After watching multiple horror flicks from Thailand, I was very skeptical of Monthon Arayangkoon's The Victim. The success of Thailand's The Shutter has bred a list of copycats trying to imitate the success of that Asian horror classic. Some with good results, some with terrible outcomes (Ghost Game comes to mind). The Victim is neither a great film nor a bad film... but is entertaining and original enough to be a worthy use of 100+ minutes of your time.
The story centers on Ting, a wanna-bee actress, who one day inadvertently secures a job with the local police working as a actor in crime scene re-enactments. After successfully completing a few jobs, Ting is asked by police departments countrywide to assist with their re-enactments. Ting becomes well-known and is also looking at television acting, until a famous crime rips through the headlines. A woman named Meen, who is also Thailands runner-up for Miss Universe, is missing and presumed dead. After an short investigation the husband is accused of the crime. Ting knows that this high profile case will either make or break her as an actress and decides to study the life of Meen throughly and intimately. Unfortunately, she becomes too involved as strange occurrences start to pile up, Ting soon finds out she may be more connected to Meen than she ever thought possible.
One of the greatest selling points of The Victim is that the film was actually shot on location using real crime scenes and the reenactments are also based on true crimes. This helps give the film a bit more creepiness and scores major points in the originality factor(although the film itself does surrender to a few prevalent Asian horror cliché's). Also of note, is that the film's credits feature actual ghost sightings caught by the camera's during the filming.
Another strong-point of The Victim is in it's disturbing imagery. The film elects to take the road of the creepy atmospheric visuals, which are very indicative of Asian horror. There are a few "scary" moments in the film but those pale in comparison with the bloodily beautiful imagery in (for instance) the bathtub scene or the hallway scene (those who have seen this will know what I'm talking about). Monthon's direction in this aspect is spot on and this is one of the major reasons that I can recommend this film.
My major complaint about The Victim is how it seems to want to be too many things at once. A detective story, a romantic love triangle story, and a horror film. There's also a complete change in the film fifty minutes in which results in a MAJOR plot twist that will leave the viewer asking, "...What!?". The plot twist is so unexpected that it almost brings the film to a crashing halt. After which it sputters and coughs like an old engine until the last third of the film where it picks up again and finishes strongly (but also predictably).
Bottom Line- Asian Horror fans should dig this. Clichéd and disorganized, but plot wise it's different enough to be entertaining. It's also accessible to the average viewer, but this ones really for the fans.
The story centers on Ting, a wanna-bee actress, who one day inadvertently secures a job with the local police working as a actor in crime scene re-enactments. After successfully completing a few jobs, Ting is asked by police departments countrywide to assist with their re-enactments. Ting becomes well-known and is also looking at television acting, until a famous crime rips through the headlines. A woman named Meen, who is also Thailands runner-up for Miss Universe, is missing and presumed dead. After an short investigation the husband is accused of the crime. Ting knows that this high profile case will either make or break her as an actress and decides to study the life of Meen throughly and intimately. Unfortunately, she becomes too involved as strange occurrences start to pile up, Ting soon finds out she may be more connected to Meen than she ever thought possible.
One of the greatest selling points of The Victim is that the film was actually shot on location using real crime scenes and the reenactments are also based on true crimes. This helps give the film a bit more creepiness and scores major points in the originality factor(although the film itself does surrender to a few prevalent Asian horror cliché's). Also of note, is that the film's credits feature actual ghost sightings caught by the camera's during the filming.
Another strong-point of The Victim is in it's disturbing imagery. The film elects to take the road of the creepy atmospheric visuals, which are very indicative of Asian horror. There are a few "scary" moments in the film but those pale in comparison with the bloodily beautiful imagery in (for instance) the bathtub scene or the hallway scene (those who have seen this will know what I'm talking about). Monthon's direction in this aspect is spot on and this is one of the major reasons that I can recommend this film.
My major complaint about The Victim is how it seems to want to be too many things at once. A detective story, a romantic love triangle story, and a horror film. There's also a complete change in the film fifty minutes in which results in a MAJOR plot twist that will leave the viewer asking, "...What!?". The plot twist is so unexpected that it almost brings the film to a crashing halt. After which it sputters and coughs like an old engine until the last third of the film where it picks up again and finishes strongly (but also predictably).
Bottom Line- Asian Horror fans should dig this. Clichéd and disorganized, but plot wise it's different enough to be entertaining. It's also accessible to the average viewer, but this ones really for the fans.
