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