Movie studio Phranakorn Film has announced the first movie to kick off what they dubbed "Siam Cinematic Universe Phase I", which is very likely inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the DC Universe (DCU) and Universal Pictures' short-lived “Dark Universe”.
However, the Thai counterpart will focus on horror icons in Thai culture and the first film to kick off SCU is tentatively titled Raeng Wat Saket, Pret Wat Suthat, which translates to “Vultures Of Saket Temple, Pretas Of Suthat Temple" (hopefully the actual English title will be less of a mouthful).
The first part of the title refers to a dark incident in Thai history when a cholera breakout caused thousands of deaths during the reign of King Rama II. Wat Saket was a designated spot where dead bodies were dumped, thus, the vultures flocked to the temple’s grounds to feast as bodies be normally cremated due to the vast numbers.
The second part refers to a legend of Wat Suthat, which is said to be haunted by “pretas”, aka hungry ghosts, at night. These ghosts of great height endlessly suffer and it's believed that humans who commit offences such as physically assaulting their parents will be reborn as “pretas”. In the temple's convocation hall, you'll see “pretas” in the murals, which gives credibility to the legend.
It'll be curious to see how these two stories are combined into the film, which has no release date as yet; what other horror icons will be included; and how their stories will share the same universe (if possible). Mae Nak would be a safe guess. As a production house, Phranakorn Film is best known for its horror titles since debuting with the horror/comedy film Headless Hero in 2002.
