While Thais love supernatural stories, oddly it seems that in the past few years, many Thai directors are running out of original ideas for a spooky plot, relying instead on too many jump scares, while repeating the same worn-out storylines.
Ploy Sornarin in a scene in The Maid. (Photo © NETFLIX)
The Maid, Netflix's first Thai ghost movie production, is no different -- the clichéd story of a poor village girl who's hired as a maid at the mansion of a wealthy family. While it sounds like a fortunate career opportunity, at the mansion the girl must confront dark hidden secrets and the vengeful spirit who also lives there.
Sound familiar? And despite a good effort by adding different elements like a psychological murder mystery, or with high-profile performers trying their best, this still can't save The Maid from its shallow design, unoriginal plot and uninspired storytelling.
The Maid is the work of director Lee Thongkham, who also directed the Thai high-budget monster movie The Lake in 2018, and has worked behind the scenes for several Hollywood films including The Fate Of The Furious and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
The new film stars teen actress Ploy Sornarin, who's previously known for appearing in a number of Sahamongkol Film's horror flicks -- Arbat (2015), Siam Square (2017), Viral (2018) and Reside (2018). In The Maid, Ploy plays Joy, a new employee at the mansion who confronts some strange happenings from the moment of her arrival -- a family with deep dark secrets, the daughter of the mistress who often sees things that others do not, a monkey doll that moves by itself, and the ghost of a former servant girl who still haunts the place, while Joy herself has something to hide as well. The film also stars Theerapat Sajakul and Savika Chaiyadej as the husband and wife and owners of the mansion who have a habit of behaving mysteriously. They did a great job at playing it according to script, which was, sadly, very poorly written.
The prologue of the film owes a lot to the Hollywood horror film The Conjuring, which begins with the narration of a girl talking about a haunted ghost doll, but in this case it's a monkey doll. One particular scene, where a ghost pops out from above a wardrobe, appears borrowed from the American film.
There is nothing special about the production values of this movie. In fact, The Maid felt like one of those Thai TV dramas, whether it is a mansion that looks like an old palace, driving an antique car in the modern day, the clash between classes, or the conflict between a boss and servant, that is depicted almost throughout the story. Not to mention the ridiculous costume designs that are so pretentious. The movie is trying too hard to generate a significant amount of jump scares, by overusing random appearances by the ghost until you don't feel frightened anymore.
The major twist also doesn't make much sense. After struggling through the puzzling beginning, suddenly the movie reveals all its secrets by allowing that same ghost solves all the puzzles in a tasteless fashion. Then it turns into a slasher film in the final act, with all the ghosts somehow disappearing into thin air with no explanation.
The Maid is a horror film that combines some promising elements, but with the poor direction and execution, I would recommend skipping this movie.
- The Maid
- Starring Ploy Sornarin, Savika Chaiyadej, Kannaporn Puangtong, Theerapat Sajakul
- Directed by Lee Thongkham
- Now streaming on Netflix
