4BIA review

Going into the festival 4BIA (See Prang) was definitely on my top three must see list. In my opinion, Asian horror films provide the best scares while weaving a great story. My only gripe is that sometimes they tend to have the weirdest endings. Watch ONE MISSED CALL if you don’t believe me. 4BIA is an anthology of four short movies helmed by four separate directors with four different themes. The segments are directed and written by Thai filmmakers Youngyooth Thongkonthun, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom, and Paween Purikitpanya.

The first part entitled “Alone” deals with a lonely woman searching for companionship and romance via the text messaging service on her phone. The second story “Tit for Tat” concerns a student who gets his revenge from being bullied by summoning black magic. “In the Middle” is about four friends who are in the country white water rafting and camping. When one of them is presumed dead and suddenly reappears, they wonder if he is a ghost coming back to haunt them. Finally “Last Flight” is about a flight attendant who has to return home with the dead body of a recently deceased princess.

In “Alone” there was very little dialogue and it was all about building up the sense of dread gradually, until it comes at you in one defining moment. It was a very intrinsic segment but I felt they did a nice job with using text messages as the only means of communication. “Tit for Tat” was more in your face as the boy who was bullied got his revenge with some gruesome kills. I enjoyed the way people were killed off but the whole CGI creature was a little too much for me. It didn’t help that the creature effect was poorly done, but it’s understandable as the total budget for the entire film was 1.5 million dollars. “In the Middle” lightened the mood up as the boys had great chemistry interacting off one another and the characters referenced several movies. They even spoofed the director’s own movie stating how in all horror movies the ghost’s hair always covers the face. “Last Fright” probably had the best overall scares as there is something inherently frightening about a body rising from a sheet.

There is a link between each of the four short movies and it is interesting to try and discover it. I feel that this anthology works well as the stories are self contained and they offer a different flavor. I don’t know if this would sell within North America, but seeing as they remade several Asian horror movies maybe it’s good that they don’t try to remake 4BIA.

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