User Reviews

Thai horror anthology Still features four supernatural stories, each based on true stories from Thai newspapers.

The first story, 'Flame', sees Arm (Akara Amarttayakul) haunted by the ghost of his girlfriend Pang (Pimolrat Pisalayabuth), who died in a nightclub fire on New Year's Eve. Wouldn't you just know it, but he's a ghost as well, having also died in the blaze. Best moment: a falling illuminated cross knocks a bloke's head off.

Tale number two, 'Imprison' is baffling. A man in a cell is menaced by the ghost of the previous occupant, who committed suicide by hanging himself. To be honest, I didn't really understand this one, so let's skip to story number three, 'Revenge'...

...which is Dark Water, Thai style. You know the score: dead body in the water tank; drip, drip, dripping; hair in the taps - yadda, yadda, yadda. It's only scary if you have a phobia of hair or water, and I have neither.

The final chapter, 'Haunting Motel', is the worst, its ghostly happenings played for laughs, but failing to amuse this particular viewer. Two youths pick up a skanky ho and take her to a motel for some sexy time, unaware that the room is haunted. Lots of overacting and a twist that isn't much of a surprise make this a dud.

Overall, barring the nightclub decapitation and lovely Supakson Chaimongkol as the dead girl in the water tank, there's really not much worth seeing here. 3/10.

Just because a character is homophobic doesn't mean the film is homophobic. Also just because a gay or trans character is portrayed as an antagonist, doesn't make the movie transphobic either. The straight guy and the straight chick were trash and antagonistic just as much. they showed the homophobe in a bad light too. So how's the message trans or gay phobic. Anyway as for the story's own merit I personally thought the watertank one was a little typical and boring others definitely were entertaining at least. but tbh while it's worth a single watch it was neither too out there, nor too explicit, or even obscene. Stories were pretty usual trope fare and the acting varied at times really good other times just pretty bad. So, it was just an average watch.

Still (Tai hong): Thai omnibus film, four tales of vengeful/sorrowful ghosts inspired by Thai newspaper headlines. Best is Flame, directed by Chatchai Katenut, a man survives a nightclub fire in which his fiance died. He is haunted by her ghost and visions of the fire. Some great scenes including a burning cross decapitating a nightclub patron. Also has an interesting plot twist. 8/10 for this segment. Dragged down by Imprison, prisoner who committed suicide haunts jail, 610, Revenge, murder victim in water tank, 6/10, Haunting Motel, more of a farce really, 4/10. Overall score: 6/10. On Netflix.

Tai hong (English title: Still) is an anthology of four horror vignettes loosely connected to each other. Chances are you'll like at least one of these. All of them are based on real Thai headlines. Each one has a different mood.

The first story, about a protagonist caught in the grip of grief over the outcome of a nightclub fire, is hauntingly sad. It's got a bit of a twist ending that may or may not be satisfying, but if you're in the mood for sad horror, this one is it.

The second tale is about a young man placed into a jail cell from which the body of a suicide was just removed. He tries to sleep in the cell, but the occupant of the cell across the hall from his keeps him awake. He also gets visits from a Buddhist monk and a young woman who both say cryptic things to him, and it becomes clear that they are all trying to bring him around to feeling repentance for his crime so that he too can move on. You do find out what the crime is by the end, and it's a doozy. This one is steeped in the lore and perspective of Thai Buddhism, if you like Thai horror from that perspective you'll like this one, but if not it might be a miss for you. It's definitely one of the less memorable ones due to it's low key storytelling vibe.

The third story involves a deaf drug dealer living in a flophouse owned by a greedy landlady and managed by a no-nonsense young woman who figures into two of the other stories as a background character. The protagonist makes a deal with a young call girl but the deal goes sour. This is the 'body in the water tank' story, and it's also a story of how a crime can escalate into worse and worse behavior when the perpetrator tries to fix it and instead gets in deeper. For most Western viewers this is probably going to be the creepiest and most satisfying of the stories.

The final tale brings back the wallet-stealing foul-mouthed go-go dancer from the first story, and it's a comedy horror. The go-go dancer has turned to streetwalking, but she hasn't given up her wallet-stealing ways. She gets hired by a pair of buddies who were also background characters in one of the earlier stories, and they ride around on a scooter looking for a cheap one night hotel to conclude their business. They rent the VIP room from a gold-toothed old lady and soon discover the reason they got it so cheap: it's haunted. It's who is haunting the room that constitutes the twist here, and the who and why of that is what some viewers might find problematic, not because that kind of thing doesn't happen but because here it's being played for laughs. The tone is very much in the vein of the campy 'Oh My Ghost' movies from the mid aughts, but to me the funniest part of this story was the prostitute, who has to be the most unapologetically shameless hooker ever put to celluloid. The chicanery as she attempts to get herself out of the situation with someone's wallet intact is very funny. I could have done without the splat ending but I understand why the filmmakers thought it fit the tone. This entry is very cartoony and could be a miss for many, though I still think the actress playing the hooker had good comic timing.