Today we take a look at the new Thai horror film “Alone” from the directors of “Shutter”, Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom. Originally released in Thailand as one of the flock of unsubbed films that have begun to crop up thanks to the currently xenophobic efforts of the Thai Ministry of Culture’s push to bolster Thai culture by apparently making their movies unavailable to non speakers of Thai…… but thankfully now available on region 3 PAL english subbed form from Singapore.
Wanna know more? Then you just gotta “Read On”!!
Well…. this one is indeed a nice lil’ film…. It stars Thai pop singer Marsha Wattanapanich as a Thai woman named Pim living in Korea with her husband Wee, who has to return home suddenly to Thailand after news of her mother having a stroke reaches her. The moment she arrives in Thailand, the flashbacks begin - painful memories long buried, along with a strange, familiar feeling. These things only grow stronger as she reaches the house where she grew up. She is inundated with a nostalgia that is sweet, but with an undercurrent of terror and a horrifying realization that someone is there, right beside her, always. That someone had always been there. These supernatural happenings are revealed to be seemingly related to a conjoined twin sister, Ploy, who died during the surgery that was performed years before to separate the two. Are these experiences all in her mind, or is her ghostly twin sister coming back from beyond the grave to menace her and all she holds dear?
As with “Shutter”, the film is finely crafted and carries the the viewer into what might be a standard ghost story…. but what also might be a glimpse of a young woman’s slide into the depths of madness. The visions of Ploy are very personal to Pim and only always seem to happen when she is alone where her thoughts and when her guilty conscience about her sister’s death weigh most heavily on her. Well done flashbacks show the early years of the two as they grow up and all the very intimate experiences that only two such sisters could share. Ultimately this relationship tears the two apart…. both literally and figuratively.
Of course… you don’t learn the most horrible secrets involved in this one till very near the end, (and I’m NOT gonna spoil them for ya!) but it doesn’t dissapoint, even though I sorta saw it coming a lil’ earlier….. all in all this is a nifty lil’ chiller that I give a hearty and well deserved 4 “Meows” out of 5…
Word is that newly created genre distributor 24 Frames Xtreme has picked up the North American distribution rights to “Alone” as their first title, though there is currently no word as to when a theatrical or DVD release will be hitting the U.S.
To get ya all warmed up, here’s the Trailer…enjoy!!
Though I’m still prefer “Shutter” but this one is also one of the best horrors from Asia.
Comment by Jaccstev — October 4, 2008 @ 6:54 am