European Premiere | In Competition
Thailand, 2025, 119’, Thai
Directed by: Taweewat Wantha, Pollasan Bussabarati, Worawit Chaiwongkhod
Cinematography (color): Sarun Srisingchai
Editing: Saravut Nakajud
Production Design: Sudkate Luancharoen
Music: Terdsak Janpan
Producers: Jatusom Techaratanaprasert, Kanchanapun Meesuwan
Executive Producers: Somsak Techaratanaprasert, Warunee Kasikitsakulpol
Cast: Jirayu Tangsrisuk, Phiravich Attachitsataporn, Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Nichaphat Chatchaipholrat
Date of First Release in Territory: August 7th, 2025
After two consecutive years of success with
Death Whisperer and
Death Whisperer 2, director Taweewat Wantha returns to the Far East Film Festival with a new horror,
Tha Rae: The Exorcist. This time, he chooses to present a cross-cultural demon who possesses former priest Ming in Tha Rae, a small town in the northeastern part of Thailand – and its largest Catholic village. After committing a grave sin, Ming leaves the priesthood and goes back to a normal, secular life. He marries a local woman, with whom he learns and practices black magic. Ming has a daughter, Malee, who is sent to live in the city. Things take a turn for the worse when Malee gets a phone call from her aunt and heads back to her hometown to look after her ill father. She ends up being possessed instead.
Villagers try to use traditional exorcism to expel the demon, but it fails. Two by-the-book priests and exorcists then set off on a journey to the village and join forces with a rogue shaman of Yao origins. Their clashing beliefs lead to an unorthodox battle against an entity beyond Christian understanding. As the fate of the village hangs in the balance, faith and folklore must join forces before the demon claims more souls and inexorably turns the world upside down.
In the
Death Whisperer series, director Wantha smartly used tight and fast cuts in delivering action and horror in the chase scenes between humans and ghosts. The same intensity is mirrored in the fight scenes between the exorcists and the demon in
Tha Rae: The Exorcist. Instead of guns and muscles, the priests and exorcists use preaching, a mix of Catholic and Yao practices and beliefs. Director Wantha combines these hybrid cultures with respect and care. After failing to approach the entity individually, the Catholic and Yao practitioners end up working together seamlessly.
The secrets surrounding Ming’s family are what is most interesting.
Tha Rae: The Exorcist is not a one-layer film: It is full of complex stories that happen to old and new generations. Director Wantha knows how to present this complexity through the use of blood and gore, something of a departure from the punch and pang previously seen in the
Death Whisperer series. The performances of leads and supporting actors are well balanced and poised to deliver this complexity. It is also interesting to see a horror film with authentic and exotic mechanisms unfolding throughout the narrative.
Wantha proves he still has a lot to offer in the horror genre.
Taweewat Wantha
Taweewat Wantha developed his first short SARS Wars into a feature in 2004, and it was invited to many festivals. He continued his comedy-fantasy filmmaking in later works such as The Sperm (2007) and The Kindergarten (2009). He started making horror movies in 2013 with Long Weekend, which was invited to FEFF. Death Whisperer was his comeback after a decade-long absence from filmmaking. Due to the success of both Death Whisperer films, Wantha has become an in-demand filmmaker. He has now set up his own company to produce horror films in the upcoming years.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
2004 – SARS Wars
2007 – The Sperm
2009 – The Kindergarten
2013 – Long Weekend
2023 – Death Whisperer
2024 – Death Whisperer 2
2025 – Attack 13
2025 – Tha Rae: The Exorcist