror movie the good one is Pontianak harum sundai malam, Zombie kampung Pisang, Congkak and Janin
This just bring back all of sweet memories back in my undergraduate study. On our 3rd (2006) and 4th year (2007 final year) of study, we (24 of us from the same faculty) rented 3 single story houses at the corner lot of a residential area near our university. So, 8 members per house. Every Saturday night, we will watch horror/thriller movie by projecting the movie on the wall on one of our living room usually at the 2nd house, starting around 10 / 10.30 pm. We also collected money to but foods/junk foods and drinks (soda). I can't remember how many horror/thriller movies we watched at that period. The Victim (Thai), Ghost Game (Thai), 13th Ghosts (English), Shutter (Thai), Aarang (Korean); just to name a few. I miss that time.
Not related to this video but i wanna recommend a Thai movie, _Bad Genius_ . Easily one of the best thrillers of the last decade (and that too based on a real story).
wow!! i am not Thai, but living here for over a decade, I am so happy ppl. like you are promoting their work. If anyone sees this, I recommend "Body 19" a Thai psychology horror edit: yes, sadly buddhism has been slowly disappearing and respect is on a high low
I’m Thai and I recommend “Body (2007)” (Or “บอดี้ ศพ 19” in Thai). It is one of the best psychological-horror film in my opinion. And about what you put into this video, it seems you know more of Thai culture and Buddhism that represent in those films. Next, about Secularism, well, there are clashes of generations over here. Young people go overly into Secularism while old people are too conservative. Things change as time flows; it is natural. However, the olds want to freeze everything as they are in advantages. The youths want to change as they suffer from everything. It is the trend of the world. That’s all. I’m just there to observe and adapt with the change.
The Promise was one of the best horror movies I have ever watched. It is definitely underrated. Character development and the pace is suspenseful, emotional and draws you in. It makes you care about the characters which is something a lot of modern horror movies fail to achieve. I can wholeheartedly second your recommendation of that film.
In my senior year in high school with nothing much to do at that point aside waiting for graduation, a classmate brings a vcd of The Shutter to school and pretty much the entirety of the senior class would gather in a classroom and watch it on lunchbreak. But with it being VCD and the fact we ate lunch before watching, we never get to finished it during the lunchbreak and had to rewatch the first disk of VCD over and over for a duration of a week. We all developed tolerance for it and don't find it scary anymore afterward.
Rustled jimmies is a phrase I find sincerely funny and am glad you're droppin it. Been a while since I've heard anyone mention their jimmies in any state.
@@Gazork.ChumbleSpuzz sometimes im a zoomer with boomer vocabulary. I say galivanting and hullabaloo unironically. Thanks man, its great that I brightened up your day.
@@Asian_Movie_Enthusiast Take Me Home is pretty stupid with a convoluted plot. I would say the latest Thai horror film that actually really great is Inhuman Kiss (2019) It's a story about Krasue - a female spirit of Thai folklore. That manifests itself with just a head and internal organs hanging down from the neck
I'm so happy hearing you talk about Thai horrors! As a Thai, the lore and beliefs are in our everyday life and make the story so real and much more scary. Not only in horror aspect but also the drama and psychological too. My faves are "Alone(แฝด)" and "ladda land(ลัดดาแลนด์)" which are so suspense and have a very detail cinematography to study from. ("Body (บอดี้ศพ19)" are also very great horror psychological theme but the cgi are quite outdated)
Thai horror is more towards life lessons and karma rather than the history, like in Western horror. The ghosts in Thai horror always teach us some lesson atleast
In Southeast Asia, we always know Thai horror movies are legit
Edit: SE Asia gang unite!
Thats right. From Singapore here. We know Thai horror is legit.
Oh definitely. Their spooky games too
Don't forget Thai ads.
Truth. They’re the basis of our nighttime terrors.
@@helsinki Seriously, Thai ads are just the best in the world. Period.
Ah yes, Thailand's Shutter. The horror movie that singlehandedly made me afraid of the dark. Not to mention its American counterpart of the same name, which cured me lmao
I agree 😁
lmaooooooooooooooooo
At least the adaptation cure your fear, I’ll give credit for that
LMAOOO
I cant even rewatch shutter now because I drive to work alone.
I'm so glad this channel exists- Asian cinema is so underrated
Yeah. Indian cinema is not only underrated, it's overrated as a laughing hub. nobody watches the good movies and act like all Indian movies are as bad as those cheesy movies from YEARS ago! They are also racist... For some... Reason..?
@@dmqn3135 Most people don't even know Indian Cinema is much more than Bollywood, too. I should get to that at some point.
@@AccentedCinema you should, my man. Your video essays really inspire me.
@@AccentedCinema that is very true
@@AccentedCinema would love to see that video
Fun fact : Shutter and P'mak is actually directed by the same person. It's amazing that how he manage to deliver the almost two complete different emotion to the max in each film.
Shutter was co-directed by him with Parkpoom Wongpoom, Alone is another great one by the both of them.
I'm Thai, and I'm so glad you decided to talk about Thai horror movies. I'm personally not a fan of horror, but my country LOVE ghost stories. We can't have enough of it. And your point of Buddhist philosophy in movies is spot on. Not only horror genre, but most if not all dramas, movies, made in Thailand have some Buddhist influence in them, things like karma, heaven and hell, and inner peace the core values of Buddhism can be found in almost all Thai film/series/dramas. Because Thailand is the largest Buddhist country in the world, and our culture is so rooted in it, it's no surprise for Thai people to see Buddhist influence anywhere.
But a lot of times (like you said again in the video) people are becoming less "traditional", if your know what I mean. I'm not saying it's bad but things like greed, and materialism is being promoted in a way. It's complicated topic and I don't want to drive in it, as this is a film video. Thanks for bringing some lights to Thai horror movies.
Hi! I love Thai films and my favorite director right now is Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit. Could you recommend some good films? Even non-horror ones? I just saw One Day and it was good but I'm looking for stuff as strong as Happy Old Year?
@@redundancycheck bad genius is a classic
@@Win090949 bad genius is such a huge hit it was even shown in theaters in our country! I like Aokbab a lot!
@@redundancycheck พี่ชายแห่งปี or "Brother of the Year" I've seen three times in Thai cinemas.
Recommend me other than 3 movies in here, please. I need more
"I'm afraid of ghosts, but I'm even more afraid of losing you" - Pee Mak
I cried a river during the reveal near the end. That movie made me laugh and scared at the same time for the most part and made me cry my eyes out near the end. What a ride, really.
Good movie
Watch original Pee mak is much more true to its legend. Pure drama n horror. Put the Thai horror in the category
The story of Pee Mak are re-iteration of the old folk tale "the ghost of maenak" ( แม่นาคพระขโนง) which at the time of Pee Mak has became cliche horror here in thailand. So Pee Mak was not only a good movie but also a genre-destroyer too.
And about the secularism , right now in thailand there are huge generation gap between religious and conservative old people and young , fierce and mostly secular younger gen so it's quite real.
Other two films imo is good is a sci-fi thriller "black bird at bang pleng" and "Buppah rahtree" , the latter has entered legendary status for thais audience. It's an extremely good combination of horror and comedy which swing might be on par or even better than Pee Mak.
Isn't there a Thai movie called "Nang Nak" or something similar, depicting this legend?
Yes isn't pee mak an comedy adaptation of nang nak? Or at least both is based on same legend but either way nang nak exist
@@milkeyway7105 yes, like many folklore there are more than one adaptions of this tale
Malaysian here,so ya' know we watch your stuff-gobble them up in fact! _Black bird at Bang Pleng_ is something I've never heard of (I don't remember Seeing its poster in theaters). Pee Mak was produced by the Studio GTH, right? Also the one behind _Shutter_ and _Alone_ and _Laddaland_ ? I haven't see any horror from them lately. Are there any?
@@lyndiss.2017 Blackbirds at Bangpleng is essentially a Thai version of the novel "The Midwich Cuckoos
" which had also been adapted into the film "Village of the Damned" starring Christopher Reeve before his tragic accident.
"Thai Horror is Underrated"
All of South East Asia: Since when?
All of us keep watching each other movie lol
@@nabkill0134 actually legit lol
all east asian：since when？
Lol as a Vietnamese, I strongly approve this. Man, me and my friends watched one horror Thai movie about spells in high school and I never watch other Thai horror again.
Thai Folklores are 10x scarier than the philippine's myth you think.
edit: i love thailand, and indonesia. many infrastructures are extremely related but culture is different
*"Thai Horror is so Underrated"*
Just like this channel a year ago
Idk......just because anglosphere is out of touch does not make thai horror underrate
Just like this channel now!
@Your Polish-Vietnamese guy just what I mean , if 20 men praise X and 100 men dont know X at all , doesnt make X underrated
@@smurfystef, still true
@@qs987 in my opinion, underrated simply means sth doesn't receive enough praises
Actually about Pee Mak, for Thai people the story of Mak and his ghost wife is well known like a traditional scary myth (there were even several movies about it with the same character and story line), so almost every Thai people in theaters knew that the wife is already dead, but what makes this movie different is that it was named Mak(husband) rather than Nak(wife) which usually the name of the story itself and the story line was entirely different because it focuses on Mak side and his friends even more the twist was just mind blowing, because in original story when Mak realizes his wife is a ghost, he scared and ran away which ended up by asking legendary Buddhist monk to trapped her soul forever, but in this one the twist happened to be Mak himself already knew from the beginning that his wife was dead but didn’t reveal it to her, even if he was so scared, and the food his ghost wife cook was not edible at all, he still pretending like nothing happened just to keep her with him, it’s even more touching than the original. I was so surprised that other than the jokes this movie has, it also has a pretty deep level of emotional roller coaster if one think about it
Watch Shutter a few years back. My shoulder still hurts.
I always think something is on my shoulder because of that film. It's nuts.
😅😅
🤣
F
lmfao
As a Thai people. I am really thankful for you mentioning of our Thai culture and realizing our impact from Buddhism Religion,how big it is and how much integrated in day to day life. I never see any foreigner taking such a good lesson from Thai cinema this well before. So thank you very much 🙂😃 and keep learning our culture, you will definitely enjoy it.
person*
i mean, i don't judge but...
"Thai horrors are underrated"
Well not in Southeast Asia lol. In Indonesia Thai horrors are notorious, but Thai movies are quite popular as well here, not to mention Thai ads that often become viral sensation in Indonesia. Kudos for the Thai storytelling skill!
Anyway, never laughed harder than the time I watched Pee Mak. Especially the boat scene where they ride with Nak.
"I thought you can't swim, now you swim like Michael Phelps!"
Thai ads are also popular in China hahahhaah
I mean uhhh wkwkwkwkwk
Lol but here I see Chinese one because Thai ones do not come here. There was a time when I was seeing sone horror drama or movie in Thailand it was pretty scary though.
Some indonesian horror is quite underrated too imho
Over here in the west Thai horror is very underrated. Most people aren’t willing to read the subtitles at all and if they are they’ll only watch something from Japan. I really think a lot of people are missing out on some really great movies.
sugest some good horror indonasian and thai movies you watched
"The wife ghost is the bomb." Indeed she is.
😁
Buddhism is like a Religion that view ghost as a Spirit that still have a connection to the place they die, and they pity them as it is suffering, so it's normal for Buddhist to not be scared of ghost and even try to respect their territories, and the Ghost will respect them back.
So when a Buddhist scared of a pacticular Ghost, you know it's serious.
Well... Not really. The Thai term of being a "Buddhist" is so diverted from its original meaning. Buddhism states no where about spirit. They just believe in karma and the many, many story about Buddha I had to learn growing up. Thai culture is mixed with Hindu culture, Taoism, animalism, etc. These were all mixed into the Thai Buddhism. Plus, the Thai ghosts like the Preat (the tall ghost) or even ghosts like Krasue (flying one with lungs hanging out) weren't even part of the Buddhism karma/hell for afterlife. Its just Thai for ya.
Oh, one thing, we *are* very much scared of ghosts. I think the thing you're thinking about it that we were always told to respect them and not taunt them. The ghost respecting us back is a concept well lost in some peoples mind after seeing horror movies.
@@Lisa-xr6ty There is 2 branch of Bhuddist in thailand and one of them is original from the root.
@@esidarap-9565 From the root, you say? If the 4 years of religion study class in a "Buddhist" school taught me anything is that we are further from the root than we can ever be.
@@Lisa-xr6ty i'm a thai person and i learn and study about bhuddist since i'm a child, and yes some people do believe in spirit because the rumor and etc, but most of the monk don't care about that thing like spirit the only goal for them is to ascend their soul from the loop of life.
PS. sorry for my bad english.
@@esidarap-9565 I'm also thai. Im not only talking about spirits and spook. I'm talking Thai culture as a whole. E.g. te many psychics and the "you can't name your child that name because the letter you used will give him bad luck depending on the day of the week he was born" bs. Infact, the original Buddhism from India/Nepal didn't even BELIEVED in ghosts!
Movie list for later:
-Shutter (2004)
-Pee Mak (2013)
-The Promise (2017)
-Coming Soon (2008)
-Art of the Devil (2004)
-4Bia (2008)
-Long Weekend (2013)
-Laddaland (2011)
Thanks for the video as always and inside view of the films.
I've lived in Bangkok for about 15 years now, so though I'm not Thai, I've seen a lot of Thai movies.
One thing I would like to point out is that the abandoned skyscraper in The Promise is based on an actual building called The Sathorn Ghost Tower in Bangkok. Basically when the economy crashed it was 80 percent completed and has sat abandoned ever since.
There are actual stories of ppl going up there to kill themselves as well, so rn it's illegal to go up. The funny thing is there is probably an ad hanging from it rn.
This building is popular when someone walk up there to take pictures and found death hang body. he was so scar he did not know what lvl was it. so he post the event in popular webboard. took many hours to recover the body.
"The ghost wife is da bomb." I lol'd I couldn't help it as the context was clearly different than what was going through my mind.
Wow, you just jogged my memory of the American "Shutter". Had no idea it was a Thai film originally.
Probably because the remake is set in Japan, and directed by a Japanese director for some reason lol.
Watch the Thai version. It's sooo much better - the horror, ghost, and superstition elements actually have context in Thai culture. I always thought it was silly in the "American" version, that white guy and white girl gets blurry photos and automatically jumps to "ghost photos". Lol.
The original is soooo much better.
Accented Cinema probably to market it as a Japanese film for the western audience that is familiar/likes Japanese horror
I like how the actor who played the ghost in American shutter is the same actor that played protagonist in ju on thé Grudge
I'm grateful for this reintroduction to Thai cinema, i am Nigerian and as a kid my first introduction to Thai cinema was Ong bak i and my siblings were obsessed with martial art and any sort of "action" movies we were generally used to watching Chinese or American martial art movies till we came across ong bak. It was mind blowing to say the least i became obsessed with Muay Thai lol a few years into high school i came across a collection of Thai horror movies as it was the trend at that time to have movies of the same genre in a cd collection it really was unlike anything i had seen at that time. Over the years i kinda lost interest in watching movies idk maybe its because I'm older or the movie industries that i mainly consume from are saturated and become boring. Your channel really encourages me to find that part of me again I'm excited.
The first time I watched Thai horror was in the cinema. The Coffin. A friend of mine covered his face with a tissue paper when he got scared. Another friend grabbed my wrist and screamed, and i screamed because she suddenly grabbed my hand. Good times.
in highschool I had a good friend from Thailand, she massively got me into Thai horror, in fact Shutter was the first one she made me watch, as well as a lot of the LBGT+ films (like the Iron Ladies) that come from there, very underrated movie market.
Hi! I'm from Thailand.
Yeah. I gotta admit that we place less emphasis on religion and seniority. But it's not a bad thing since our generation is starting to focus on the individual. Both things above are like.. how can I explain it. "Programmed to be pleased with adults without asking any question" and we're trying to break the wall and be "ourselves" that it reflects on movies in the last decade. It's kind of generation gap thingy at least for me. Political and cultural changes is a thing for now in Thailand.
Also, The Pee Mak movie is actually a parody film of Nang Nak (1999) and its "Mae Nak" franchise. It even comes from the (kind of) same company.
Have a good day dude and God bless you! :)
ว้าว ภาษาอังกฤษสุดยอด IELTS 9.0
"Programmed to be pleased with adults without asking any question" is called filial piety :) I hail from Reddit's /r/AsianParentStories and there's so many people struggling to find their individuality away from their parents too.
I thought pee mak was a folk lore.
@@ngkhaijie For me Thai tradition is the same as in the past recent years. But as for the comment said about senoirity and religious...in that case, yes we're incline to be ourself rather than influenced by family or something.
Don’t forget about “The Unseeable เปนชู้กับผี” This is one of the most scariest Thai horror movie in 2006
I loved The Unseeable. Been about 10 years since I saw it but boy did it stick with me... Creepy as hell, with some pretty heavy themes for the mind to mull over...
I agreed!! It's super duper scary movie😱😱
It's so good how you show almost none of the scary things that happen in the movies but focus solely on the story, which is why I love thai horror.
Being in Malaysia and so close to Thailand we loved watching Thai movies on the big screen. It absolutely scares you shitless and at the same time brings you on emotional roller coaster every time.
Sampai depressed gantung mati atau tanda takut sayang Allah walaupun takut citer hantu thai baru tahu kerja tuhan barulah sentap hati kau korang !!!!! ....
My mother is Thai.
She used to bring home many many Thai movies in disc, and it became a part of my childhood.
It has been 5 years since my last Thai flim (other than the one where a girl cheats on tests), but this video just awaken part of my childhood once again. I hope the discs are still in the storage room.
Thank you for bringing attention on Thai films.
P. S. Their adverts are also a work of art, you should look them up sometimes ☺️
I’d be super interested in any adverts you recommended! :-)
@@kitwhitfield7169 like this one th-cam.com/video/Vj5WAZ4mmIw/w-d-xo.html
Thanks!
Bad Genius is a really good movie
Kit Whitfield
This one
th-cam.com/video/Az2yDglMow8/w-d-xo.html
Or the famous Thai life insurance “unsung hero” one
th-cam.com/video/uaWA2GbcnJU/w-d-xo.html
As a southeast asian, I also grow up with thai films from action, horror up to romantic comedies. Pee Mak is the amalgamation of everything I love about thai cinema. Me and my friends screamed, laughed and cried throughout the runtime of the film and to this day it still holds a very special place in my heart.
ohh Shutter, that brings back memories, for some reason I watched it at midnight. Finished the movie, went to bed with all lights on.
I just watched "Coming Soon" by the same director of The Promise and oh wow, amazing film. Thai horror is, as you correctly described in the title, underrated. Btw, one of my favorites is "Art of the Devil 2".
Art of the Devil 2 is amazing
My cousin told me "After watching Thai horror, watching American horrors feels like watching cheap knock offs".
I have to agree. Except for some classics, modern horror in Hollywood kinda meh
American Horror has frankly lost everything scary about it. Thrilling yes, but scary no.
I've been so long leaving American horror aside, they just look 'mehhh' for me even from the trailer alone. I'm not saying they're all bad, surely there are good ones in between. But since most of them just didn't work out for me, I never bother again.
That explains a lot. Like aside from Paranormal Activity, anything I've seen after Coming Soon a decade ago or so has just not had the same affect on me. I actually scrambled out of my chair for that one and I don't know that one little moment scared me so much.
Well..Conjuring and Get Out was good.. but I agree Asian horror is a different level...
@@keenanrogers9486 VVitch was a solid horror movie. I remember watching it and having this unsettling feeling in my gut. I hope Hollywood would focus on movies like that with dark atmosphere and suspense instead of cheap jumpscares and gore.
Your endorsement style is really good. You genuinely make me believe you think it's a good product, which has never happened to me before with any other youtuber. They just sound like they're rattling off a list of things they need to say about the product because they want to make extra money. But you sound like you do your own research, actually try to work with the product yourself, actually enjoy it enough to want to endorse it, and try to present it in ways that a user would actually be interested to hear about. I hope your endorsers start paying you extra, I've never seen better.
Might be a weird compliment. I just really appreciate that you're so transparent and detail-oriented in everything you do!
I'm from Thailand and one of my favorite Thai horror is "Buppah Rathree." You should do a video on it! It is a very well balanced Thai Comedy Horror. Sometimes feels very real.
I agree, it gave me such creeps and unsettled feeling.
Buppha Rahtree 2003 is gem!
As I’m from thailand, if you hate thai horror movies.
I respect your opinion.
บุปผาราตรี my all time fav
As a kid I'm always easily scared (still do sometimes). Part of that is how Thai horror shaped me, sometimes I'm even too scared to watch and have to listen the summary and it'll still keep me up at night.
I think Thai horrors are scary because it taps into the unknown and our deep fear inside. Western horror usually focus more into the physical horror, the creepy shot, but Thai stories horror just creeps up on you then reveal it's heartbreaking side of the ghost. The ghost is evil because of the cirscumstances push them there.
That “dream/deja vu” scene from Pee Mak where one of his friends have “experienced” what apparently was going to happen, but still fell off the stairs kills me every time. Ingenious writing.
“Nice try”
*Process to wreck an entire stair*
11:09
The best stories are the ones that make the audiences feel the same emotions as the characters. Instead “Oh, the character’s scared”, it’s “This is terrifying.” It closes the gap between the audience and the protagonist, which is immensely effective for emotional gut-punches and creating drama and suspense.
If I had a wife who looked that good and was a ghost id try to keep her too
Same here dude
Pixels
She’s a good wife too, but also sorta murderous. If ur the husband you would be fine but your friends and family will either be afraid or die from her
Actually,
Spoilers!
The wife was never murderous, just wanting to scare off her husband's friends who didn't approve of the dead/living pair. The town drunk herself was just that, drunk and fell into the river by herself. The entire thing was also misguided, as the husband knew all along that the wife was already dead since they warned him during a game of charades.
By the end of it they run a haunted house and scare off people who don't like the wife.
Honestly the wife seemed pretty loving and her main intentions didn’t seem murderous at all and it just seemed like she wanted to be with her husband so if it was me as long as she’s not trying to harm me i wouldn’t mind.
*"There will always be an Asian who's better."*
Even if you're Asian, hahaha
Damn, as an Asian no matter how better am I, there's always that one person who's going to obliterate you on that field lol
"It is why there can only be one best Asian."
Now change Asian to White, and now it's racist.
Funny how that works.
Dylan Monstrum I think that you think you are being clever, but considering your comment cues in on zero context- this is more of a joke going over your head. A 14 year old should really be screaming “whoosh” at you right now.
the shutter is one of the best horror film ever, I had chills even thinking about it now
Why horrible? I mean it's not blood and gore but even those not into its religion aspect should find the ending creepy
@@seanc9520 I think he misspelled "horror" heh...
@@seanc9520 lol horror autocorrected
I remember during my younger years, watching Shutter for the first time gave me trouble sleeping, especially at the end when the ghost was all along with him.
When I was in middle skl I saw the ring, the grudge, they gave me that lingering fear for weeks. In high skl a friend showed me HK horror, 山村老尸 n such, the story and concept themselves give me the chills. Then, in college my roommate n I watched a couple of Thai... for years you get those feeling... don't look at the mirror when brushing teeth, somethings behind you, don't look up in shower, something is watching you, don't look back on empty hallway, something is chasing you, don't look up the windows in an dark ally, old lady is starring at you, close your eyes at night, a girl in white is standing next to your bed... etc. Nowadays I only watch American horror as comedy :)
For sure! Those horrors are especially amplified when I went to boarding school… at night, when everyone else is asleep, so terrifying no one can hear the scream stuck in your throat…
Don't speak when you hear some sound, And don't answer when you hear someone call your name in the night.
I remember Shutter from the times I lived at the countryside. This damn movie, allied with the Grudge, made me sleep with lighrs on for years, and only glazing at the scenes brought me back.
DUDE u should watch “Alone”! it’s another good Thai horror film that makes you so unnerved as hell
+ love your videos and how they branch out from just the East Asian take to more Asian countries! thank you for the representation man
Shutter and Alone were always played in TVs here in the Philippines when I was younger. Two great movies that scared the genuine heck out of me. Would recommend!
I just love the work you do in spreading different eastern cultures with such love and professionalism. Thank you so much for your channel man
Maybe in the great big world, but here in southeast asia they have a long standing reputation for films. Action, romcoms, historicals and esp comedy and horror. Their folklore/black ritual based horror are one of the most terrifying things i've seen😅 if you want quality horror, thai is always a great choice
Ps: thailand also makes the best funny commercials😂 10/10 would recommend for your leisurely viewing
Thailand as a country is just very overlooked outside of South East Asia, which is a shame. The culture is so lively and the cinematic culture is top notch.
Also yes, Thai commercial is absolutely great. But I'm also scare to watch them because they get stuck in my head for days. Not even Japanese commercial can do that.
@@AccentedCinema In that case, you should cover P.Ramlee's movies. Top notch moviemaking ahead of its time.
Pssssst...
Thai horror in games are also top notch! Wholly hell when I watch game play from youtubers I am on the ende of my seat it's so frightening.
@@MansMan42069 YESSSSSS
@@AccentedCinema southeast asians generally always look down or squabble with each other but i feel with thailand they are abit exempt and sometimes its a point of pride to be associated with them. But maybe thats just me and my observation.
Its feels good when any country from SEA gets abit of positive appreciation every now and then
I remember watching Pee Mak and i fell in love with the plot and how the story played out. It was beautifully written and honestly it was so good to watch
These are 2 things I always wanted to see coming from the Thai horror film industry:
- A sequel to _Coming Soon_ titled _Now Playing_
- 6Bia, with an segment called "In the Beginning".
Only a Thai horror fan will understand.
It won’t probably happen tho
I really liked 'coming soon' but 4bia was okay. However, I loved the short story about the film crew, it was scary and also funny. The great thing about Thia horror movies is that they are based on moral values.
I love watching foreign horror films. Not knowing the tropes they'll use makes them unpredictable and having to read the subtitles means I can't look away or I'll miss something. It makes the experience so much more tense and I love it.
And you're right, I love learning about different cultures from movies and other media. I can't wait to watch these movies
The Promise was so good. I was rooting for her to save her daughter but a part of me was also like.. you left her to die alone when yall pinky promised.
发现宝藏TH-camr了！一连看了好几个影片，感觉我跟Accented Cinema应该是差不多年代的人，包括小时候看午夜凶铃，咒怨，最惊喜是你竟然也是广州人，也有看从小陪我长大的周星驰等香港电影，很高兴在TH-cam上发现一位跟我成长轨迹的观影经历很相符的有质量的TH-camr！
Just listening to your breakdown on "The Promise" gave me chills down my spine. Thanks for the recommendation.
Man, the way you talked about Buddhism philosophy on Shutter makes me want to watch a full analysis of the movie and get in depth.
I really don't think it's underrated as much as it is unknown. I think everyone who has seen a Thai horror film has had nightmares for months after.
I am from Singapore. It is well known that Thai horror is terrifying
Thai horror is a little bit popular in the Philippines exactly because it can cause nightmares.
As I'm a Thai and live in this country. I barely watch much Thai horror movies😂.the reason is what you said Nightmare
@Nemy is it "art of the devil"? I remember watching it and got scared for days😂
I agree. UK, Japanese, Korean, and Indian film is really the only foreign cinema that is some what accessible to American audience.
I’m half Thai and I am SO happy I came across this!!! Thankyou!!
I was going through a really hard time in 2015 it had been months since I genuinely laughed, thats when I watched Pee Mak, I was laughing uncontrollably, the last time I laughed in a movie like that was Kungfu Hustle. Pee Mak is my comfort film.
This CHANNEL is underrated. Well done!
the thumbnail says "undderrated", not underrated
Ugh, I knew the word looks weird. I'll fix it.
That's to show how extreme the underrated'ness is
Change it to Udderrated!
it's to show accent
@@NoNameAtAll2 Udderrated should be a unique rating from this channel. Put an Udder stamp on it.
I’m from Thailand, and let me tell you the comedy in the movies are golden, almost never failed to make me laugh throughout the whole movie.
I’m from the US but from the Thai films I’ve seen, I definitely recognize the comedy element. It’s quite distinctive. I really love it.
For me, Pee Mak is the funniest Thai movie I've ever watched, I even watched it twice in theater. The movie is also easy to watch and understand by Thais because it's based on the widely-known Thai ghost story "Mae Nak" (Pee Mak's ghost wife's name), which has been made into a movie so many times.
Ps. Months ago, I found and sub to your channel when I was searching for Thai horror film video essay. Now my wish came true, thank you for this amazing vid!!
Edit: I just finished the video. IMO, I agree with you, buddhist is slowly fading away from our life. I dont even go to temple anymore except for a funeral, and most of my friend think less about karma but be more focus on action-consequence instead.
Quite interesting how such culture seems to be fading in most if not all countries (I'm talking about traditional culture). I don't think it's completely about materialism, nor so much about Westernization. Perhaps some combination of it all, though. Traditions require determination and patience (eg. going to temple for more than just funeral). I also think most of Asian culture hasn't, for the lack of a better term, been updated. Rituals and traditions are easy to pass through generations but without the logic behind them being passed on, us youth will lack motivation to continue them. Like, karma went from being simply "all actions have consequences, good or bad, so one must be prepared to accept the fruits of labour" to "good action = good karma, bad action = bad karma". I would like you know your opinion on this.
@@meghnadfilmclub2389 That's another way to describe it. Without logic and reason behind the action, tradition became a useless thing which waste money and resource. Most of the new generation, hate old-fashioned mind set of "you have to do that because I did it before" kinda thing. If you keep an eye on Thai political news lately, you will start seeing kids-young teens protest for their freewill.
@@ElleBernard I'll try to look into it. I like researching cultures and rituals to sort of trace them back to their origins to understand their reasoning. Eg. turmeric being sacred because of it's healing qualities or sitting underneath a peepal tree because it produces the most amount of oxygen during the day. Do you know any ritual or tradition in your culture that you know the logic behind, i.e. you know why it's followed?
Didn't expect to find Kimie here lol
@@dinosaurgang7899 hey, I can be anywhere! We’re on the internet after all.
wow!! i am not Thai, but living here for over a decade, I am so happy ppl. like you are promoting their work.
If anyone sees this, I recommend "Body 19" a Thai psychology horror
Haha one thing that caught my attention... Manga overlay :P Have you considered covering anime flims more extensively. Really enjoyed the one where you covered whisper of the heart.
Why r u here lmao
@@congabonga7104 heh he has really great content😁
@@Chubbybots what is your channel about? I've never seen these items before
@@bubblegumplastic oh I build custom mechs and robots entirely with Lego bricks!
OH FUCK CHUBBYBOTS?!
I just met this channel last week and i just watched almost all your videos! U r awesome!
As a thai person, thank you so much for making this video! I've been waiting for soo long for thai horror movies to be mentioned in the film community. Love from Thailand! ขอบคุณนะคร้าาาาบ
@@noodles6901 you can never have enough 7-11. Am i right? Lol
Saw laddaland in the sample vid at the beginning. Got really excited but kinda disappointed that you didnt cover it in full.
It was state that it was the current Thai scariest film by Thais viewers.
"Thai Horror is so Underrated"
Me remembering the ones I grew up with: The Mother and The Eye...and then there was Shutter
...i loved Pee Mak tho, so wholesome, but the original was definitely scarier as Pee Mak was more horror comedy
Filipino here.
Back then, we would always ran away from the TV whenever Shutter was in the commercials.
I'm embarrassed to admit I thought 'Shutter' was Korean. Great content as always- I look forward to telling everyone that Thai horror cinema is the next big thing, probably as smugly as possible!
Thai horror has been around for years... Just hasn't caught on in the west because most people are allergic to subtitles.
I was like 9 years old when The Shutter came out, and as I was a kid I couldn't see the depth of the film beside just a very scary film. I was surprised on how you connected the film and Buddhism's belief together and as a Thai I didn't even see it that way at all.
I never get to watch The Promise because..... well the trailer didn't look that scary, and I moved to the US at that time already so I didn't hear how the film did back in Thailand. After this review I gonna check it out.
I think I stopped watching most of Thai Horror movies because ever since the Shutter came out everyone tried to make films with very twisted and unpredictable ending like what The Shutter did, and bunch of them were just either not that scary or it has just okay-ish story or plot. There are some good one that came out every once in awhile like Body (ศพ #19), The Unseeable (เปนชู้กับผี), Dorm (เด็กหอ).
I'm really glad and enjoy your take on Asian films, and I hope that you will make more movie review on Thai Horror movies.
I was told once that good comedy is funny even without sound
"Pee mak" clips pass that check brilliantly!
I'm Thai I recommend you to check out "The eye" and "303 Fear Faith Revenge"
when I was 7or 8 my uncle took me to the cinema and we watched "303"
I could not sleep for a week.
And my grandma constantly blame him for a month lmao
Thank u for recommendations
I remember watching Shutter as a kid. I couldn't be alone in a room for quite a while 😂
Just discovered your channel recently and I’m really enjoying your content. I’ve found two of these films on Netflix and look forward to seeing them. I’m currently exploring Korean and Japanese cinema and loving it too.
i remember watching a thai horror film during my childhood, I cant remember the name but it was scary as f, it changed my perspective of horror movie
For me it was Coming Soon that scared tf out of me
@@bigoof9486 that one will remain one of the scariest films ever to date
I was in high school when my friends and I started watching a collection of Thai horror. It was really foreign to me because it heavily showed their culture and environment. Besides the movies shown in this essay, there's also a notable series called Art of the Devil that was really gory. But our favorite is Coming Soon. It really gave us nightmares after.
Oh, my Thai horror is such a roller coaster and I love it! my favourite is maenak.
I'm from malaysia.
.
if have time try some malaysia horror movie
the good one is Pontianak harum sundai malam, Zombie kampung Pisang, Congkak and Janin
Very beautiful camera work. I'll be sure to take in one of these films!
Two of my favorite horror movies are Thai: Coming Soon and Shutter.
Thank you!! I remember watching many when I was younger and wondered why they weren’t as popular over here.
All the Hollywood horror movies can't even make me flinch. But Thai horror? It haunts me. 😭😭
This just bring back all of sweet memories back in my undergraduate study. On our 3rd (2006) and 4th year (2007 final year) of study, we (24 of us from the same faculty) rented 3 single story houses at the corner lot of a residential area near our university. So, 8 members per house. Every Saturday night, we will watch horror/thriller movie by projecting the movie on the wall on one of our living room usually at the 2nd house, starting around 10 / 10.30 pm. We also collected money to but foods/junk foods and drinks (soda). I can't remember how many horror/thriller movies we watched at that period. The Victim (Thai), Ghost Game (Thai), 13th Ghosts (English), Shutter (Thai), Aarang (Korean); just to name a few. I miss that time.
Wow. I haven't been this early in a while.
Just put all these movies on my list! Thanks for another wonderful video!
Not related to this video but i wanna recommend a Thai movie, _Bad Genius_ .
Easily one of the best thrillers of the last decade (and that too based on a real story).
yes!! Bad Genius is so unexpectedly tense and great
That movie is very good and done
Having fun, getting drunk...
Who ends up committing a hit and run...
That rhyme is chilling
I don’t watch Thai horror movies cause I know they will scare the Scheibe out of me.
wow!! i am not Thai, but living here for over a decade, I am so happy ppl. like you are promoting their work.
If anyone sees this, I recommend "Body 19" a Thai psychology horror
edit: yes, sadly buddhism has been slowly disappearing and respect is on a high low
On Netflix there are some extremely well done horror series from Thailand. I recommend them.
I would also suggest Inhuman Kiss. It is also on Netflix 😁
Girl from Nowhere is a good one!
the way you talk makes it irresistible to watch these movies. It took me a day to watch them all u genuinely have great taste in horror movies.
I always give up when my friend recommended me a thai horror, damn it to scarry
THIS CHANNEL IS UNDERRATED!!!
I’m Thai and I recommend “Body (2007)” (Or “บอดี้ ศพ 19” in Thai). It is one of the best psychological-horror film in my opinion.
And about what you put into this video, it seems you know more of Thai culture and Buddhism that represent in those films.
Next, about Secularism, well, there are clashes of generations over here. Young people go overly into Secularism while old people are too conservative. Things change as time flows; it is natural. However, the olds want to freeze everything as they are in advantages. The youths want to change as they suffer from everything. It is the trend of the world. That’s all. I’m just there to observe and adapt with the change.
The Promise was one of the best horror movies I have ever watched. It is definitely underrated. Character development and the pace is suspenseful, emotional and draws you in. It makes you care about the characters which is something a lot of modern horror movies fail to achieve. I can wholeheartedly second your recommendation of that film.
Talk about underrated, is anyone else a fan of Taiwanese heavy metal?
Imma try that out. How about you? Have you heard about mongolian throat singing metal?
more into mainland Chinese metal myself.
any recs for Taiwan?
@@MrMervyn Chthonic 閃靈
I like it, as a brazilan , the land of sepultura ... please list some names to me !!!!!
@@eddlake5694 Just checked them out because you mentioned them. Like them a lot.
In my senior year in high school with nothing much to do at that point aside waiting for graduation, a classmate brings a vcd of The Shutter to school and pretty much the entirety of the senior class would gather in a classroom and watch it on lunchbreak. But with it being VCD and the fact we ate lunch before watching, we never get to finished it during the lunchbreak and had to rewatch the first disk of VCD over and over for a duration of a week. We all developed tolerance for it and don't find it scary anymore afterward.
Coming Soon really rattled my jimmies. Thai Horror is something else
Rustled jimmies is a phrase I find sincerely funny and am glad you're droppin it. Been a while since I've heard anyone mention their jimmies in any state.
@@Gazork.ChumbleSpuzz sometimes im a zoomer with boomer vocabulary. I say galivanting and hullabaloo unironically. Thanks man, its great that I brightened up your day.
Hah I have a friend who uses Nifty - ironic or no I cannot tell, but I've picked it up for my own. It's good to speak words that ease the soul.
Sadly the horror genre is so overused in Thailand, that recent horrors are starting to become mediocre, especially the horror-comedy.
Take Me Home is a fairly recent one that is impressive.
Asian Movie Enthusiast That one really strikes under the radar.
@@Asian_Movie_Enthusiast Take Me Home is pretty stupid with a convoluted plot. I would say the latest Thai horror film that actually really great is Inhuman Kiss (2019) It's a story about Krasue - a female spirit of Thai folklore. That manifests itself with just a head and internal organs hanging down from the neck
I'm Thai. I like you attempted to describe those titles from Thai-culture angle. That's the right way to get into the movies.
"The Ring" scarred me as a kid, "Coming Soon" scarred me as a teenager.
I really enjoyed "Coming Soon." That ending got me!
I'm so happy hearing you talk about Thai horrors! As a Thai, the lore and beliefs are in our everyday life and make the story so real and much more scary. Not only in horror aspect but also the drama and psychological too. My faves are "Alone(แฝด)" and "ladda land(ลัดดาแลนด์)" which are so suspense and have a very detail cinematography to study from. ("Body (บอดี้ศพ19)" are also very great horror psychological theme but the cgi are quite outdated)
Thai horror is more towards life lessons and karma rather than the history, like in Western horror. The ghosts in Thai horror always teach us some lesson atleast