Phobia2

Following its predecessor 4Bia’s success, Phobia 2 still keeps its combination of several omnibous shorts into one-package horror. From four stories in 4Bia, this time it is expanded into five, with both thrilling domestic and international anticipation. At the local box office, Phobia 2 woke up the inert industry and drew back local audiences to the cinema. It was the second highest grossing film of 2009. Fun and thrills fill the screen as usual with the GTH brand.
Phobia 2 starts with Paween Purijitpanya’s section Novice on a very indigenous ghost preta, a sort of demons as tall as a building. Director Paween smartly combines his special-effect skills to create the special demon, which is believed to be what happen to men who murder their parents.
This time, Paween made it into a modern play - a boy Pe accidentally kills his own father during his gangster’s robbery on a passing car on the street. His mother puts him in monkhood to escape the police. And despite the help of a monk, will Pe be able to escape from his ultimate sin? Novice is the most frightening horror in this collection.
The second section Ward is a follow-up to the first part, featuring Pe’s fellow gangster who crashes the motorcycle he has used to rob the passing cars. He spends overnight in a hospital. Both of his legs are broken and he cannot move. So what will his one-night stay be like if a man on the next bed is about to die. A comic atmosphere throughout the section makes the ending stunning. The work is average for the first-time director Wisute Poolvoraluks, a long-time executive at GTH. But that is nothing surprise for film insiders because Wisute is known as the ghost editor of his company’s productions.
Songyos Sukmakanan (Dorm) comes this time with the most bizarre unexpectation. Two Japanese backpackers hitchhike a truck to get to their destination. But when they are on board, they encounter a strange-looking driver and his accompanied boy. What seems to be most stunning is what is stored inside the containers. Songyos adapted a recent shocking news of a truck driver finding asphyxiated Burmese immigrants in his truck’s containers into a very funny, spooky, and bizarre Backpackers. Professional backpackers might start to hesitate to hitchhike now if they have seen the film.
In Salvage, Shutter’s co-director Parkpoom Wongpoom thrills us with a silent, but shocking story of ghosts who die violent deaths returning. A second-hand car shop owner Nuch does not expect to pay the price for her chicanery of reselling cars that have been in serious accidents in which passengers die. Strange apparitions and voices start to appear in her garage. And one night her son suddenly disappears.
Parkpoom’s once duo Banjong Pisanthanakun offers something light but very enjoyable in In The End. A filmmaking crew is forced to finish shooting their horror film even though the actress who plays the ghost character suddenly dies and returns to complete her part. Banjong enjoys playing with a series of twists and gags. Perhaps this is the funniest horror in the world. Apart the varieties of horrific tastes, Phobia 2 is very strong in linking the five stories together. Each section is all related with others in different ways. A car that is used in Backpackers is also one of the second-hand haunted cars in Salvage. The boy that has to share a ward with a dying man in Ward also one of the gangsters that attack and rob passing cars in Novice. There are so many others that really link us to enjoy the film. Nice cinematography as ever.