I watched "The Promise" (aka "Puen Tee Raluek"), and while it had a very generic storyline, then I must admit that I was actually genuinely entertained by what I saw on the screen from director Sophon Sakdaphisit.
The storyline doesn't really contain anything that is revolutionary or particularly innovative. And that sort of served as an anchor to the movie, keeping it from really becoming something unique.
It was the atmosphere in the movie that really worked, because director Sophon Sakdaphisit did an amazing job of building up suspense and slowly letting it pile up. Just a shame that they opted to follow such a predictable blueprint of how-to-make-a-thriller.
The acting in the movie was also quite good. This was my introduction to Numthip Jongrachatawiboon (or Bee Namthip for short), whom played Boum. She really performed quite well and carried the movie so far.
This movie is listed as a horror, drama and thriller. I would say that the horror elements to "The Promise" are quite light, if you compare this movie to other Thai horror movies. So when you sit down to watch "The Promise", keep in mind that this is more of a thriller than it is a horror movie. There aren't really any scary moments throughout the movie, there were plenty of build-ups to something that could have proven scary, but just never culminated in a spooky moment.
"The Promise" had me entertained from beginning to end, but it is hardly a movie that I will watch a second time, because the storyline and script just doesn't have enough contents to support multiple viewings. Once you've seen this movie the first time, there simply is no purpose to watching it again. Unless, of course, you want to watch it solely for counting the times that the name Bell is mispronounced as Beow throughout the movie. It was a lot, and that actually was starting to get on my nerves towards the end.
If you enjoy Thai movies, then you should at least watch "The Promise" once.
