Maybe I’ve watched too many Asian films. It’s not that they are all starting to run together, but I’m starting to see too many of the same ideas, attempts at fright, and visuals seen over and over again. Not all of hem are bad, but there have been some that are less than stunning, and from what I’ve seen thus far from Thailand, for the most part they need to do a lot of work on their horror cinema.

While the amount of horror from Thailand has been a bit on the scarce side, and in fact one film wasn’t even directed or written by someone from the country (which might explain why it wasn’t too bad) but the few films that have been released aren’t anything extraordinary, though they usually start out on a good note. The Victim is just one of the latest and throws in just about every trick that has been previously seen in Asian cinema.

Ting (Pitchanart Sakakorn) is a struggling actress who takes a job with the police department reenacting crimes. Lieutenant Te (Kiradej Ketakinta) sees that she is becoming one of the most popular actresses they have had and as her popularity begins to rise, he offers her the chance that she’s been waiting for. Meen (Apasiri Nitibhon) who was a former Miss Thailand and also a runner up for Miss Universe has been murdered, but as Ting begins to study to reenact the crime, she begins to see spirits including that of Meen who is trying to tell her that the suspect in the case, her husband, isn’t really the one they should be looking for and now Ting must discover who the real killer is.

And then The Victim takes a turn for the worse and it turns out to actually be a movie and the real Meen is haunting the cast and set.

Great, a horror film that turns into a movie, that’s something new and original. Actually, it’s not, and I wont’ get into a rather lengthy list of movies that have done the same thing. The Victim even tries to do the dream within a dream scenario, something else that has been done more than a time or two, and here it is presented rather haphazardly, almost as if there was no real idea how to transition between scenes back to reality, so the dream substitute seemed to be the best option.

While watching The Victim, my first real though was if the police in Thailand really do this type of crime reenactment. We may do the same thing here, usually on TV as a part of a series like America’s Most Wanted, but what we find in his film is that the murder recreations are done at the murder location in front of media and spectators. It becomes almost a side show to an extent, and one that when you really think about it, is quite morbid.

It takes a while for The Victim to build up to anything supernatural, but the first real scenes involves Ting being plagued by a large group of spirits that are all pawing at her, a scene that is very similar to one seen not on film, but in the video game Fatal Frame. This is the beginning of similarities though. A ghost crawling outside of a car; seen it. There’s a sequence where a ghost crawls from a mirror and then claws its way along the counter which isn’t too far from the finale seen in Ringu. There are victims that appear as emaciated bodies, another thing that isn’t new, and even spirits attacking with tendrils that is far too close to the hair attacks in Ju-on 2. The only thing that creators didn’t do, though it seems that it was on its way, was the familiar elevator trick seen in The Eye. The Victim has even been compared to the Pang Brother’s horror film, but for what reason I’m not sure as the two share nothing in common, plus The Eye was actually good.

Once The Victim moves into the “real world”, it becomes a sort of nonsensical mess. The writers apparently decided that they didn’t kill enough people so it’s time to take it out on the crew that is filming the movie, and that’s exactly what they do. And when all else fails, why not throw in a cursed item just for good measure? You can check that one off the list as well, and The Victim spends the remainder of its time trying to muster up some pathetic scares that aren’t anything unique or unusual and certainly aren’t going to frighten those who are too familiar with the Asian ghost genre for their own good.

If these things weren’t enough, The Victim has some of the worst subtitling that I’ve seen in a long time. Some of these seem to be almost literal translations and becomes annoying to try and read them and structure correct sentences out of them. For example, if I write review, I guess not all words are needed. It’s okay though, but you might feel like you need and if you suffer from an epilepsy, it might not harm. While I could be worse, true Engrish, it certainly doesn’t make The Victim enjoyable to watch

The Victim only includes a handful of bonus features. There is a making of, but this really does little to earn my respect for the film. There are also TV spots and a look at the original theatrical trailer. It’s more or less common and standard extras for a below average horror film and I honestly don’t feel that much else beyond these goodies could really improve the value of the film in the least.

There might be a great Thai horror film out there somewhere, but I’m still waiting to see it. The Victim seems to be nothing more than a horror film that wants to take the best from all other Asian horror and try and make it unique, but there are some things that simply shouldn’t be done and The Victim treads on too much territory that isn’t its own. The real victim here . . . .me, and unfortunately like our main character, I wasn’t lucky enough to become possessed while watching it so that maybe The Victim still wouldn’t be residing inside my head.

-mike-
 

Directed by: Monthon Arayangkoon Written by: Monthon Arayangkoon   Original Thai Title: Phii khon pen Cast: Pitchanart Sakakorn Apasiri Nitibhon Penpak Sirikul Kiradej Ketakinta Chokchai Charoensuk Sompong Tawee Rashane Limtrakul Sompop Vejchapipat Benjaporn Punyaying

DVD Features: Anamorphic - 1.85:1 Audio: Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital, Thai 5.1 DTS, Thai 2.0 Dolby Digital English & Spanish Subtitles Making of The Victim TV Spots Original Theatrical Trailer