Without a doubt, The Medium is absolutely one of the most creepiest film I watched last year.
As a person who was born in Southeast Asia, it's no stranger to shamanism, regardless of whether you have used his services or not, but at least you must have heard stories or seen people who are victims of shamanic practices. I myself belong to the group who have only seen people affected by this shaman's witchcraft, the victims are from my own family but thankfully my brother has recovered.With that experience, the film feels relatable and it's easier for me to follow the plot, moreover, I often hear this type of story when hanging out with friends and will never get bored.
The film itself tells about a group of Thai documentary team traveling to the northeast part of Thailand, Isan to document the daily life of a local medium, Nim, who is possessed by the spirit of Bayan. Bayan is an ancestral God and has been possessing women in Nim's family for generations.
Then later the film will focus on Nim's niece, Ming. After a lot of strange things happen to Ming, Nim is initially convinced Bayan wishes Ming to succeed Nim, but it turns out not to be what the characters and even me expected.
This film is well-construct, in the first 1 hour, we are stuffed with information about the characters from Nim's shamanism to the misfortunes that always happen to the Noi family, while setting the atmosphere and tension which will really serve as provisions for the last 1 hour.
In the last 1 hour Banjong gradually started trying to scare, especially with Ming who was possessed by an evil spirit who was described as so wicked because it was said that all kinds of spirits entered Ming's body, so yeah she really pushed as a nightmare source here. They also include a Paranormal Activity-style segment before exorcising Ming which honestly gives me goosebumps. But the peak moment is when the exorcism begins, all I can say is that confidence is turned to despair.
Kudos to all the cast, they are really did a good job as a medium for transmitting fear, especially Narilya Gulmongkolpech as Ming, started as cute good looking girl (I thought I fall for her in funeral scene) to creepy-sick looking girl (WTF, I shocked), her appearance change which is also accompanied by a change in her acting from a cheerful girl to a scary girl, I honestly think she is really cool, deserve to be praise.
Banjong Pisanthanakun, undeniably that he is indeed a director who is good at making films; from horror, romance to comedy genres. It's a shame that in the past 5 years he has only directed 2 titles. We need more from you Mr. Banjong.
The only thing I don't like from this film was the cameraman of this documentary team seems weird, they did take pretty good shot but did the documentary cameraman have to keep shooting even though someone in front of him needed help? or what's a little annoying here is when the cameraman is asked by a monk or someone to just check on Ming's aunt's son but he hesitates and doesn't even help that someone prevent the aunt from doing **Confidential**.
Overall, a pretty good found footage horror films, also from asia. Nice.
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Slower than cold molasses in winter time....
Similar to the American film 'The exorcism of Emily Rose' which combines the horror genre with courtroom drama, 'The Medium' tries to combine the horror genre with biography/reality tv. I say try because I think it failed in generating sufficient interest or traction in either of it's intended genres.Let us first tackle the 'horror' portion of the movie and all it's entailed expectations. The premise of the movie is interesting, we have a camera crew that is following a 'medium/psychic' who is purported to be possessed by one of the local Gods. As we follow her life, we are introduced to a her family members and the complicated family dynamics. This portion of the movie narrative takes almost 45 mins. Even I can introduce my family in lesser time and I have 21 first cousins.
Anyway after the sluggish introductions we delve deeper into the character of the medium's niece who I must say portrayed her character pretty well. We are one hour 10 minutes into the movie and I am yet to be scared. The creep factor of this movie is extremely slow. This would be acceptable if 'The Medium' was a thriller but it isn't and it is also not capable of keeping the audience engaged cause it's first half is extremely boring. As one of the reviewers previously mentioned, the first half could have been compressed into 12-15 minutes.
Unfortunately things don't get any better after one hour. While the story of possession becomes proven and the nieces antics become crazier there very little horror. It's more of a supernatural intent and horrific fascination with which we watch the behaviour of a possessed person. There are some scare-inducing moments, but when a movie is over 2 hours the moments feel extremely minuscule.
What fails this movie is also it's train wreck of an ending which begins half hour before the ending credits and just like the sluggish pace of it's intro, is slow but devolves into a complete parody. While 'The Medium' suffered from a sluggish plot line and inconsistent pacing, it was the farcical ending which was the final nail in it's coffin.
Now, speaking of the biography/reality tv portion of this movie it was majorly passive. The camera crew did not communicate much in terms of the story progression in the first one and half hour. When the story started picking up about monitoring the possessed person the camera crew started communicating with the possessed's family regarding the footage and the last half hour they were as active as the rest of the cast. I felt their presence was superfluous because if the intent was to gain a third-party perspective, there should have been more interactions between the camera crew and the audience/viewers since, the movie is what they 'filmed'. So I am confused whether this was actually supposed to be found footage horror in which case this is nowhere near 'Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum' standards. There was zero audience engagement with respect to this theme.
Overall:
The scares are relatively low and the movie is more into the depiction of gory or revolting behaviour. The pace is beyond sluggish with a smattering of interesting incidences. Overall, this movie could benefit from some serious editing and compression into a standard one/one-half hour movie. So would I recommend anyone to watch this? No. But if you are interested in the show be ware of the first half. This scores a 6.5/10 in my book.
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There is a level of stupidity even horror movies should not cross - they crossed it.
Kind of a Paranormal Activity meets The Exorcist, but worse. It did not have the fun campy feeling as paranormal activity had. Neither was it able to create the atmosphere The Exorcist delivered. Kind of all over the place, with a bit too exaggerated plot. I simply feel like they tried way too hard on this. It was also unnecessarily gross.The things the possessed girl did were so over the top I could not stop laughing. At times it felt like a poor attempt at a dark parody movie. The level of stupidity of other characters? Unimaginable. I could have excused it, if the main lady was not literally a professional shaman - she should have known better. All these characters could easily achieve Darwin’s Award. They truly contributed to human evolution by removing themselves out of the gene pool of that fictional world.
I mean, when the movie tries to tell you a person can be possessed by the grass, you know this is going to be a crack ride. Sadly… it was not even silly entertaining - the movie dragged so much I could not even finish it in one sitting. It’s disappointing, because I actually enjoyed the first 40 minutes.
I don’t really have that much to say about the movie. It was so stupid I feel like I have to restart my brain.
It was pretty though. Quite a few screenshots taken.
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Almost normal movie 《●_●》
A brand new horror film is coming to Shudder and boy, do I have some thoughts on this one. The Medium has already won an award at the Bucheon International Film Festival 2021 for Best Feature Film. If you are wondering whether or not to give this movie a watch, stay tuned to this review for my thoughts.《About The Medium 》¤
The Medium made its debut in South Korea in Summer 2021. It currently stands as the sixth highest-grossing Korean film of the year. The story comes from award-winning South Korean writer and director Na Hong-Jin. This is Hong-Jin’s first film produced under his new banner, Northern Cross. The film is directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun, the Thai director who gave the horror world Shutter.
《My Thoughts》¤
Before I dive in here, I want to preface my review by saying that I love watching horror movies from around the world. I love seeing different interpretations of typical horror tropes and all of the subgenres. Because of this, I was super excited to watch The Medium. Unfortunately, this movie did not meet my expectations.
My biggest issue is that The Medium is too long for the story. In my opinion, the entire first half of the film could have been reduced to approximately 10, maybe 15 minutes. There were so many scenes that I felt were unnecessary and did not serve the plot in any way. To be honest, I was so bored throughout the first half of the film. I could have fallen asleep. Don’t get me wrong, many of the scenes were shot well. I just did not see a point behind them.
Once the film got into the second half, things started to pick up a bit. More action occurred and the story finally began to develop. The more I got to see what was happening to Mink, the more I liked what I was watching. The shining star in this otherwise bland movie is Narilya Gulmongkolpech’s performance. She does a spectacular job portraying a possessed person.
I actually enjoyed the final 30 or 45 minutes of The Medium. The kills are intense but believable and the story flows at a good pace. As for the ending, I was not disappointed by the way the story concluded. It seemed like an appropriate ending to me, although some people may disagree.
Unfortunately, The Medium‘s final moments were not enough for me to like the film as a whole. The movie is over two hours long, and I enjoyed maybe 45 minutes.
《More Thoughts》¤
If you like your horror movies to have gore, this is not the film for you. When you reach that final stretch, there are a few good scenes with a bit of blood and guts. However, you have to wait through the entire rest of the movie. Even then, if gore is your thing, it is not worth the wait. I do not watch horror movies for the gore, but if there are going to be kill scenes, I like them to at least be hard-hitting. Also, I hate having to wait so long to get to the action, the meat of the story.
I get that there has to be some story building, but there is such a thing as too much “before.” I want action in a horror movie; I want the fear to build. The Medium did not give me that. I guess you could call this movie a “slow burn,” but I feel like it goes beyond even that.
Also, I want to mention a few trigger warnings…
There is mention of suicide attempts. The scene does not show the actual attempt and it is quite short, but if that is a big trigger, be aware. Also, some people may have an issue watching scenes involving blood from menstruation. There are several in The Medium. While I feel this is no different than any other blood shown, someone may feel differently.
My final note is that the whole film is set around a documentary team filming all of the happenings, but around the middle, I feel like that detail was almost forgotten. The team seems to fade to the background and not even be present at times. Later, they appear again and are once again part of the story. For that one period, though, they just disappear.
《The Medium – Conclusion》¤
Will I watch The Medium again? No. Do I regret watching it? Also no. It was not to my taste, but that will not be the case for everyone. If you love horror movies about possession, watch it. If you enjoy a prolonged burn story, watch it. Also, if you are a horror lover and have a couple of hours to kill, watch it. My final verdict? I did not enjoy The Medium and will not be adding it to any must-watch lists.
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This review may contain spoilers
Unforgettable Horror
It’s been a while since I’ve encountered a truly great Asian horror film, but The Medium has restored my faith in the genre. Directed by the same brilliant minds behind The Wailing and Shutter - two of my favorite horror masterpieces- this film brings a haunting blend of atmosphere, setting, and escalating madness. Mink's harrowing descent into demonic possession is depicted with such intensity that it leaves a lasting impact. The portrayal of spiritual disintegration and the chilling nature of possession are masterfully done.That said, be prepared for some deeply disturbing moments, including the deaths of a baby and a dog. These scenes are particularly tough to watch, and as someone who usually avoids films with animal deaths, I found myself fast-forwarding through these parts. Nonetheless, the film’s compelling narrative and persistent sense of unease make The Medium an essential watch for any Asian horror fan in search of a profoundly unsettling experience.
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I might be too sensitive but I thought this movie was offensive
I had high hopes because I saw the name of The Wailing's director in it but the movie was a disappointment. They give up halfway on their characters and storylines, leaving a lot of wasted potential that if done correctly could have been an argument for social issues.I don't know if the team that made this movie realized it or not but by discarding halfway their characters and plotline, the movie turned out to be offensive towards women. Firstly, by not explaining certain points and not delving deep enough into the characters, the movie portrayed women in a bad light. It gave the opportunity to interpret wrongly about the female characters (the woman shaman character, the mother, or the daughter, our main character). The problem was that all of these characters were not properly explained. I felt especially bad for our main character for being called names by her relative in the beginning, and other scenes (which I will not mention because I can't write too much spoiler), she was never given context on how she became like that or an explanation of why. They could have made it into the theme of overprotective mother, following outdated beliefs, and the concept of purity to build up and then portray the main character as a woman of a new generation, rebellious towards old perceptions. But no, they did not give any explanation, so our main character was stuck with (potentially) bad interpretation. Second, the cameraman was a male and he followed the main character, a female, into the female bathroom and the following scenes (which I will not elaborate due to spoiler rule). I thought that scene was unnecessary. It was insensitive and rude. Why would that scene contribute to the plot? Was it used as a horror element? If so, why would a scene like that be a horror? They shouldn't have included that scene. They could have had a woman following and filming the main character, and closing the camera/screen turned to black, leaving only voices to portray that scene. It was an unnecessary graphic.
Overall, the main character was portrayed in the wrong way, and the ending felt like it could be interpreted with a bad implication.
The movie felt vague, not in an intentional way, but in a way that they did not have explanation for the details they built in. The whole thing felt chaotic and a complete mess, just threw scary scenes in and hoping the audience freaked out.
Cinematography-wise, the idea of making it a documentary was good but they failed at executing it. The way they shot it did not give the creep and the aesthetic of horror at all. One of the ridiculous things was how the cameramen kept spawning at the end. One cameraman died, and the other immediately showed up.
I thought the movie would be exploring religion more in-depth but no, it was so surface-level. In the end, I still did not know what kind of deity is Ba Yan. At one point, they just abandoned that deity. The movie could have given us some basic rules, rituals, or myths about the religion to explain what kind of deity, what they are related to, and what is the connection of the main family with this deity (in a more in-depth way); the movie gave nothing. When the evil spirit came up, I was hoping we got a glimpse of what it was and some sort of explanation for it but in the end, the answer they gave us felt temporary, felt like they didn't know how to tie it up so they threw the answer in there and hoped it work.
The only good thing was the acting and it's why I have it a 2.
That is all I could remember for now but in conclusion, I thought it was offensive to women and lacked depth in every aspect.
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Great introduction with a chaotic ending | They butchered this movie so hard. dang!
Just a piece of advice—do not trust the recognitions and seemingly good reviews written in Wikipedia, it will only dissappoint you.This movie started promising but ended up to be one of the most chaotic and disappointing horror film I have watched so far. I trusted Wikipedia so much and expected a lot from this film. The introduction was seamless and the way they set it up to be mysterious and interesting was very eye-catching, unfortunately, they didn't live up to the expectation and ended up choosing a route which led to chaos and absolute destruction of the movie.
I can still recall how excited I was during the pre-climax of the story (i.e. the countdown before the ritual) but was totally caught offguard and bewildered on what was happening after the ritual was disturbed. It feels like the production team themselves got no idea how to continue with the story that they decided to turn it into a group possession and a massacre.
It was chilling and horrifying, I will give them that. However, I simply cannot stomach how they made such a promising piece into a ridiculous one. This is truly disappointing, considering that this is a collaboration of a South Korean and Thailand production team which I assume to be veterans of their field.
Note: I totally accept tragic endings but not the kind of ending which seemed like it was turned like that because they can no longer squeeze any ideas from their creative juices. Geez!
Lastly, what's funny about this whole film is that the camera man always tend to be the one surviving or the last one to die. Their dedication in capturing every moment is admirable. LOL They always do their best to find and pick up the freaking camera instead of leaving to prioritize their safety. They're the backbone and savior of this movie. Without them this will not even turn into a creation. Haha!
Story - 6.0, They butchered it so bad. I don't know what they were thinking... I feel like they desires a failed exorcism/ritual but do not know how to make it all work out. Sad!
Acting/Cast - 9.0, I am quite pleased with the main cast. However, I do not think collaborating with South Koreans with such theme (Posession) is the best thing to do. Thai do produce great horror movies and this being a mess is telling me something...
Music - 8.5, Sound effects contributed a lot to the scare factor of the movie and I would say that the sound team did good on that area.
Rewatch Value - 1.0, Definitely, NO! You can never ask me to sit and watch a whole 2 hours+ movie and get disappointed again!
Overall - 6.0, The stories introduction was great and I don't know what kind of vision they have for the ending but they obviously doesn't know how to do it right reason why this film turned out like this. This is also the reason why people shouldn't be too greedy, specially if they don't know how to make it work!
IF you find my review helpful please let me know.
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rezando & rezando
tenho muito medo de filme de terror espiritual e sobre religião ou crença por isso eu já me apaguei totalmente ao filme e queria saber o que estava acontecendo mesmo as coisas sendo bem obvias logo de cara então nem me incomodei muito e queria saber para onde esse filme longo poderia me levar e pior que eu gostei dele ser longo deixa ele bem mais explicado e sendo um found footage ou como ''documentário'' deixou interessante até um ponto que você se pergunta ''não vão fazer nada? além de filma'' as vezes incomoda mas vou ignorar pois a atmosfera do filme e bem tensa e a menina também fica bizarra porém tive o desprazer de assistir esse filme com amigos que estava sem paciência para assistirmas quem curtiu esse vai amar ''marcas da maldição'' que acho super maravilhoso.
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Salah Satu Film Horror Terbaik di 2021
Ceritanya tentang documentary team yg mau ngeliput kegiatan shamanism di Thailand, keseharian dll, tapi ternyata mereka harus terlibat ke dalam permasalahn yang lebih pelik dan menegangkan.Secara konsep dan ide cerita menurutku bagus banget ya. Awal-awal scene documenter-nya bagus banget, aku sampe agak bingung ini film apa kisah nyata atau semacam Nat Geo tp versi shamanism(?) Dikemas dengan apik, aku jg ikutan kek dpt insight baru, oh gini toh shamanism di Thailand. Walaupun lumayan lama dan mungkin agak boring di bagian awal, tp menurutku tetep penting untuk diceritakan & buat alur building jg.
Masuk ke pertengahan, mulai muncul drama, konflik dll. Kengeriannya ternyata bkn literally setan, tp dari manusia yg jd 'setan'. Thrilling & disturbingnya jg dapet bgt.
Secara acting TOP bgt sih, apalagi para main castsnya, terutama si Mink. Perubahan karakter dari gadis cantik ceria, jd cewe yg mulai depresi, gila, smp hilang akal sepenuhnya.
Tapi ga untuk ditonton berkali2 sih, krn ini film LUAMA POL durasinya.
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