The Sisters
Director: Tiwa Mocithaisong
Cast: Linisa Phutitarn, Piyathida Woramusik
Year: 2004
Running Time: 108 minutes
At least it is good to see
an Asian horror film that is not an imitation of The Ring. Instead this film
borrows liberally from a different Japanese horror film of note – Ju-on!
Is this the next trend? Long haired female ghosts crawling down the steps
in herky-jerky fashion and dead little white-faced boys staring at you. This
film certainly has plenty of scenes of both and doesn’t seem at all embarrassed
by its all too obvious pickpocketing of ideas. Even so, the film does have
its good moments and does provide the occasional chill. Unlike many of the
Thai horror films that are available these days, this was not a super low
budget straight to video product, but in fact has quite solid production values.
What really hurts it though is a cast of young adults who just are not very
good actors. Of course, one of the pleasures of the film is seeing most of
them come to gruesome endings! To some degree this is Ju-on Meets Scream.
A rock band consisting
of five guys and a single girl are on tour and their manager checks them
into a hotel room. Unfortunately the desk clerk forgot to mention that this
particular room was inhabited by a very angry female ghost who once looked
upon will curse you with either death or insanity or an inability to act.
And the room service wasn’t so great either. Holiday Inn this isn’t. They
see something hanging down from a ceiling air conditioner vent and take the
vent down to look inside. One by one the band peers up into the now vacant
space and without a word leave the room in shock – the ghost (Piyathida Woramusik)
follows. Bad things happen.
One fellow is hit by a
truck, another blows out his brains and so on until only a few are left with
no place to run to. Two of them – the girl Pim (Linisa Phutitarn) and one
of the guys (Bunjerd Suntanapanit) try and track down the origins of this
ghost by visiting her home where they find a tragic story of family dysfunction
and a younger sister who loved her older sister dearly. And in the tradition
of current J-Horror films, the ending leaves you with a big “huh?” on your
face. The film actually has the nerve to claim that this was based on a “True
Story”. If so, I hope the hotel gives a discount on that room.
My rating for this film:
5.5