Coffins creep me out…
The Coffin (2008)
Directed By: Ekachai Uekrongtham
The Prologue
I don’t know about the rest of you but I have always been a little uneasy when it comes to coffins. I mean unless you decide to get yourself cremated, that big (or small) box will be your final resting place and it just freaks me out a bit to think about it. Breaking Glass Pictures is about to release a movie called, The Coffin. It’s a film from Thai and it does a fine job of following the format of other Asian films and being creepy.
The Movie
Su and Chris are two strangers whose lives have been struck by tragedy — Su has been diagnosed with lung cancer just days before her wedding and Chris’ longtime girlfriend has fallen into a mysterious coma. When they both learn of a bizarre Thai ritual in which a living person lies in a coffin to reverse bad Karma, they both decide to partake in a mass funeral for the living. Soon, their lives have turned around — Su’s cancer vanishes and Chris’ girlfriend awakes from her coma — but the good fortune is short-lived. A series of terrifying paranormal events suggests that Su and Chris may have upset the Karmic balance of the universe by cleansing themselves of bad luck, and the people closest to them may ultimately pay the price.
Well one thing is for sure, I think besides just going for a creepy vibe, the director wanted to be very stylish as well. The movie has that odd blue tent to it at tmes that a lot of horror films seem to use. I’m torn on if I like that or hate that to be honest with you. It can add to the creepy factor, but at the same time it’s really really blue. Perhaps even too blue in areas. You get freaky scenes, you get unexpected car crashes that grab your attention, you get a whole hell of a lot of coffins. But you also get it all in a very very blue glow (at times, but not ALWAYS). It’s slightly distracting.
Acting wise the film is really good. It also starts off with stuff that is strong enough to keep you locked in for the film. I’d probably have to say that the film starts perhaps a little better than it ends. But that’s not to say the ending sucks or anything, because it doesn’t. It does kinda become a downer when you realize just what all is going on, because it’s been done before. Still, stories like this are best when they come from other countries and even an average film there seems to be head and heels better than an average film from other places.
So it may not be that memorable once you’ve watched it, but I don’t think you’ll hate it. Go into it with an open mind and expecting a pretty cool little story that involves the creepy idea of coffins. If your expectations don’t go up and over that, then you shouldn’t be disappointed. It’s at least well acted, well made, and edited together really nicely too. If you are looking for something to kill some time with, then you could do a lot worse than, The Coffin.
The Conclusion
Well, it doesn’t make my uneasy feelings about Coffins any less uneasy, but the movie isn’t that bad. It starts better than it finishes, but it’s still a lot better than a lot of the stuff you see out there these days. You can check it out for yourself by CLICKING HERE over at Breaking Glass Pictures.
The Rating (6/10)
Chucks website
