Death Trap
Director: Kitti Pakdeewijit
Stars: Michael Pupart, Champaign X
Time: 89 minutes
Year: 2003
Everyone who would have bought this film based
on the DVD cover should reach into their pockets and send me a dollar.
This is as tepid as English tea and cucumber sandwiches. There seems to
be a recent explosion of Thai films being released on DVD - often with
English subtitles - but many of them are flimsy low budget attempts to
wring a few dollars from unsuspecting consumers. In truth, it is hard to
resist a DVD with a cover that shows a pouty red lipstick sultry siren,
a knife to her throat and enough bulging cleavage to sink a battleship
- at least it's hard for some of us! - but this would be a good place to
learn some discipline. I would say this is straight to video quality but
even that would be giving it high praise - it is dull, it is obvious, it
is full of pointless filler and it has acting that might give a third grade
class a run for its money. Of course, for those who like a taste of Champaign
it still may be difficult in the end to say no.
Champaign X that is. This lovely actress who throws
off heat like a Thai curry made an enjoyably cheesy appearance in Krai
Tong as one of the cute croc women and was sexually alluring in Dang Bireley
as the glamorous girlfriend, but here no matter how often she bites her
delicious lower lip she is unable to generate any sparks whatsoever. She
does her best to ooze famme fatale but with a script that is moldier than
the bread in my fridge she doesn't stand a chance.
She is married to a wealthy older man that she
met as a nurse in the hospital when his wife died - not one to waste time
- she sees an opportunity and takes it and is soon the lady of the house.
One late rainy evening she and her husband run down a young man on the
road and bring him home and you can take a pretty good guess where this
one is going. What is hard to understand is why she goes to such depths
to try and kill her husband when one would think she could do it by just
walking around in her bikinis and sitting on his lap. The film spends much
of its time focusing on Champaign X's red lips and curvy body - all fine
with me - but unfortunately they tried saddling them with a plot.
My rating for this film: 1.0