Born Blood

Director: Akarapol Akarasaranee
Year: 2002
Starring: Arnut Rapanit, Buntita Thanwisate
Time: 94 minutes

This one feels like American Grafitti transferred to Bangkok - a nostalgic look back at the early sixties where Dr. No is playing at the local theater, rock and roll is playing on the radio, the men have foot high pompadours and the women are dressed in chiffon and doing their best Jackie Kennedy impressions. The local hangouts are the ice cream parlor and the dance clubs where Elvis is King and it is just a matter of time till the next rumble between rival gangs over women and love. Teenage love is in the air. Much of the film revolves around a love between two teenagers  - between a member from one gang and the sister of a rival gang member. Romeo and Juliet in Bangkok.

There are some nice moments such as a lovelorn girl breaking up her room until she throws the radio and it switches on to La Bamba after which she forgets her rage and just begins to dance to the beat. It’s full of lush colors, great memorabilia and some old rock and roll music. Though this world feels a bit artificial and almost make believe (though people have told me that in the early 60’s Thailand really did go through an Elvis craze), it is clear that the director has a great deal of affection for this period in history and this feels like a sweet little homage to American films that have covered the subject. There is even one scene that is a complete steal from an Elvis film when one boy plays his guitar in a store while his pals shoplift like crazy.

There is a Thai VCD with English subs (apparently the DVD does not), but there is also a VCD without subs so make sure you you get the right one.

My rating for this film: 6.5

Body Jumper

Director: Haeman Chatemee
Year: 2001
Starring: Danai Samutkochorn, Angie Grant, Chompunoot Piyapane
Time: 90 minutes

The prelude in the past sets you up for a scary supernatural horror film and then it jumps to the present day where a group of young adults show up at a rural village to teach the farmers aerobics. A bunch of erection, small breasts, farting, peeping and lady boy jokes later and it finally began to dawn on me that I was watching a parody of a horror film. Once I realized that I quite began to enjoy this absolutely silly farce about an evil spirit that very much enjoys eating human livers - from live people unfortunately. One scene of it reaching up the person's anus to try and locate the liver - the camera going along on the trip inside - was both disgusting and very funny.

In the village this evil spirit possesses one of the female students - a stunner who sort of looks like a combination of Hsu Chi and Vivian Hsu. Once she is back in Bangkok she begins seducing and killing various men in rather vicious ways. Her friends begin to notice this change that has come over her and come to the conclusion that she has been possessed. It then morphs into a Ghost Busters plot in which the spirit starts jumping from one body to another and they keep trying to track it down with the help of a Rastafarian and his giant ghost catching condoms. There are some fun special effects, a lot of goofiness and an easy breezy feel to it.

There is a Thai DVD and VCD with English subs.

My rating for this film: 7.0

The Hotel

Director: Anukul Jarotok
Year: 2002
Starring: Winai Klaibutr, Panu Suwanno
Time: 109 minutes

This low budget horror/supernatural film plays out very slowly and has next to no scares. The ending is actually fairly good and somewhat touching but by then you will likely long have lost interest in the proceedings. The most annoying thing about the film is that it falls into that horror genre that should be labeled “stupid characters who deserve to die”. Fairly early on it is clear that living in their environment is deadly and yet no one has the good sense to just say adios even after a number of deaths.

A family of two older brothers and a nephew and niece has just purchased an old hotel and begin the process of renovating it. One day a wall is torn down and a Buddhist relic is uncovered and soon very bad things begin happening to people. A college friend of the nephew arrives and is immediately attracted to the niece and a small romance blooms. It starts off slowly – an accident, then an apparent suicide by one of the guests and then murder. The finger of guilt seems to point at one of the uncles but he swears that he knows nothing. It soon becomes apparent that an angry ghost is taking possession of the hotel inhabitants and causing them to commit violence. A priest is brought in but he can do no good and slowly it seeps out that the roots of this go back a generation and is very personal.

The Thai DVD and VCD have English subs.

My rating for this film: 5.0