Chon is suffering from nightmares. He tries not to sleep because he's
scared of a girl that he sees each night in his dreams. In the dreams,
the girl screams for help before she is cruelly killed. Ae, Chon's
sister is worried about the illusion that Chon sees in his dreams, so
she introduces him to a psychiatrist. Chon tries to prove that what he
sees is not just the illusion. Finally, Chon is right when some clues in
his nightmares lead him to a morgue number 19. And now, the story of
the dead body inside the morgue is gradually
Body is a Thai horror-thriller film. It is produced by GTH, the same production company that made the hit Thai horror film, Shutter. Body is directed by Paween Purijitpanya and co-written by Chukiat Sakweerakul.
I was very impressed with the Thai film Shutter and consider it one of
the better Asian horror movies that I've seen. The same company has now
brought us Body 19 and it's damn good. Like the best movies in Asian
horror, this film is at times difficult to understand. But that's also
why I love them. You need to watch the movie several times to catch
things that you missed or that didn't stand out on the first viewing.
When you see it again, it becomes "Oh shit...this makes sense now."
Body 19 has parallels to an actual murder case in Thailand, in which
a physician was convicted and given the death penalty in the
dismemberment of his estranged wife. It's a stunning film visually for
the most part. The one scene that truly stands out is from the museum
where the butterflies come alive. But then in other places there is an
obvious use of CGI which stands out a bit too much. The camera tends to
take different directions often showing us views that induce paranoia
and voyeurism. But this film doesn't rely on the effects. It's the
story and suspense that make it really stand out. But isn't that the
case with all good movies. I really don't want to go into too many
details of the film because it has a twist and the enjoyable part of
these great Asian horror films is not knowing what's coming next. The
mystery all leads back to a corpse that is behind door No 19 in the
hospital morgue.
The film stars Pae Arak Amornsupasiri as Chonlasit (Chon), Pang Ornjira
Lamwilai as
Ae, Kritteera Inpornwijit as Usa, Patharawarin Timkul as Dararai. The
acting is fair for the most part. However, I felt Pae did a great job
as Chon. His slow realization that he may be crazy was excellent.
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| I'm still here....FIND ME |
It’s a long film….running to 1hour and 58 minutes which could drag for
some viewers. The film does have a slow pace at times. Small trims
could have been made here or there, but not without making the story
seemed rushed. The long running time allows us to journey into the slow
descent of madness that Dae sinks into. Asian horror fans will dig this
movie....others with small attention spans will probably not. I loved
it and my opinion is usually correct.
Trivia
The original title was 'Body number 19', for the international English
title, 'number 19' was dropped. This takes much of the meaning out of
the title, since the meaning of the body in drawer #19 was the whole
climax of the film.
Was in its release year the biggest hit in theaters in Thailand.
About halfway through, we see a woman in a zoologic museum, where many
of the animals suddenly show little sings of life (an eye blinking, a
tongue slipping from a beak, etc), and gradually the size of the animals
increase, from a little snake to a full grown elephant. After that,
suddenly a huge dinosaur skeleton is shown. In an Q&A during the
International Film Festival Rotterdam, the director of the movie said
this was a homage to Steven Spielberg
(whom the director is a big fan of), who can, according to the
director, make dead animals live again using his imagination.
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| Body 19 |
