Ghost of Mae Nak – DVD Review

Film, Reviews


(Credit: Amazon.com)

Directed by
Mark Duffield

Cast:
Pataratida Pacharawirapong …. Nak
Siwat Chotchaicharin …. Mak
Porntip Papanai …. Mae Nak
Jaran Ngamdee …. Por Mak
Meesak Nakarat …. Angel


The Movie:

When the flood gates of Asian Horror cinema opened a few years ago, fans everywhere rejoiced at getting to see films that were truly original and more horrifying than anything that America had come up with in some time. Films such as Ringu, Audition, and The Eye gave us chills as their victims died in ways that were a million miles away from your run of the mill Slasher film. Unfortunately, this fine wine has started to sour over the last year or so. After American remakes and sequel after sequel, the market has horribly saturated with scares getting fewer and fewer.

Take for instance, Ghost of Mae Nak, a new version of a Thai legend that has been filmed over twenty times before. This latest version of the story concerns Nak and Mak (Pataratida Pacharawirapong and Siwat Chotchaicharin), a newly-wed couple who have just purchased their first house; a small fixer upper with a long history. Unfortunately for them, that history has manifested itself in Mae Nak (Porntip Papanai), a creepy looking ghost with ill intentions planned for the couple and those that they know.

Helmed by first time Director Mark Duffield Ghost of Mae Nak pales in comparison with other highlights of the genre, such as Juon: The Grudge or 3 Extremes. The film’s deaths lack much shock value and also have the tendency to go into silly territory, especially one where a man is decapitated by an oncoming train. The scene would have been fine, except for a shot where a bad CGI version of the head flies through the air and then lands intact next to eh railway. Not even Mae Nak is that scary looking, as the she tends to look more like a bad visual effect more than anything else. Needless to say, she doesn’t come anywhere close to the atmospheric scare tactics of Toshio from Juon.


The characters here are also painfully thin, as we’re not given much insight into Nak or Mak. We just know they’re a loving young couple who like to spout lines such as “Nak loves Mak” and “Mak loves Nak”. Without caring about any of the characters or the main villain, there’s little reason to watch this movie, as without any emotional investment the entire experience turns tedious.

Having not seen the previous nineteen versions of Ghost of Mae Nak, I was hoping that the story would still feel fresh, but alas this movie has “retread” written all over it. With the box office power of this genre starting to dwindle a bit, perhaps these ghost stories will finally be laid to rest. Asian Horror cinema won’t probably go out without a fight, but with movies like this, film makers are only shooting themselves in the foot.
Score: 3


The DVD:

The Video:
The print on the disc is pretty grainy, and looks to have not been cleaned up very much. The visuals are sometimes hard to make out, as lighting seems to be kind of bad. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1

The Audio:

The audio is a bit better, as the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is just fine.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio Commentary, Behind the Scenes, Trailers

On The Set Of Ghost of Mae Nak – This is an hour long behind the scene look at the filming of the movie, but provides little insight, as it has no narration or real focus. This is simply footage that’s been strung together.

Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Mark Duffield – This is probably the best thing about the entire disc, as Duffield’s commentary is pretty much wall to wall tidbits. Nary has a moment gone by without little anecdotes from Duffield, as the director seems simply happy to have gotten this chance to make a picture.

Trailers – You get trailers for other Tartan releases such as The Red Shoes and Lady Vengeance.

Score: 5

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Ghost of Mae Nak
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

3
THE VIDEO

4.5
THE AUDIO

8
THE EXTRAS

5
REPLAY VALUE

3
OVERALL
3.5
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
Ghost of Mae Nak should only appeal to genre fans, or perhaps fans of this legend that are trying to obtain every version of it. The DVD has some decent extras, but as far as the movie goes, it looks like this story should have stopped at 19.

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.