Main cast: Acharanat Ariyaritwikol (Jack), Butsarin Yokpraipan (Beam), Chinawut Indracusin (Thongsook), Sheranut Yusananda (Nam), Sean Jindachot (Boi), and Kitlapat Korasudraiwon (Pui)
Director: Taweewat Wantha
As Thai horror movies go, Thongsook 13 (English title Long Weekend) is pretty derivative. We have yet another bunch of teens running off to a rustic island for some R&R, only to stumble upon evil spirits bent on getting every long-haired girl to do that “Ooh, Sadako!” thing. After all, the long-haired creepy girl thing never gets old, right? Right?
High school kids Boi and Jack plan a weekend party at a bungalow in a charming island with their friends Nam, Beam, and Pui. Nam has an admirer, however, the rather simple Thongsook who, at the start of the movie, is shown to be easily possessed by ghosts. It is an amulet that Thongsook wears around his neck that protects him all this while. Thongsook wants to come along, and the others don’t want to split hairs with Nam, so he tags along in the end.
The thing about the island is that it is cursed. Every Friday the 13, the villagers sacrifice some live animals to the spirits that walk free on that day. This ritual keeps the murderous spirits contained in a shrine throughout the night. A ritual went awry in the past, however, and now the spirits can roam all over the island should they choose to do so. These kids ignore warnings not to go there, as usual, and guess the date on they decide to hold their weekend party.
Even better, the boys decide to play a trick on Thongsook by locking him up in that very shrine used to contain the evil spirits. Thongsook goes missing, and then the fun begins.
There is nothing surprising in this movie. All the scary scenes have been seen and done before, and the main cast are stereotypes. Still, the movie still manages to be pretty entertaining, and it has a pretty neat twist at the end. Even if I have seen all that bent-over-backwards possessed girl, warnings on frosted windows, running in darkness with a candle as the only source of protection thing before, but the director manages to cobble everything together in a manner that still feels satisfying and even terrifying at times.
Oh, and I have to wonder at the incongruity of casting pretty boy Chinawut Indracusin as Thongsook. That fellow is way too gorgeous not to be the most popular boy in high school (unless he has some really bad body odor, I guess), and it is quite disconcerting to watch this movie and, despite my better judgment, think now and then that it is probably not that bad a fate to be manhandled by a possessed simpleton that looks the way Thongsook does. Okay, I’ll be quiet now.
Thongsook 13 won’t be breaking any new grounds, but as afternoon scare-fare, it’s pretty decent.
