Opening Day: 28 January 2010

Synopsis:

Three ex-girlfriends, three dates with death

Has she really left you?

Ken (Chakhrit YAMNAM from Bangkok Dangerous) is a ravishing young superstar and the dream date of every girl. While he can attract any woman he wants, every detail of his life ends up in gossip columns and tabloid magazines.

Two of his previous girlfriends — high-society girl Meen (Navadee MOKKHAVESA) and innocent college student Bow (Atthama CHIWANITCHAPHAN) — have already been exposed by the media. After dumping the pregnant Meen, he is now dating gorgeous young actress Ploy (Wanida TERMTHANAPORN) and their every move makes the headline.

When news leak that Ken will marry Ploy, the media goes into a frenzy and the couple’s dream life turns into a nightmare. It seems that someone is stalking them, day and night. Is it an ex-girlfriend, an obsessed fan or vengeful paparazzi? Ken's agent, Nimit (Bordin DUKE), encourages him to take a break at his beachfront house but the problem only escalates as Ken starts to have visions of a woman and mysterious scratches begin to appear on his body. One by one, the people around Ken start to disappear…

Movie Review:

It has always been a hit-or-miss affair with Thai horrors- there are those like "Shutter" and "4Bia" that have given us more fodder for nightmares; and then there are those like "Ghost Game" or "The Screen at Kamchanod" that are just a nightmare to sit through. Unfortunately, this latest from director Piyapan Choopetch fits squarely into the latter category.

One can only guess that the filmmakers had gotten their inspiration for this movie from the gossip pages of philandering celebrities, as its lead character Ken is just one such person. After impregnating the socialite Meen and cheating on her with another sweet college girl Bow, Ken is now dating the young co-star, Ploy, with whom he is shooting his new film. But it seems someone or something is following them around, as both Ken and Ploy start to see a woman appearing in the mirror at their backseat of their car, or walking along the corridors of their house, or intruding into their nightmares.

Yes, you know the drill, and "My Ex" doesn’t get any more inventive in the scare department. In fact, there isn’t a single frightening moment in the movie that you can’t already see coming at you, and seasoned horror veterans will no doubt groan in agony at the predictability of every supposed 'boo'. What "My Ex" lacks in originality it tries to make up for with needless amounts of gore. To local audiences, it only means that we have to put up with at least one abrupt cut, seeing as how the film has been trimmed for a more box-office friendly NC16 rating.

But it’s no matter really- since all that blood was meant to compensate for a movie that doesn’t have anything to offer beyond what is already in the synopsis above. Indeed, the best sign of its lack of imagination is in its blatant rip-off from the 2004 horror "Shutter". In "My Ex", a gossip photographer trailing Ken and Ploy around starts seeing ghostly images of a woman appearing in the pictures he takes of them, and is convinced enough that something is not right to show Ken those photos.

If "My Ex" is unoriginal and derivative, it is made even more frustrating by its subpar production values. Not one scene from the movie suggests that it was made for anything more than television, what with its bad camera angles, terrible cinematography, poor continuity and inappropriate music more suited for melodrama than horror (though it does try to be the former towards the end).

And just when you think it’s over, "My Ex" inserts a 'shock twist' coda in between the credits that totally throws the previous ending out the window (literally). That last hurrah can only be interpreted as a terrible attempt at salvaging a movie that belongs in the dung heap of Thai horrors that have somehow found their way to our local screens. Yes, Thai horror continues to be a hit-or-miss affair and you would do best to avoid this entirely, for this is not only a complete miss, it is a Ex-cessive waste of your time.

Movie Rating:



("My Ex" is Thai horror at its worst- watch it at your own peril)

Review by Gabriel Chong