PHOBIA

PHOBIA

(aka '4bia')

I'm a big fan of anthology or 'portmanteau' films and - with some notable exceptions, such as 2008's rather fun Trick'r Treat - it seems we often have to look to the Far East for newer examples of this genre. In Phobia we get not the customary three, but four separate tales by four different directors (the best-known in the West probably being Banjong Pisanthanakun of Shutter (2004) fame). Whilst this film just isn't as accomplished as the earlier Bangkok Haunted (2001), it's still an enjoyable foray into Thai supernatural cinema.

In the first story, 'Happiness', a young woman isolated by her injuries after a near-fatal car crash is perhaps more open that she would usually be to text messages sent from a strange number. It seems someone else is as lonely as she is, and the texts are benign enough -so she can't resist responding, and, when the phantom caller asks her to SMS a photo of herself, she agrees. The caller won't send one back, though - and when she gets suspicious, she researches the strange number online…in so doing, she finds a story about a young suicide victim whose father put a mobile phone in his coffin in case he 'got lonely'. No huge surprises in this still creepily-told tale, notable as much else for the fact that it's almost entirely silent, relying on showing the audience the text messages and the woman's responses - and the use of flashback at the end is nicely executed.

'Tit for Tat' is, as you might expect, a vengeance story, where a teenage boy acquaints himself with some Thai black magic in order to punish his violent bullies. I suspect that some background knowledge of Thai superstitious beliefs would have made this one slightly clearer, but two familiar motifs arise from the fray: the boy has successfully cursed his bullies with his gaze (providing shades of The Grudge). This leads to some grisly kills and, as the gang members die, they return to claim their living cohorts. The one girl remaining has to take desperate measures to avoid returning their gaze…can you guess what she does? - Ocular trauma seems to be a recurring event in Oriental horror cinema, perhaps even more than in the West, and this chapter of the film is no exception - but a decent performance from 'Pink', the last girl (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk - my spell checker just had an apoplexy) certainly stops this one from feeling too jaded.

'In The Middle' takes us out into the Thai jungle as we follow four young lads on a camping trip/adventure holiday. I thought that this chapter was particularly strong because of its self-referential nature: as the boys tell ghost stories, they refer good-humouredly to the clichés of Oriental horror cinema ("Why do all ghosts seem to have long black hair? - Every movie is the same!") However, they're still able to spin an entertaining yarn here. After an accident during a rafting session, one member of their party is missing. Uncertain as to whether he's dead or alive and unable to contact anyone at that time of the day, the boys decide to set up camp in the hopes that he will find his way back. This he does - but after a night of ghost stories, plus the fears over his life, there's a distinct fear that he's now a ghost himself. Jokier in tone than the other stories, the twist in the tale here still worked, even as it made me laugh (and Western films are referenced in just the same irreverent way!)

The final chapter, 'Last Fright', crams a lot of plot into a short space of time: a young air hostess is summoned to work on a flight where a prince and princess will be in attendance. However, when she arrives, only the princess is there - and there's evidently some bad blood between the two women. The princess obviously requested her presence for a reason, and sets about making her life a misery for the duration of the flight. This air hostess, Diaw, decides to get her own back on what we soon understand to be her love-rival by giving her - as she requests, mind you - the staff meal rather than the in-flight meal. To hell with the princess's shrimp allergy! Except she dies shortly after leaving the plane and, as royalty, has to be transported back in the cabin rather than the hold. Cue reanimating corpses, hysteria and a definite Twilight Zone vibe: there is plenty going on, although the story doesn't pack a real punch.

This is a decent, if fairly formulaic film but even when you recognise where the stories are going, it is still done with a solid helping of creepiness. Far-Eastern ghost stories do this very well, even where they are not necessarily bringing anything new to the party (and as the directors discuss in interviews included on this DVD, the aim of the game was a succession of scares, rather than in-depth characterisation.) That said, all of the stories try at least a little to break away from the genre expectations - and limitations - which their directors realise are there. If anything, the major stumbling-block for me was the sheer rapidity of the action: this may well be because the team behind Phobia aren't first and foremost pitching the film at a Western audience, and that would explain the fact that the action moves a tad too fast for me at times (especially when trying to read lots of subtitles and absorb what is happening on-screen) and, as I mentioned above, a rudimentary knowledge of Thai folklore would have contextualised some of the goings-on. However, I did enjoy the experience of being whirled along by these tales - but I tell you one thing. I'm never going near a window in Thailand; I think I counted four lots of defenestration during this film. If the ghosts don't get you, the dodgy glazing will…

A decent quality print is backed up by an in-depth interview with the cast and crew, including interesting synopses of the different chapters; you also get a feature trailer, and choices of audio set-up of 5.1 Dolby Digital, 5.1 DTS or 2.0 Dolby Digital.

Review by Keri O'Shea


 
Released by Icon Home Entertainment
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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