MOVIE REVIEW: PROJECT HASHIMA (THAILAND)

“PROJECT HASIMA” PRESS REVIEW

Are THAI HORROR FILMS really the best thing in town?

Most everyone I know would rate that Thai ghosts are way on top, as compared with those from other countries.

Questionable.

There’s nothing like a Thai chiller, I hear this all the time.

They have probably forgotten that THAILAND also produced some pretty bad ones too.

Here is a Thai paranormal thriller called PROJECT HASIMA directed by Piyapan Choopetch that offers tons of jolts, thrills, spills, walking zombies and everything such.

You will be thrilled to bits. I was.

It’s competently directed for the THAI audience, not without its fair share of flaws though.

As an added bonus, you are rewarded with five pretty young things (three guys and two gals) , their screen characters groping in the dark, screaming out for survival.

They are strapped onto a metaphorical swinging pendulum, waiting to be slaughtered in the movie.

They are yours for the asking, as you would see them being bumped off, one by one, for your viewing pleasure. Ah, isn’t this sadism most foul?

This young creative team is trained in film making, and has just returned from an exciting all-expenses-paid assignment called PROJECT HASHIMA.

For no apparent reason, everyone is now mysteriously struggling with the demonic after-effects attained after their short shooting stint on the “devil” island.

Have they been cursed?

This island is renowned for the spooks dwelling there who wish not to be disturbed, as HASHIMA island  has long been abandoned by the Japanese.

As time goes by, it becomes the breeding nest for nasty apparitions.

Incidentally this locale has  also inspired Sam Mendes, Hollywood film maker to use this deserted island as a villain’s hideout for his James Bond’s movie “Skyfall”.

How does the PROJECT HASHIMA story start?

First, five eager film-school graduates gleefully upload a clip onto YouTube, and it unexpectedly becomes an online overnight sensation.

Because they are the “flavor of the season”, these aspiring filmmakers are offered an attractive deal by a local TV production company whose sole intent is to cash on their popularity.

Their assignment is to shoot a horror-genre TV program on Hashima Island, with all expenses paid.

The ensemble team comprises of the self-assured, pain-in-the-ass  leader Off (Alexander Rendell) and his trusting  girlfriend Nan (Apinya Sakulkaroensuk0), the clingy beauty May (Sushar Manaying), the artistic Nick (Pirat Nipitpaisalkul), and the long-haired airhead Dog (Mek Mekwattana).

The movie is overloaded with a generous dose of teen-romance, a love triangle, loan sharks, witchcraft and apparitions when Off stupidly messes with possessions of the dead on the island.

You see, Off steals a demonic ring from an altar at the shoot location, brings it back to Bangkok, thereby kicking off the curse for the rest of his team.

Who’s next for the execution?

PROJECT HASHIMA has an interesting premise with excellent acting from the cute actors.

There’s a menacing zombie lurking in the dark.

It’s waiting to pop out suddenly to give you the creeps whilst the ghost exacts her revenge one-by-one.

Who will die, who lives?

Go watch the movie for the answers.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

MY EX:HAUNTED LOVER Thai Movie Review. DON’T MESS WITH THE UNDEAD.

“MY EX: HAUNTED LOVER” THAI FILM

PRESS PREVIEW

Chill, folks.

Draw the curtains, stay indoors.

Didn’t you see the apparition lurking in the shadows outside?

She’s back for the haunting,

She’s not gonna leave you alone,

She’s out to drink your blood.

Now, when did this happen?

How did this story start?

Hush, baby. Here’s the SECRET:

Take this elder sister.

Her name is BOWIE, a ravishingly sexy Thai actress.

She loves her younger sister, very much and will go the long mile for her, any time.

Her younger sister is CEE, doe-eyed, sweet and so beguiling, and has this roguish boyfriend called AOF.

Through BOWIE’s connections, CEE clinches a lead role in a big budget feature film.

So you see, in the celluloid world, it is never what you know, but WHO you know to get you some place.

Hopefully not a quick ticket to HELL though.

But who knows?

Happiness is all around, until AOF decides to intervene with CEE’s career.

Why?

AOF is broke, needs money and wants a piece of the action.

AOF also has a girl friend on the side, called YING, who eventually throws herself from a tall residential building into the pool below, when AOF dumps her.

So YING’s spirit will come ahaunting

and then revenge is sweet, right?

LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

Now, our REEL story begins …..

All THAI movies distributed overseas are cleverly highlighted as THAI box-office HIT number 1, irrespective of whether they are or not.

How are we to know, really?

Whether this bit holds water or not, we must realize that this is MY EX2: Haunted Lover is spawned from the box office success of its predecessor MY EX1.

The film director is PIYAPHAN CHUPET and the stars are BADIN DUKE, MARION AFFOLTER and PETE THONG-JEUR – as if you have heard of these names.

The Thai Film Board and Distributors never bothered to promote their artistes out of Thailand, much less care about the awful English sub-titling.

It has little to offer in terms of “new-ness” to the realm of Asian ghost movies, but it handled the conventions well, piling frightful scene upon frightful scene as a vengeful ghost seeks payback against those who wronged her.

For horror fans, you will be treated with loads of awesome blood and gruesome gore.

This film is layered with twisted revelations towards the end, where things are not as placid as they seem and that beauty can be a lethal weapon.

To savor THE HAUNTED LOVER, keep your concoctions simple.

Take it with a pinch of salt and a twist of lemon.

The film director could have focused on the character development of the leads instead of spawning screamy and squirmish escapades non-stop to create the shocks.

Interesting plot but tiresome execution mars the enjoyment of an otherwise absorbing film about vengeful hauntings.

Oh, lest I forget, this Reviewer is nursing a bad headache from the super loud eerie soundtrack that accompanies the gory scenes.

It’s a real turn-off to have the noise so earsplitting and explosively jarring.

We are not stone deaf.

The audio people at Kantana Post in Bangkok, kindly take note!

As the credits roll at the final frame, this Reviewer had to rush to grab some aspirins from the nearby pharmacy, to keep himself from reeling.

Such is the reward for watching MY EX: HAUNTED LOVER.

The hauntings are tagged with a price.