User reviews

Thai-Korean supernatural horror, Banjong Pisanthanakun's 'The Medium,' burns slowly but intensely throughout. It has all the elements of Asian horror unique to the Korean and Thai genres, such as creepy music and a darkly saturated filter. The film loses steam at times owing to flaws in its mockumentary style, but Pisanthanakun succeeds far more when he concentrates on the complexities of the familial links and what some of the key reveals imply for each character.

Decent film.

Running time needed to be shorter, good cinematography.

Recommended.

Watch with subs in original.

Nice to see other cultures believes in supernatural world.

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Thailand's official submission to 2022's Oscars is the creepiest exorcism movie I have ever seen. It's so scary, brutal, captivating and provocative. It grabs your attention and keeps you on the edge of your seats from the very beginning until the credits start rolling. It's the year's best horror film so far.

I must say I put my expectation high for this since I love Binjong's previous movies; Alone and Shutter but I'm a bit not satisfied since this one is less scary and story is less impacted compare to his previous horror work. Most scariest scene are already in the trailer and some part doesn't really make sense and brought more question than answer. Still this movie is worth watching and deserve at least 7/10 not bad but not reach its maximum potential.

In the first leg it has a lot going for it. The cinematography is great, and as much as they attempt to make things dreary, this thing could really function as travel vlog for Thailand. The faux doc style brings a realism to the mystic elements and it feels like a unique backdrop for a horror flick. The setup is slow but enjoyable and you begin to wonder if it's ever going to erupt into full blown horror. Rest assured, it does. However, with the quality of the preamble, you grow to believe the film had something more clever up it's sleeve. What you eventually get is a rather run of the mill possession tale, and things sort of fall apart from there.

Where the mocumentary initially lent credibility, it eventually devolves into the common found footage problem of "why would a real cameraman actually be filming this?" At one point reaching the height of ridiculousness where a girl has a mishap with her period and the camera follows her to the bathroom, like a psychopath. The possession element does little to set itself apart from it's many contemporaries, aside from forgoing the regular Christian/Satan angle. Narilya Gulmongkolpech's performance is enthusiastic but is often reminiscent of haunted house staff doing the crazy/scary routine. The whole thing seems to overstay it's welcome a bit, which is strange because the slow build seems to breeze by and it's only when things heat up that they start to feel redundant.

I don't want to be too hard on it, because it's in many ways a well made picture, it just doesn't live up to it's own potential.

Saw this at the cinema last night, and while I found it to be good-looking and well-made, with an interesting setting, it was still nothing new or special. I've seen everything in this film before. Nowhere near on the same level as The Wailing, which this shares many elements with.

The screaming and running around and people acting possessed in the last act becomes tedious after a while, as there's barely any emotional involvement with the characters. I simply did not care about any of the characters who made it to the last act.

Not often I'd say this about a horror film, but this would have been improved by actually being subtler, and leaving out some of the mayhem. And an edit - this is much too long at 130mins.

The Medium begins as a captivating yet slow-burning thriller that eventually transitions into recycled scares and an incredibly underwhelming finish. If you've watched horror films centred around spiritual possession, then you have a good idea of what to expect. The Medium does not try to do anything new with the formula as it boldly embraces every found footage cliché. In addition, the actions of some characters will definitely frustrate and seem like cheap ways to move the plot closer to its chaotic yet uninspired climax. I'd recommend watching The Wailing and skipping this one.

This was suprisingly good until the characters got completely stupid. There was some great creativity in the plot, but like so many movies, the writers relied on utter stupidity from the characters to drive the plot and situations forward. Some great scenes in this film though. Very hardcore in some aspects.

The Thai horror has just achieved a new step up into the genre with this bone-chilling, nerve-wracking movie. Its more than two hours fly through a complex and engaging story revolving about family, legacy, curses and devilish fates. It's more fast paced and much more entertaining than many movies under 90 minutes. The performances are top notch and the filmmaking style a la found footage is very effective. The POV helps to introduce the audience into the reality of the story, so when the scares starts, it's a total knock-out. Until a more conventional third act (in a good way, though), the two thirds of the movie manages to scare the living daylights of you without cheap jump-scares, which is pure gold nowadays. The ending is much more filled with them, but that's not a downer for me at all. It's a twisted, ballsy ending that works wonderfully with how the story was building up until that moment. While I could watch it with lights out (unlike the Thai cinemas whose audience demanded to watch it with lights on - if it is not a marketing sting), I recognize its hipnotic power upon me from start to finish, its ability to scare properly and the fact that I keep thinking about the movie after watching it. A terrific horror movie, a must see if you are a fan of the genre.

The scariest film of the year so far and one of the creepiest entries in the world of horror in recent years, The Medium begins as a documentary about a shaman possessed by a local deity in North-east Thailand but soon develops into a dreadful & diabolical nightmare that you can't escape from. Powerful, petrifying & perturbing in equal measure, this Thai-South Korean supernatural horror reeks of death & devilry.

Co-written by Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) & directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter), the film employs the faux-documentary format to narrate its tale of faith, inheritance, malaise & malison and gradually brings the viewers into its world of beliefs, curses & superstitions with its informative approach & natural acting from the cast. It takes its time, is never in a hurry & starts to ratchet things up only after the audience is fully on board.

While suffused with a feeling of something sinister & unholy brewing under the surface from the beginning, the film's horror elements lunges to the forefront only after the board is set & all the characters are properly introduced. And the execution is genuinely effective & nerve-wracking. There are scenes in here that are downright shocking & disturbing but what lends those moments their uncanny weight & power are the thoroughly convincing performances.

Overall, The Medium is one of those unnerving horror offerings that feels cursed, brims with an ill-omened quality and is smeared with a blood-curdling atmosphere that only intensifies as plot progresses. Intelligently directed, deftly scripted, finely detailed & strongly bolstered by Narilya Gulmongkolpech's bone-chilling act, the film does run longer than it needs to but the terror it invokes from its eerie setting & skin-crawling imagery is as unrelenting as it is unsettling. Don't miss it.

This feels like a cheap version of The Wailing... I mean like really.. The Wailing had such such great conclusion (ending) that made me watch it multiple times. But this one? This ending suck. Unsatisfactory at freaking all. And also, the character. How are you so freaking dumb to live with possessed people in a same house, let alone with a freaking baby? Is this a shortcut to filmmaking now, to make all character become stupid?

I haven't watched anything so EERIE/Unsettling is a long time. Something I dislike about horror movies is that they take the easy way out and heavily on jump scares and I am not a fan of that. If you can make a horror movie that's creepy, you have my money. The Medium was just that. I counted, and there ONE jump-scare in this one.

The movie talks about Shamanism in Thailand, so there's a little bit you'll learn about the culture. The movie was very well shot too! PHENOMENAL acting by everyone involved, especially the lead. The film did NOT hold back and went all out. Two particular 'shocking/horrific' scenes in the movie make it not for the squeamish. Nobody/nothing is off limits. But if you're the "I like me some Horror" types, you HAVE to watch this.

The storytelling is...not straightforward. Is that a flaw? Maybe/maybe not. It's also a slow-burn, you'll have to be a little patient. I had VARIOUS questions after the movie, which I had to look up and read to find answers for. But questions kept aside, you should watch it just for the creeps. If you then want to chat about the movie, this is for you!

I don't usually write review because my English is not good. I watch a lot of horror movies, from all over the world, I'd say if you like horror movies then give this a try. Don't listen to the bad reviews.

This was a slow burner and some people might not have patience to stay til end. Trust me stick with it , there are some really frightening scenes especially in last third of movie.

An almost perfect horror film.

Loved every minute of it. Strongly atmospheric since minute 1, creepy, full of traditions, cultural and religious folklore, some really suspenseful and horror moments and fantastic acting from all the cast, making this one of the most realistic horror films I've ever seen. Probably the best found footage ever and one of the best possession films in history.

Sad that this short attention span world (affecting already order generations, of course, due to the usage of the same tools the young use) will never recognise this as the classic it should be.

Movie is around 2hrs but it wont let you down dot expect top notch horror but it's slow felt like a letdown at last since it ended up like how footage horror movie's do.

Worth a watch so yes it's good.

At least 40 minutes too long with a terrible ending.

By the end of the movie everyone behaves like they've never had a brain in their head. They all deserve what happened to them in the end for being so dumb.

Watched the movie today. I would say the movie was beyond my expectation, the characters and scenes were so original. Gripping movement after the first 30 minutes of the film until the end. Thumps up to the directors and the producers.

I would suggest, please do not watch with children's.

This movie is really good, The details of the cameraman nailed it in this movie. At first, The movie looks like it doesn't makes sense. Like is this a documentary or a horror? It turns out to be both.

20 - 30 minutes in the movie, it gets more interesting and scarier. I really love the cameraman details. Like chasing the character without any stabilization (shakiness).

Either this movie is low-budget or just the producer planned to make the movie like this.

After all good movie loved this movie.

As a hardcore horror fan and a Thai nationality. This movie is somewhat revolutionary. 0 superstar casting, very authentic vibes overall and there are many cool approach in the storytelling that differs from other Thai horror films. AND Na Hong-jin is evolving in this, so it should be pretty good right? Nope.

The plot is interesting but not 2 hours interesting. The acting is mostly poor. The climax is disappointing. And the worst of all is it wasn't even that scary.