Ghost of Mae Nak 3D (2012)

One for the collectors

This is in the vein of the 1959 Mae Nak Phra Khanong, with the first half of focusing on their life together before Mak leaves for war. It's light, almost frivolous and overtly romantic.

The latter half was clearly and understandably made for an audience who knows the story already and skims plot detail to centre its attention on the emotions. This made for some of the most emotionally effective scenes I've seen in a Mae/Nang Nak so far. I'll likely watch it again for that but may skip through some of the first half.

I didn't make proper review notes when I saw it (it wasn't in the database then) but my recollection is that the horror element was fairly minimal and brief but not absent. MDL's very broad use of "horror" as a genre doesn't work well with Thai movies and how they approach some of their ghost stories.

If you don't know the Mae/Nang Nak legend though, the best to start with is the 1999 Nang Nak.

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