4bia
a.k.a.
Phobia (2008)
The first story, "Loneliness", by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon was my second favorite - an effective, suspenseful, well-shot and pretty creepy little ghost story, with a satisfying twist and brutally unhappy ending. (7.50/10)
The second story, "Tit for Tat", by Paween Purikitpanya was the weakest of all. It offers rather predictable and not that interesting story, annoying 'fast cut' editing technique and cheap, poorly-looking CGI effects. (4.00/10)
The third short story "In the Middle", by Banjong Pisanthanakun was average at best - humorous and quite amusing to watch, at times scary, but also very cheesy. The make up effect were truly great, and it was also tense. (6.50/10)
The fourth, last and easily the best of the bunch is called "Last Flight" and it's shot by "Shutter" director, Parkpoom Wongpoom. Thrilling, creepy and utterly claustrophobic, this short story was absolutely terrifying and pretty original, and also memorable and somewhat believable. (8.50/10)
Overall, I enjoyed "4bia" quite a lot. Two out of all four directors managed to generate good suspense, which is a rare thing in modern day horrors, and technically almost all of those shorts were well-made. "Phobia" is certainly one of the better Thai horrors of the past few years. A step above "Shutter" and "Alone".
a.k.a.
Phobia (2008)
"Phobia" is a horror anthology of four shorts, each approximately half an hour long, and shot by four different Thai directors.
The first story, "Loneliness", by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon was my second favorite - an effective, suspenseful, well-shot and pretty creepy little ghost story, with a satisfying twist and brutally unhappy ending. (7.50/10)
The second story, "Tit for Tat", by Paween Purikitpanya was the weakest of all. It offers rather predictable and not that interesting story, annoying 'fast cut' editing technique and cheap, poorly-looking CGI effects. (4.00/10)
The third short story "In the Middle", by Banjong Pisanthanakun was average at best - humorous and quite amusing to watch, at times scary, but also very cheesy. The make up effect were truly great, and it was also tense. (6.50/10)
The fourth, last and easily the best of the bunch is called "Last Flight" and it's shot by "Shutter" director, Parkpoom Wongpoom. Thrilling, creepy and utterly claustrophobic, this short story was absolutely terrifying and pretty original, and also memorable and somewhat believable. (8.50/10)
Overall, I enjoyed "4bia" quite a lot. Two out of all four directors managed to generate good suspense, which is a rare thing in modern day horrors, and technically almost all of those shorts were well-made. "Phobia" is certainly one of the better Thai horrors of the past few years. A step above "Shutter" and "Alone".
- My Rating: 6.75/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
- IMDb: 6.8/10
2 comments:
I want to give some corrections here if you don't mind buddy :)
First the director in this film is four coz it consist of four stories. The duo directors of "Shutter" and "Alone", Banjong Pisanthanakun and Pakpoom Wongpoom, direct separately for the first time in their career for the last two segments. And it was Banjong who direct "In the Middle" not Pakpoom who only direct "Last Flight".
I'm agree with you with that last segment though, it's the best of four but in "4bia 2" ironically Banjong celebrated the best segment in the last of five stories with his "In the Middle" team, the story's very funny and proudly toying with Asian horror genre. Pakpoom instead return with a rather weak story and probably one of the weakest in five.
In addition, Paween Purikitpanya, the weakest link in this one is back with a stronger one in the sequel. You must give "4bia 2" a try sometime Nebby. :)
Of course I don't mind, buddy ;) What you're saying sounds completely logical: 4 shorts - 4 directors. I was mislead for some reasons, so thanks for clearing that up! :) I'll fix the mistake ;) Glad you thought "Last Flight" was the best segment. I thought it was truly scary - to be alone in a plane with a corpse.. The thought of it makes my skin crawl! I'll watch the sequel for sure!
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