The DAUGHTER - a Thailand DVD horror

THE DAUGHTER (Thailand, aka Phee thuay kaew)
Thai PAL all-region DVD

Low budget Thai video-movie rips THE EXORCIST the cheapest way possible

This is a warning to the curious - I'm not recommending this movie, just letting you know a bit more about it. If you flick through the DVDs online looking for new Thai horrors, you might be taken in, like me. I bought this on the cover art alone, hoping for a headless ghost at least. Turns out it's the head of a ghost superimposed into the upturned shot glass used for the seance, and not a huge jar with a floating head in it!

Story-wise, a young office-worker is fired after sleeping with her boss. Pregnant and out of work, she wonders what the future will hold. Her friend suggests a seance, but they unfortunately pick a rundown witch's shack to hold it in. During the seance, something happens to her unborn baby... 7 years later, the child starts behaving abnormally and no-one can get in her way.

Shot on video, this looks more like Thai TV than 'v-cinema'. The acting is good enough, but the budget lets down the special effects and the scale of the story. The scares are mishandled. The witch/ghost is simply an old woman with uplighting. There's even an attempt to make her glide (or judder) across the floor (how old is that?). The make-up makes the evil child look as if she's got flu, rather than supernatural problems. The child actor never looks more than angry, when she should be demonic (if you want to see a really demonic-looking child, check out the Korean horror film PHONE). Any murder scenes are implied with blood splattering up the walls, rather than onscreen violence - not much blood either. If you want to be disappointed and non-plussed by a film, then THE DAUGHTER is for you.

The DVD (pictured above) has good english subtitles on it, but is only referred to as THE DAUGHTER on the trailer. It's available online at ThaiCDexpress, who list it as PHEE THUAY KAEW. The DVD comes in a shorter than average size case, not to be confused with the VideoCD release.
thaicdexpress.com

Max