We were not disappointed. We laughed until our stomachs ached. Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter, Alone, 4bia, Phobia 2) is a freaking genius!  This time he used the over-used Nang Nak legend and craft out a comedy-horror fest. Yup, it's comedy first followed by horror. If you are a fan of the best part of 4bia and Phobia 2, you will find yourself in the familiar company of the four irrelevant dudes. I thought we would be jaded since we are fans of the mentioned anthologies but we were laughing like nuts at all the ingenious situational comedy.  There are also quite a number of pop-culture references like Ang Lee, David Blaine, 300, Last Samurai thrown out at us with gusto. It did get a bit repetitive in the middle act but the final climatic act in the monastery saved it. Pisanthanakun even brought on the indispensable melodrama then and it managed to surprise me with a nice twist on the legend I know quite well. Pisanthanakun could also balance the movie very well - shifting from comedy to horror in a heartbeat. But he had great help from the 4 actors whose comic timing is just impeccable.

This is another movie that you will best enjoy if you know less of it. The more you know of the details and events in the movie, the less you will enjoy. So don't read reviews of those who gave the full story away. The comedy appears too rowdy or overdone to me, but most audience will like it. The horror part is well done too but I find the romance part the best, very touching. So it's like watching 3 nice movies of different genre for the price of one. I enjoyed those twists as the film goes along. Very intelligently done. The male lead, probably the best-looking actor today put away his good look and proved that he can act well. Don't miss the end credit parts where they show in a small screen. There are many scenes there that continues after the movie end. They may use it as a sequel since the movie was so successful in Thailand and most neighbouring countries. Don't miss it. I give it 9 because I watch the movie without knowing much.

You've probably heard of or seen one of the many adaptations of the classic Thai ghost story "Mae Nak Phra Khanong" about a soldier who returns home from war to his wife and baby not knowing that both are in fact already dead. What then makes this version by co-writer/ director Banjong Pisunthanakun so special for it to become no less than the highest grossing movie ever in Thai cinema history?Well for starters, it isn't a horror movie in the traditional sense of the genre. Whereas Nonzee Nimibutr's 1999 film "Nang Nak" stuck to the roots of the story, Pisunthanakun approaches the familiar folk tale with the same tongue-in-cheek attitude as his shorts in "4Bia" and "Phobia 2". Yes, it's a comedy-horror more than a straight-out horror, and the fact that we have labelled it a comedy first and a horror second should give you an idea which the film is more of.Indeed, Pisunthanakun lets you know right from the start that he intends to entertain you, more than scare you. After a brief glance of the pregnant Nak (played by Thai-Belgian actress Davika Hoorne) doubling over in pain as blood trickles down her legs, the scene switches quickly to the inside of a tentage where a soldier is giving an impassioned speech to lament about the cost of war – except that he seems to be speaking in Shakespearean English in an attempt to add gravitas.Just as quickly, his buddy Puak (Pongsatorn Jongwilak), whose hair is styled like a pair of wings above his head, chastises him for speaking in an accentuated manner. As the camera pans around to reveal the rest of the people in the room, you know better than to take the entire scene seriously. Besides Puak, there is Ter (Nattapong Chartpong), Aye (Kantapat Permpoonpatcharasuk), and Shin (Wiwat Kongrasri), all of whom form the quartet who brought the laughs in Pisunthanakun's earlier "4Bia" and "Phobia 2" shorts.And then there is Pee Mak (Mario Mauer), who is brought into the room screaming in pain but who has really merely sprained his ankle. One deliberately overdramatic battle scene later, Pee Mak and his buddies are headed back to the former's home village of Phra Khanong for him to be reunited with his family. There, entranced by Nak's beauty, Puak convinces the rest of them to accept Pee Mak's hospitality and stay in the empty house across the river from theirs.Shin is the first to suspect something is amiss when the entire village avoids Pee Mak like the plague when he goes to the market the next morning. Only the lady owner of the liquor store gives some hint why – Nak has been dead for some time and her spirit has been haunting the village since. Though the rest of his buddies dismiss his suspicions initially, Ter begins to realise that there might be some truth to Shin's accusations when he chances upon a body buried in the forest with Nak's wedding ring around its finger while taking a dump.Pisunthanakun and his fellow screenwriters, Chantavit Dhanasevi and Nontra Kumwong, have great fun in the first half of the movie with Shin and Ter's attempts to convince Aye and Puak of Nak's ghostly nature and then with their combined efforts to let Pee Mak see the truth. In particular, their game of charades as well as their subsequent decision to kidnap Pee Mak when he and Nak are inside a "haunted house" at the village fair is utterly hilarious, qualifying as two of the most inspired comedic sequences we've seen this year.Just as deftly, the second half of the movie further plays with audience expectations of just how dead or alive the rest of the characters are – we all know Nak is probably a ghost, but what about Pee Mak or for that matter the rest of his friends? Equally memorable as the two aforementioned scenes is that of the six of them on a long-tail boat in the middle of the river, the urgency of keeping the boat afloat due to excess weight and determining just who among them is or are ghosts combining for a hysterical but also a hysterically funny time.Though purists might object to the creative liberties that Pisunthanakun has taken with the tale, he returns to its touching core during the climax set inside a Buddhist temple. Yes, if it isn't yet apparent, the tale of Mae Nak is also meant to be a moving fable about undying love, and Pisunthanakun goes for a melodramatic but still heartfelt conclusion that reiterates the message at the heart of every retelling. Oh but of course, he does reject its tragic overtones, ending off with a postscript that is guaranteed to leave you with a big smile.Such a revisionist take requires that his cast be absolutely clear about what each scene is meant to accomplish, no small feat considering how Pisunthanakun alternates from comedy to horror to romance within the very same scene. Thankfully, he has four actors with such great timing that you won't sense any jarring change in tone; instead, you'll probably be so enraptured by their seemingly effortless chemistry. Yes, Mauer and Hoorne might play the titular characters, but it is these four goofballs that make the proceedings such an unbridled delight.There's little wonder, when watching 'Pee Mak', why the movie has surpassed even the most modest of expectations to become the top- grossing hit in its home country. Rather than yet another straight-up telling of the tale, this is a surprisingly lively and inspired interpretation that makes no apologies for being deliberately anachronistic and downright irreverent, with pop-culture references from David Blaine to Ang Lee to Spiderman and even 300. Like we said, this is not your run-of-the-mill Thai horror, but a laugh-out-loud crowdpleaser that is surely one of the most entertaining Thai movies we've seen in a long time.www.moviexclusive.com

During the beginning of the Rattanakosin Dynasty, many Thai men were drafted to serve in the war. "Pee Mak" or "Mak" (Mario Maurer) was no exception and had to leave his pregnant wife to join the fight. While at war, he met, saved, and formed a close bond with four fellow soldiers: "Ter" (Freud-Nattapong Chartpong), "Puak" (Pongsathorn Jongwilas), "Shin" (Auttarut Kongrasri), and "Aey" (Kantapat Permpoonpatcharasook) -- (The 4 main cast from Phobia 2 Episode "In The End") Once the war was over, Mak invited his four best friends to visit his home at a town called Phra Khanong. When they arrived to Phra Khanong, Mak introduced them to his beautiful wife "Nak" (Davika Hoorne) and "Dang" his newborn baby boy. Ter, Puak, Shin, and Aey decided to stay in Phra Khanong for a while and moved into the old house across from Mak's house.Despite having met Nak and Dang, a village rumor was going around that Nak had died giving birth to her stillborn baby, Dang. It turns out that Auntie Priak, owner of the local liquor shop, was the source of the town rumor. This was completely absurd to Ter, Puak, Shin, and Aey. The four friends refused to believe this to be true and were determined to prove the rumors wrong.Aunty Priak was found dead a few days later, her body floating along the river. Up until this point Ter, Puak, Shin, and Aey had never considered the possibility that Nak and her baby could be dead and now lingered on as haunting ghosts. Initially, the four friends didn't dare tell Mak about their suspicions because they were afraid that they would end up just like Aunty Priak. It didn't take long before their conscience caught up with them and they realized they owed Mak the truth since he had once saved all of their lives. Now they must risk their own lives to somehow convey to Mak that the living and dead shouldn't coexist together.In the end, it will be up to Pee Mak to choose between love and reality.