Originally released in 2006, ‘Ghost Game’ (Thai title ‘Laa-thaa-phii’) is cited as being ‘one of the most controversial horror movies ever made’; it was actually banned in Cambodia and for good reason too. ‘Ghost Game’ is a Thai horror movie which pits 11 contestants in a reality TV show where they must survive in a war museum which was once a prisoner of war camp. The reason? 5 million baht is up for grabs for the winner here, these eleven are therefore more than willing to be locked inside this apparently haunted museum on the off-chance that they may walk away with the big cash prize. In the 1970s it was estimated that no less than 17 000 people were tortured and executed here, it’s a horrible place for these eleven contestants to have to endure and they must spend all their hours locked within these blood stained walls.
In a Big Brother style situation, the eleven contestants will be on constant watch here and CCTV cameras will be transmitting their every waking move 24 hours a day. There’s no escaping the cameras, they’re situated everywhere in order to give the audience the best viewing experience possible and a variety of different tasks are set in order to keep viewing figures high and ensure that the contestants are constantly kept on their toes.
From the very beginning of the film I got the feeling of a Big Brother meets Battle Royale kind of scenario; its reality television taken to its absolute extreme and looks into the idea of just how far some members of society will go in order to gain a bit of fame and fortune. What’s so brilliant about ‘Ghost Game’ as well is that the cast chosen for this film were real-life contestants taken from the TV show Academy Fantasia; the Thai equivalent of American Idol. These are not actors, these are actual reality TV show contestants and this therefore adds to the overall atmosphere and appeal of the film for me. This casting choice could have resulted in disastrous consequences, it didn’t though and on the whole the performances put in here are really rather impressive. There are a few that fail to impress here, the majority of those cast within the film do a good job however and help to create a powerful atmosphere throughout this fine Thai horror.
The reason that this film was banned in Cambodia is that the prisoner of war camp location of ‘Ghost Game’ closely mimics the actual Cambodian location of the Tuol Sleng genocide prison in Phnom Penh. It’s called ‘Camp Case 17’ in ‘Ghost Game’ and is set in the fictitious country of Jedah, it’s not fooling anyone however and the real life resemblance to that of Cambodia’s Tuol Sleng genocide prison is just too close to ignore. It was argued by the Cambodian government that the film glorifies and exploits the events which took place in the genocide prison, manipulating facts and therefore giving people an inaccurate and misleading impression of what really went on at the Tuol Sleng genocide prison. It’s a fairly argued case by the Cambodian government and I understand entirely why it would be seen fit to ban this film in Cambodia, I am however glad that this film has been given its release in the UK as I truly did enjoy viewing it.
Whilst I did enjoy viewing this film I also found at times that the pace was a little too slow, relatively little was going on within the film and when there was action it was often a little stunted. As the cast were not professional actors there are times when this really does show, their inexperience shines through and becomes glaringly obvious as you watch the film unfold. Many of the cast are excellent, there are a few that just don’t work too well at all however and for me these performances did let the overall quality of the film down a little. The occasionally poor quality of acting reflects upon the film as at certain points when there is an element of action which should really have you jumping, the film fails to have its desired effect as you’re too busy thinking about the ineptitude of the actors present here. ‘Ghost Game’ is a film that builds tension fairly well when it wants to, some of the more intense moments of the film are definitely spoilt a little by the quality of the acting however and this really is quite a shame.
The funny thing about ‘Ghost Game’ is that its one of those films that really seems to get going only about 10/15 minutes from the end. Whereas other films of this sort fail however in that the rest of the film has been fairly anonymous, ‘Ghost Game’ is a film which does well to hold your interest throughout and although the best is left until the end; when the end is reached you do actually care what will happen which is more than can be said of some films of this sort. It’s a puzzling end to the film, one that is action packed however and definitely the final few minutes of ‘Ghost Game’ leave you thinking for long after the film has finished.
Directed by Sarawut Wichiensarn, this is a director that I had not come across before but most definitely one that I shall be watching out for in the future. As far as I can make out this is actually the mans directorial debut so he certainly did well here with this, his first film as director. This is not the best horror film in the world, I like the way that it works on a very much cerebral level however and instead of relying purely on showing you plenty of blood and gore; the film builds up tension and fright in your mind, allowing you to form the images for yourself rather than needing to display them visually on screen. Filmed in the Thai language, this is a subtitled film that I’d definitely recommend viewing; I recognised elements of 70s slasher films such as ‘Halloween’ here, hints of Hideo Nakata’s ‘Ringu’ also, the 24-hour filming idea does however draw allusions to the hit reality TV series Big Brother and this idea can also be found utilised in such films as Marc Evans 2002 reality snuff tale ‘My Little Eye’. Although not exactly a new concept to model a movie on reality television; director Sarawut Wichiensarn does here do a very good job in putting to film this haunting ghostly tale that is ‘Ghost Game’.
Special Features:-
In the way of extras, what you’ll find here first and foremost is a ‘Cast and Crew Documentary’. We here learn that the director wanted the film to look not only real, but mysterious and creepy also. Sarawut Wichiensarn wanted to film from a location which had never been caught on film before, and he tells us here just how important he perceives location to be. The cast interviews are quite limited; all the cast tell us is who they play in the film and what their characters are like (which we already know from watching the film anyway). The interviews with the crew are quite interesting here, the cast interviews are however fairly unnecessary.
Also included here is an original theatrical trailer for the film, and further trailers for such other films in the Cine-Asia catalogue as ‘Apartment 1303’, ‘Dragon Tiger Gate’, ‘Flash Point’, ‘Welcome to Dongmakgol’, and ‘Chocolate’ also. This provides an interesting insight into what other films Cine-Asia has to offer (Cine-Asia is a registered trademark Showbox Media Group Ltd.).
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.