Movie Review: Pee Mak

Having lived in Bangkok for almost 7 years of my life, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I know a lot about Thailand, their movies, their beliefs, their culture, and their legends.

When I heard about "Pee Mak", I really wasn't very excited to see it. See, I only ever watch Thai rom-coms and action movies coz 1) Thai horror movies scare the shit out of me far too much and 2) Thai comedy movies never make me laugh. "Pee Mak" was dubbed a horror-comedy, bee tee dub, so... LOL.

via twitchfilm.com

However, since an old friend of mine is in the movie, and since I vow to always support my friends in whatever they do, watch the movie I did. And boy was I pleasantly surprised!

via asianwiki.com

For those of you who have never heard of "Pee Mak", the movie is basically based on the legend of Mae Nak Phra Khanong (in English: Lady Nak of Phra Khanong). If you don't know the legend, then lucky you! You'll get to enjoy the movie so much more without questioning the changes and comparing the differences. :p

Even if you do know the legend, though, you will be happy to hear that "Pee Mak" the movie and "Mae Nak" the legend are completely different things. And that's a good thing. Coz it kept things in "Pee Mak" interesting. :)

via movies.insing.com

Now, to be perfectly honest, I almost stopped watching "Pee Mak" five minutes in because of the Thai humor that I can never seem to relate to. I forced told myself to stick it out, though, and things eventually got much, much better.

If you are only planning to watch "Pee Mak" coz of Mario Maurer, then you shouldn't get your hopes up to see a good-looking version of him. He looks like this throughout the entirety of "Pee Mak":

via kaskus.co.id

Haha. No joke! :D

It has to be said: Thais definitely know how to make movies. The actors are great, the storyline is great, the direction is great, the costumes are great, the twists are great and there is just the right amount of horror, comedy and romance in it. The timing of everything was perfect, too.

via blog.nuffnang.com.my

This is going to be embarrassing to admit, but I actually spent around 10 minutes crying near the end of "Pee Mak" coz everything was so unexpected and coz I'm a closet girly romantic in real life.

This might surprise you, too, but I actually prefer the "Pee Mak" movie ending to the original legend ending. In fact, if there wasn't so much Thai humor in "Pee Mak", I might've given the movie a complete 5 stars out of 5. Since there is Thai humor in it, though, I give "Pee Mak" 4 stars out of 5.

Watch it, watch it, watch it. I promise you: "Pee Mak" is worth it! :)