The Victim (Thai 2006) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: An aspiring actress is hired to help the police with crime scene reenactments until she is haunted by a murder victim's ghost...or so it would seem.

Review: This could have easily ranked among the Asian horror legends, but, unfortunately, they dropped the ball...hard. At face value, the story sounds original and creative--which it is--however this is merely a ruse in order to shock the audience with a game changing twist around the halfway mark. While I can appreciate the twist and what that story line had offered, it transforms the film, as a whole, into an incoherent mess. It truly was as if they combined the scripts of two separate movies and hoped it would mesh; it didn't. More so, the first half is the more interesting of the two which exacerbates the situation whereby you wish they would switch back the focus. Despite these tremendous missteps, there is just something very enjoyable about the film overall. It's reminiscent of "February 29" in the way that you have to overlook the glaring problems and appreciate the awesome story under the surface.

The first half: this entails what most plot summaries online will discuss. Ting is a poor and struggling actress who crosses paths with police who are looking to hire someone to reenact crime scenes. Due to the popularity of these reenactments in the Thai media, Ting becomes somewhat of a sensation. After gaining a reputation as an actress who brings conviction to her roles, Ting finds herself haunted by the ghost of a high profile murder victim, a beauty queen. When the police feel the case has been solved, Ting believes the ghost is speaking out to her in order to catch the true culprit. Sure enough, Ting figures out that the murderer is really some lesbian surgeon obsessed with the beauty queen. But we come to realize none of this has been real. The first half of the story is actually taking place on a set...a movie within a movie if you will. On the plus side, this allows you to forgive the cornball music and wolf howling since that's supposed to be the filmmakers' doing.

Second half: this part is longer than the first half and, annoyingly, makes all the previous plot points moot. Ting is played by an actress named May who really is being haunted on the set of this movie about Ting and the beauty queen. At first the crew believes the ghost is connected to the events of this film since it's implied Ting and the beauty queen were based on reality. Starting to get confusing, huh? After the cast and crew begin to die to this mysterious ghost, it is revealed that the connection is to a prop given to the crew. This prop actually belonged to an obsessed fan of May who died during back-alley surgery. Once May believes the spirit has been put to rest we learn, in typical fashion, the ghost is actually evil and wants to possess May's body. This possession is, of course, accomplished by the ending scene. I do want to note that the credits allegedly depict real ghost photos, but I would say they're more than likely attempts at promotional material. Another thing worth mentioning was that the ghost was kind of scary looking yet they chose to almost never show her face until the ending for whatever reason. What a waste of a commendable makeup effect and stylized appearance for the ghost.

Needless to say, I really love the first half. The pacing is a bit too fast which is kind of an indicator of the big twist to come. However, they could have expanded the initial ideas to bolster the running time. I don't think it would have been difficult to go into more depth with Ting's life and add more scary set pieces with the ghosts Ting was portraying. Speaking of Ting, played by Pitchanart Sakakorn, she has this whole Kris Aquino thing going on where she's hot sometimes and looking like a corpse other times. What is that? Nevertheless, I like her better as Ting over May. Ting is interesting to explore whereas May feels bland. The movie within a movie idea is always fun, but we've seen it before. We haven't seen crime scene reenactments though. Also, splitting up the story this way makes many characters completely useless.

I am mostly torn with this film. In one respect I appreciate the gamble with such a significant twist, but it did basically ruin the entire momentum of both story halves. In fact, the general premise of both halves could have worked independently. The first half is simply too refreshing and unique to casually cast to the wayside. Thankfully, the ghosts and effects are decent despite moments of shoddy CGI spread throughout. If you can sift your way through the confusion, there is an incredibly unique experience to discover. Sadly, I don't imagine many will have the patience to dig deep. No matter, I am confident that the first half is strong enough to earn this film at least a decent rating from most, and I would still recommend checking it out regardless of the shortcomings.

Notable Moment: When May is possessed by the ghost. She actually looked a lot hotter in that form somehow!

Final Rating: 6/10