13 GAME OF DEATH

(A.k.a. 13 GAME SAYAWNG; 13 BELOVED)

Wimpy Pusit (Krissada Terrence) is not having a good day. His mother is constantly heckling at him on his mobile telephone, urging him to get his life into order; debt collectors catch up with him in a parking lot to chase up payments he's failed to make in recent months; when he gets to work at his job as a salesman, his boss tells him that his performance over the last three months has declined so much that he's no longer required there. Forced to resign in order to obtain a reference for potential future employment, Pusit is unceremoniously turfed out.

Worse still, this androgynous-looking coward has a girlish voice and seems incapable of focusing on getting his act together since he broke up with his girlfriend some months earlier.

Then, out of the blue, Pusit receives a call on his mobile 'phone. The anonymous female voice refuses to identify herself, but seems to know an awful lot about Pusit's predicament. She offers him the opportunity of playing along in a game where he must complete 13 tasks in order to win 100 million bahts (roughly £2 million). The challenges are to be filmed on surveillance cameras.

The catch is that Pusit must complete all of the tasks; otherwise he will not receive a penny. Desperate and seeing this bizarre proposition as an answer to all of his woes, Pusit listens intently as the first task is handed to him: take the newspaper in the white room he's standing in and crush the fly currently resting on the wall beside him.

Pusit does this without hesitation, and then learns that the next task is to eat the crushed fly. After passing this test, Pusit is ushered outdoors by his anonymous caller and directed to a local school where his next challenge is to make three children cry ...

As you can imagine, events escalate from here as the tasks become increasingly severe and Pusit eventually falls foul of the law. Unfortunately he's unable to tell anyone what he's up to as a condition of the game, and essentially becomes an outlaw as a consequence.

Along the way, the tasks become sillier and more violent, and even bring Pusit back into contact with his old flame ... and her abusive new partner.

While hardly original - thematically and screenplay-wise, the film takes a route that nods at THE GAME, PHONE BOOTH, 12 ROUNDS and the SAW series to name but a few - 13: GAME OF DEATH does at least throw interesting new spins on a concept that risks becoming tired, with some latter twists and an excellent finale that will have audiences talking afterwards.

Getting to the climax is just as much fun though, the film moving along at a pace more akin to Western auctioneers than Thai productions.

Having said that, director Chukiat Sakveerakul still finds time to capture a lot of his country's natural exterior beauty at frequent intervals and soaks his film in aesthetically pleasing sunny colours. Sakveerakul handles the mix of beautiful simplistic visuals and rip-roaring action extremely well. He went on to co-write the screenplay for 2008's incredibly popular CHOCOLATE.

Terrence is a brilliantly wet protagonist, at first laughable but gradually growing more sympathetic as his problems magnify. Ultimately though, what's interesting about the script dynamics is how Pusit becomes consumed with his desire for the cash prize. Terrence pulls the character arc off well, retaining a level of humanity necessary to keep the audience with him in later scenes.

Elsewhere, on a technical level, the film is a joy. Sharp editing and an exciting contemporary score collaborate to keep the pace thumping, while the gore quotient increases steadily as the action progresses.

Ultimately, 13: GAME OF DEATH is simultaneously fun and intense. A dark humour runs through it's first half, taking satirical swipes at modern day greed and reality TV intelligently. The latter stages deliver a couple of horroresque pay-offs well worth waiting for. The conundrum that the script presents is an intriguing one too: how far would you go for money? And the ending is delicious.

It's small wonder that a sequel, 14, is already on the way.

The film is presented uncut in it's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the transfer is enhanced for 16x9 TV sets. Images are sharp and smooth, with a natural washed-out look to colours in some scenes while others are brilliantly bold. It's a very nice picture indeed.

The Thai audio is presented in well-rounded 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. Optional English subtitles are easy to read and free from any glaring errors. It's worth noting that Dimension Extreme's US DVD also offers an English dubbed 5.1 option, which is not present here.

This disc opens with a discreetly animated main menu page that employs a simple bright design to eye-grabbing effect. A static scene-selection menu allows access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Extras are limited to a theatrical trailer and a behind-the-scenes featurette.

The trailer is a pacy 2-minute affair, presented in non-anamorphic 1.85:1. Audio here is Thai 2.0 with optional English subtitles.

The featurette is shot on digital in full-frame. It's a choppily edited proposition with very little dialogue but some interesting fly-on-the-wall-style looks at how the film was shot on location. Optional English subtitles are at hand despite the fact that, disappointingly, there are no interviews on offer. The clumsy editing is jarring and the audio drops out occasionally during this footage. Again, it's worth pointing out that the Region 1 disc reportedly contains a 17-minute featurette with cast and crew interviews.

13: GAME OF DEATH is a fun film that scores low on originality but makes up for that in terms of energy and style. Unsurprisingly the Weinstein brothers not only bought its US rights, but also the rights to formulate an American remake. God help us.

Worth seeking out, although Revolver Entertainment's disc is not as solid as the Dimension Extreme Region 1 alternative.

Review by Stu Willis