Body Jumper

Reviewed by Simon Booth

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

It's a Teen Thai Horror Comedy, unashamedly modelled after the recent slew of horror-spoofs that have been popular in Hollywood in recent years. I can't say I've ever actually watched one of those Hollywood movies, but I've seen enough trailers and clips to recognise their influence in Body Jumper. Unless the Hollywood efforts are very much better than I believe is likely, I would say the Thai effort is at least their equal though.

Everybody knows that when somebody from Hong Kong visits Thailand, they're going to come back with supernatural agents on their tail. What hope, then, for those that live in Thailand! Apparently the phenomenon only applies to rural areas though, as the bus full of Bangkok school kids in the movie don't seem to have had any supernatural problems prior to their trip to a small backwater village (to teach healthy living through exercise apparently, to these villagers who all seem to be knocking on triple figure ages already). Whilst spying on a young and ridiculously gorgeous classmate of theirs bathing in a river, a group of the boys unwittingly unleash the spirit of Pbob, the liver-hungry ghost - which promptly takes up home in the frighteningly attractive body of said classmate. Back in Bangkok, the classmate turns from shy angel to disgustingly sexy man-eating vamp. When a series of boys turn up dead with their livers missing, one of the boys realises that she really is man-eating, and recalls the warning a villager gave about Pbob. It's up to him, and eventually the friends he can persuade of the truth, to stop her - preferably not dying in the attempt.
Well, that's the plot, but I recount it only because I find it interesting. It doesn't really give a good idea of the movie, which is mostly very very silly with a strong love for bodily function humour and sexual humour. Here, the horror is not so much the thought of having your liver eaten by a ghost as of dying a virgin. If it were an American movie I would doubtless hate it for being shallow and crude, and silly, but I'm more forgiving of a Thai movie that at least didn't cost $20 million and buy swimming pools for a dozen lawyers and studio execs. It takes a lot more effort and dedication to pull off a silly horror comedy in Thailand, where the entire country probably doesn't have the budget of a Hollywood studio, so I respect it a lot more. Or I'm a hypocrite, whichever.
Whatever the explanation, I did find myself enjoying Pbob a lot after a slightly reluctant start. It's not a deep movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a good romp with great production values. The characters have zero depth, but all look very young and beautiful... especially the girl who becomes Pbob's host, if you hadn't picked that detail up yet. The director obviously noticed her physical exceptionalness too, and exploits it to the max. Even though Pbob is a 'body jumper', she quite wisely stays in this one body for the majority of the movie - clearly she knows she not going to find better soon. I'd happily have swapped places with some of the liver-deprived young chaps she seduces and devours, frankly! The beauty of the host makes it all the more traumatic when Pbob's demonic side takes control - quite genuinely creepy and disturbing and monstrous. Not quite as traumatic as seeing Sadako crawl out of a tv, but Pbob's face still wouldn't get out of my head for some hours after the movie, and I didn't feel at all comfortable in the dark/alone until it did .
The scares take second place to the laughs though - if a situation can be turned into a comedy skit, it will invariably go that way. The script thrives on absurdity and a healthy diet of cliche - which it uses or spoofs in equal measures. There's a lot of mugging and wilful overacting, but a sense of playfulness and fun from the cast that makes you forgive it and even appreciate it. There's not much of a point behind it all, not really any meaningful message to take away, but it's pretty solid entertainment. The movie also has really high production values - great sets, lighting, camerawork and very impressive special effects. The CGI isn't up to the standards of Hollywood's very best, but it's pretty good and effective. The whole movie feels slick - if it's possible to be slick and stupid at the same time
If you like the Hollywood Teen slasher-horror type affairs, then definitely try Body Jumper - unless I've been missing some US gems, I think it's probably better than any of them. If you're interested in seeing how a less bloated industry can produce product of at least the same quality and probably a whole lot more character than Hollywood, then try Body Jumper too. If you just want to see a really really cute girl get possessed by a liver-hungry ghost, then this is probably your best choice too.
303, Fear Faith Revenge

Reviewed by Simon Booth

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

This movie starts out with a short montage of desaturated high constrast imagery and razor sharp editing, in which we see somebody who is afraid and then dead. Cut to some years later (1960AD, apparently 2503 in the Thai calendar though), and we see a group of young boys arriving to start their freshman years at a Catholic boarding school. They're all settling in and becoming good friends, but can't help being curious about the portrait of a handsome student who, they learn, commited suicide some years earlier. The staff seem reluctant to talk, so they consult a ouija board to find out more. The spirit that enters their glass seems pleasant and jovial at first, but when they ask about his suicide he tells them "NO - MURDER!" and the glass shatters. Soon enough people (and cats) start dying, and its up to the kids to a) survive b) stop the killing.

Nothing too sharp in the script department, 303FFR nevertheless features some excellent cinematography, and makes a reasonable effort to maintain the scary atmosphere. The young cast are all attractive and likeable, and the killings suitably gory. Not a deep or challenging movie, but a good looking one that will probably satisfy fans of the genre.

There is a DVD from Ocean Shores with English subs.

6ixtynin9 (Ruang Talok 69)

Director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Stars: Lalita Panyopas, Tasanawalai Ongartittichai, Black Phomtong, Sritao, Arun Wannardbodeewong
Time: 114 minutes
Year: 1999

In an odd sort of way this is reminiscent of a fast moving bedroom farce except that instead of hiding various lovers away in closets, it is dead bodies being stuffed into drawers, in the bathtub and of course for good measure one in the closet. Though the film is played with a straight face throughout, it is a gleefully morbid comedy that is almost cruel at times but becomes only more amusing as the body count rises. It feels as if there is a definite Tarentino influence at work here - not so much in the editing - this is much more low key - but more so in the application of black humor and the way the film will suddenly go of on a riff with a minor character. There are a couple rewarding moments in doing so such as with the three women who fantasize about cutting of a man's penis and putting it into a blender (this after they mistake something to do with murder for oral sex!) or the killer who cries when he hears a song his mother loved.

Tum  (Lalita Panyopas) seems to have the fates against her when her boss has an office full of women pick sticks to see who is being let go from their jobs. Her number comes up 9 and it’s only the beginning of her run of bad luck around this number. She goes home – with a quick shoplifting stop off that shows both how desperate she is as well as displaying a bit of larceny in her heart – and goes to sleep. In the morning she wakes up to find a box with one million Baht ($25,000) left at the front of her door. It is a clear mistake but she takes it anyway. Two thugs come looking later when they realize that her apartment number “6” looks like a “9” when it swings around as it is apt to do. They get brutal – they end up dead – so what does a sweet young thing do with two dead bodies and a box full of money in her apartment. Before this long day comes to a close she has more bodies that she has to deal with along with a bunch of killers who want their money back and a nosy neighbor who comes closer than she knows to the end of a sharp blade.
Other than the manic layers of complications that build up like a house of cards ready to collapse, one of the joys of the film is watching the Buster Keaton dead pan expressions of Tum as her whole world is flipped on its head in the blink of a knock on her door. In the middle of all of this chaos that has found her, she retains her quiet calm and steadfastly follows her plan to extricate herself from all this, almost oblivious to the danger she is in. As the film progresses she shows a surprising and unflinching toughness within; this ex-office girl has the heart of a tiger. In a sense, she represents the “everyman” in a Thailand that is reeling from various economic blows, but has to find a way to survive and forge ahead and she grabs a “gift” without thinking of the consequences – but nothing comes for free. Director Pen-ek Ratanaruang shows a very fluid style here and displays an able hand at finding dark humor in rather grim circumstances - an ability that he brought forth again for his 2001 film Monrak Transistor.

The VCD from Edko has English subtitles but the transfer is fullscreen.

My rating for this films: 7.5