User reviews

Showgirls meets Hammer Horror? There would be many ways to dismiss this British Thai movie, set in a seedy Bangkok go-go bar, and whose heroine turns into a nasty flesh-eating monster. Mainstream it's not, but for lovers of trashy independents it offers something of a curious mix that is almost a collector's item.

(The title of the film translates apparently as 'Ghost'; as a pun to fun-loving Thai viewers, P-Bar sounds like the Thai word for 'loony'.) Aaw is a nice pubescent girl in rural Thailand, doing her best to look after ailing grandmom. Granny is a white witch and passes on her magic to Aaw just in case it ever comes in handy. The rural photography is beautiful, especially when we consider the film was made on a budget of £180,000. The familiar tale of young girl hoodwinked into moving to the big city to support her elderly relative is part of Thailand's cultural malaise. She gets roped into prostitution of course, and it isn't long before she starts using the 'special powers' Grandma taught her.

Up to this point there is no serious suggestion of any horror elements. Ordinary Thai people tend to believe in magic as a day to day fact, even if they are devout Buddhists, and all we have seen is a pastoral tale, embellished with well-researched superstition and embroidered with lingering detail of initiation into the girlie bar trade.

Director Paul Spurrier spent five years working on the story to ensure that the seemingly trite details were authentic - research that apparently included not only looking into magic traditions but plenty of time interviewing sex workers to understand how they operate (he even cameos in the film as a bar owner). Some of the tales he told me after the film's Edinburgh Film Festival UK Premiere were both sad in their simplicity and amusing in their unexpectedness. A girl had told him how her clients had increased from 4 in a month to 30 the next month after she had gone back home to consult the shamen. The actual witchdoctor in the film was based on a character he met in N.E. Thailand; after answering many, many questions, the witchdoctor grabbed Paul's arm, pulling him ominously into the jungle, saying, "I have done something for you, now you must do something for me!" As the barefooted film director stumbled to keep up, the gravely stones underneath biting into his feet, the shamen looked up in surprised glee - "I always wanted to know that! I had been told that Westerners' feet are soft, and hurt when they walk barefoot in the forest! Now I know!" At one point in the making of the film, the director made himself unpopular with the local madam after asking one of the girls (who was about to go on a recruiting expedition) why she was happily misleading people in the way that she, years earlier, had been misled. Some critics have dwelt on the morality of the film, saying it is both exploitative and lukewarm in its condemnation. While that might be true, the madam answered, "You only hear from girls who think they've been tricked. You don't hear from the hundreds of girls who find rich western husbands working here and go on abroad to marry. I don't hear them complaining." Then there was the go-go girl who asked for a copy of the movie "to send back home to mom, as I don't have any nice pictures to show her where I work." Spurrier was ambivalent when questioned. He thought it was sad that girls were drawn into such a life, but that it was a fact of life for many, just like the magic traditions. It is also a backdrop for the story rather than a moral axe to grind, whether in protest or condoning.

The strange part is the sudden shift of genre into horror. There is no extensive use of CGIs - it tries, if anything, to remain true to the country's tradition (Thailand has about ten new ghost story films a year). It's simplicity recalls not only many other Asian attempts at horror but also early British films where we know the blood is not very real but choose to overlook such facts. That the abrupt change works quite well is a credit to the movie, reminding us more of the masterly film Audition than say the overladen From Dusk Till Dawn. Something evil has been growing inside of Aaw, because she has ignored the rules her grandmother taught her and she is becoming a puppet of the black magic she uses too readily. The transition from nightmares and drug-induced paranoia to the manifestation of evil is understated. Just as the sex-trade is accompanied by typical Thai modesty (no bare bosoms), the horror is shocking but not too shocking, almost as if it is meant to be 'entertaining' rather than genuinely upsetting.

The shortfalls are the derivative story lines, the overlong details of how to work in a go-go bar (especially when all the women look and sound almost identical) and the fact that this Thai-style, British-made movie is not well aimed at any easily identifiable western market (other, perhaps, than DVD). The light-hearted humour (girls exchanging insulting comments about a customer in Thai whilst giving the unsuspecting customer adoring glances and tones, or the giggly exchanges of how to butter-up a Westerner), and the fact that it is the first Thai horror film made by a British director, may endear it to all lovers of light-hearted gore. Most films seek either great artistic acclaim or the hugest profits possible; Spurrick may simply be someone who wants to earn a living as a filmmaker in Thailand. P won't make him a fortune, but it might make him enough to fund the next episode in what could even become a cult niche.

It's hard to know what to expect when going into a movie simply called P! Based on it's appearance and my history with Thai cinema I assumed it would be yet another bland ghost story but I was mistaken.

The movie tells the story of a young girl living out in rural Thailand who struggling to make ends meet because of her sick grandmother. She is sent through to Bangkok for work but finds herself exploited within a seedy strip club. Becoming increasingly stressed she sets about using the magic taught to her by her grandmother, but things get gradually out of control.

I found myself interested early on, the film looks great and the performances are stronger than you'd expect for a Thai film. I was engaged in this poor girls plight and curious which direction it was going to go in.

When things kicked into gear I was met with both marvel and disappointment. The ideas were there, some of the visual effects were there, sadly the writing badly let it down.

When the credits rolled I was sad that once again a potentially good film had been squandered by a poor ending. It's not THAT bad, but to keep up with the rest of the film it needed to be something special and it simply wasn't.

Regardless P is an enjoyable enough Thai horror with great ideas, competence both in front of and behind the camera just bit of a weak finale.

The Good:

Decent looking antagonist

Solid story

The Bad:

Cutaway deaths

Disappointing ending

"P" or Possessed is beautiful, and raw movie about the life of a young Thai prostitute, and the horrific creature she ends up harboring due to black magic.

The visuals in this movie is very delicate and beautiful. All the girl actors puts in top notch performance that makes this movie one fantastic horror film to watch. There's vivid quality to each scene, and the scenery of Thailand is beautiful in this movie. It makes you feel as if you are "there".

It's difficult to describe the uniqueness of this movie. Not so well known in the west, but this is one of the best movie to come out of Thailand.

If you are a horror or Asian movie fan, you owe it to yourself to see this.

Well that was just weird. Not bad. But left you feeling unfulfilled and kinda.... yup. Kinda.

Thai horror movies are usually very good. But this one is a disaster, the movie is from 2005 but the effects looks like from the 70's. Actually the bad effects destroyed the whole movie, not scarier than reading a horror comic magazine. If you want real good Thai-horror go for "Shutter" and "Alone" instead.

I have come out of several years of lurking on these boards due to the sheer lack of intelligence that is communicated through the reviews that periodically appear on this film's IMDb space. I saw this movie courtesy of subway cinema's new york Asian film festival (which had an otherwise excellent selection of movies this year, see vital, snake of june, CHA NO AJI, Survive Style)and have regretted every day that a scene from that movie disengorges itself from the back of my mind, and becomes a vivid memory.

I'm sure that you can read a laudatory summary of the film off of Subway Cinema, which is probably why I made the mistake of dragging my friend to the film. The description built up the kind of horror film that I had longed for for a while, one that relies on sheer terror rather than cheap scares. P was in fact different. It relied on cheap laughs.

The incredibly annoying announcer described this movie as "Lesbians team up to fight monsters." Completely untrue. There is a subplot built up in this film to make it seem like the relationship between the girl and Pookie is actually going somewhere. More lies. This film seems like a short made for "Are you afraid of the dark?" The story is ridiculous, and only succeeded in eliciting laughter and confusion from the audience after they finally rescinded their attempt to view this film with any semblance of seriousness and try to forget the $9 that they wasted at the door. I almost wish paul spurrier was in the audience so that I could laugh at him and ask him why he wasted 5 years in thailand to make a bad softcore horror-cum-porn that belongs on the spice channel, which only succeeded to get the actress excommunicated from her family, and caused a minor stir at the belgium film festival. The only stir that this caused was a gurgle in the lower intestine as it couldn't extract itself from the sh*te that it is. Anyway, I hope I can dissaude anyone from making the grave mistake of seeing this film, it was truly one of my top 3 worst movie experiences, knocking out soulplane for the number 2.

This is not exactly a horror movie, it's more a sad story about a farmer girl who goes to the big town (Bangkok) and loses her way. This young girl is a nice person with a warm heart, the reason she leaves the camp is because her grandmother is ill and to move to the city is the only chance for getting a job. But she is cheated and must be a sexy dancer in a club for foreigners, so she will know the worst of the urban life very soon. The worst of the urban life and the worst of the rural life (the poor and wrong education she has received from her grandmother, mainly based on superstition and black magic) will destroy her innocence and a terrible monster will grow up inside her. Yes, you can call it monster, spirit, ghost... but for me it's a symbol of her lost innocence. You will find scary moments (this "ghost" looks terrible in some concrete moments) but I insist the film is more a drama than a horror movie in a strict sense, and maybe this is the reason some public can feel disappointed. In my opinion the first half is excellent but the second half is not so good although it still keeps the interest until the end. Sad, nice and with a great soundtrack. It's not perfect but I recommend it.

It's on Thai Netflix at the moment.

Genuinely one of the worst films I've ever seen.

Clearly the embodiment of the directors weird fetishes with some bad horror thrown in to the mix.

'P' is a film that explores the misuse of magic and when it can backfire and the need to resort to it to gain an upper hand over rivals or people who have hurt you. This is a strange film to have a horror theme but that is not to say it doesn't work - it works quite well in the surroundings the film has set up.

The film tells the story of Dau, a poor girl living in rural Thailand whose grandmother has taught her the arts of witchcraft. There are three rules apparently that can make a spell backfire on the person if they break them:

1. Never cross under a clothes line 2. Never eat raw meat 3. You can share the knowledge of the spells but do not accept any form of payment

Dau goes to work in a brothel in Bangkok in order to make money to send to her sick grandmother and ends up being in the usual competition with the other girls. So she decides to put some of her useful magic knowledge to good (or bad depending on how you want to look at it) use to gain an upperhand on some of them.

The performances in the film are pretty decent with the leading actress being very convincing in terms of the cute girl trapped in a world she doesn't really want to be in. The film also gives light social commentary on the lives of these girls who work in such places - they are in it for the money and it also shows how foreigners (mainly white guys) come in simply just to be entertained and to have sexual acts with them. In fact, the bar the girls work in is a bar for foreigners.

Out of the three rules, the first one doesn't really make sense to me - the other two made more sense as the film progressed but I don't see how going under a clothes line will cause any harm - but if it is the rules it is the rules.

The film perhaps gets less scary once you know what is going to happen with Dau once the supernatural elements kick in and it sort of goes into slasher territory but it is part of the fun. In fact, the first 40 mins or so feels more like the film is a story about a sex worker than a horror film but it spends time developing the context of its story so that was pretty well done.

It is a good film if you're a horror fan and it is weird to see this combined with elements of prostitution in its story - some parts don't work as well but overall it is pretty solid.

I will be short...This film is an embarrassment to everyone except its cinematographer. The very fact that it is a critique of the sex tourism industry seems valid until we are "treated" to a lingering dance scene. The plot is ridiculous no one except the most ardent fan of BAD horror will get anything out of it. And for the love of God please stop saying this film is a tale of innocence lost or even of female empowerment because it is quite clearly not (childish fumbling lesbians, what the hell?). this was by far the worst film at the Edinburgh festival (that i saw anyway), someone even collapsed halfway through the film probably because they couldn't take any more of it. this may seem like an overly critical rant but i genuinely cannot find a redeeming feature of this film except for perhaps if you take it as pure comedy. In short this film is best watched on a cocktail of class A drugs.

This was shown as part of the 59th Edinburgh International Festival, though for reasons best left to the powers that be. A lot seems to have been made of the fact that it's the first Thai language film, made with Thai actors & crew, but directed by a westerner. Needn't have bothered to be honest, as this film is dull, dull, dull. Why hint at something, why shroud an idea in mystery, why subtly invoke a feeling, when you can hammer the point home with terrible voice overs, obvious shots and over the top scenes> Nothing is left to the imagination as time and time again director Spurrier clumsily churns out endless clichés. No hinting, no guessing, it's all up on screen, no need to use our imaginations. Wonder when the 'scary' bit is coming? No you wont, 'cause the soundtrack will get more and more intimidating, rising to a crescendo of ominously. Hell, I'm making up words to describe how bad this is. Wonder whether the conjured demon is real or imaginary? Why tax yourself - it's really is a snake, and yes it's really is biting his crotch, and there's blood splattering everywhere. it's a strange, uneasy film for several reasons. It's supposed to be a horror film, but it's not scary - the jolts are signposted & obvious. It might be a scathing attack on the seedier side of Thailand, yet the director has a sleazy, lubricious style when it comes to showing barely pubescent teens. Maybe it was casting himself as the virginity-taking westerner that planted the seeds of doubt in my head. Or maybe the whole thing was just pants. Uninspired, insipid, repetitive, hackneyed - all candidates for best description, but dull seems most appropriate and honest. It's all been seen before, probably better, often with more thought, rarely with less imagination or flare. Sorry. Thumbs down on every count. Truly dire.

Most Asian horror over the last two decades has been largely fantastic. Rings, Audition and Grudge to name but three. On the strength of those, i decided to give this a go.

So we have a movie that deals with poverty, witchcraft, underage prostitution and evil vampire spirits as its themes.

The acting is basic as is most things about this movie. However, it did keep me interested until the end with some twists and turns along the way.

There were some loose ends at the end of the movie that were never addressed such as the police officer and his investigation. The CGI was poor, as was the cinematography. It at this budget, what do you expect.

The plot of "P" goes like that:whilst growing up in rural Thailand a young orphan girl is taught the ways of magic by her grandmother.But when old woman falls sick Dau is lured to Bangkok to find work so that she can buy medicine.She finds herself working in a go-go bar as a dancer and prostitute.She uses the magical skills her grandmother taught to her advantage but her magic gets darker and people start dying.The photography of Thai countryside and Bangkok is stunningly beautiful,the lead actress looks very cute,but the film lacks sleaze and nudity and is very tasteful when it comes to the subject of prostitution.The horror scenes are surprisingly weak too.6 out of 10.

Like the other Thai horrors like 'Ladda Land' and 'Promise' this movie could have worked well as a drama. It looks like the director wanted to make a good drama about a naive village girl who comes to Bangkok to help her sick grandma but somewhere in the middle of the shooting the studio wanted him to do a horror film instead.

The only good element of this film is the acting. Almost everyone in this film from the lead actress to the lady playing her friend's role and other girls from the bar did a good job. The direction is sloppy with a bad screenplay. We don't really know why the grandma would teach her sweet grandchild a very dangerous black magic which could backfire if not treated properly. We don't know why a girl who was so reluctant to perform semi naked in front of foreigners the first couple of days would use deadly black magic to go ahead in the 'business'. We also don't why the Thai police chose to be incompetent and do nothing about the murders till the end. The narration of this film is so sloppy that sometimes its laughable.

3 stars for the acting and somewhat good first 40 minutes.

I rate this movie 8, not because of the scares or supernatural effects. The rating is entirely based on the performances of the actresses and accurate depiction of how many girls get conned into a life of prostitution.

It's worth a watch for anyone interested in Thailand or other countries such as Philippines where girls can be rented at bars and clubs. It puts a human perspective on the whole affair which those frequenting the places might not think about or choose to ignore.

I'm not sure whether the movie glorifies the empowerment of girls who choose to work as prostitutes because of the high pay or condemns the exploitation of the innocent who are made to believe they're being done a favor when they're told someone *might* have "work" for them, during the initial stages of recruitment, keeping the facade until it is too late to back out.

The director and his friends certainly enjoy the Thai night life privately. The movie stands on its own though and I feel it does a good job at removing the veil on the business. How people react must be a personal decision. Both sides are shown, which avoids a preachy or too exploitative feeling.

The performances by the actresses were particularly authentic, considering most of them grew up in slums or work as porn stars or bar girls. The main actress had never acted before and donated her entire earnings to her sick mother. Eerily similar to the circumstances in the movie, although the real life events apparently had a happier outcome.

Though the "scary" parts of the movie don't mesh well with Western ideas of ghosts and magic, it closely fits with popular myth and superstition in Thailand and other neighboring countries. Especially the idea of human monsters that can feast on other people due to a variety of specific circumstances.

The sex in the movie is very low key. I think we spotted a couple of nip slips. The few sex scenes are more suggestive than explicit and they don't last very long. There is a fair amount of dancing, but it's also tame. The girls are pretty though and it's enjoyable to watch.

It's not a masterpiece, but to my knowledge it's unique in its scope and subject matter. The lead actress did a superb job and I hope we see more from her in the future.

My wife and I both enjoyed this movie and I think anyone with an open mind and an interest in eastern Asia will too.

This film begins in rural Thailand with a young girl by the name of "Dau" (Suangporn Jaturaphut) being picked on at school because of her Khmer heritage and the fact that everyone considers the grandmother she lives with to be a witch. Then after one particularly bad day at school she is attacked by an evil spirit on the way home and after telling this to her grandmother is taught the art of black magic. Ten years later, lacking the money to purchase necessary medicine for her grandmother, Dau consents to work at a nightclub in Bangkok where she hopes to make enough money to make ends meet. However, she soon finds that things are not much different for her as she is treated quite badly by most of the other girls there as well. Angry and frustrated by this she eventually decides to put some of her black magic skills to use to correct the situation. Unfortunately, she accidentally violates some of the rules her grandmother taught her and this causes severe consequences for everyone involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although it lacked the special effects normally seen in horror films of this type, the plot and the acting were adequate enough to compensate for it. Likewise, having several attractive actresses like Narisara Sairatanee (as "May"), Opal ("Pookie"), Amy Siriya ("Mee") along with the aforementioned Suangporn Jaturaphut certainly didn't hurt either. In any case, I enjoyed this movie for the most part and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.