Close to a decade ago now, Nonzee Nimibutr helped signal the start of what was supposed to be an enduring and exciting new Thai cinematic wave with Nang Nak (1999), his haunting version of a tragic Thai legend of love so strong it endured even after death. But while that filmmaker and a few of his contemporaries have gone on to make a sprinkling of further films of note (including Jan Dara (2001) and OK Baytong (2003) in his case), the general feeling these days is that the much vaunted Thai wave turned out to be more of a ripple than an actual sea change.
Still, this hasn’t entirely stopped international movie distributors from trying to unearth a gem or two from the Thai cinematic vault; which might explain how an over-two-year-old and at least 20th re-telling of the tale of Nang Nak, the ghostly female who found it difficult to stop loving her husband, managed to get a theatrical release here in Hong Kong. Perhaps Ghost of Mae Nak was thought too to have some extra novelty value because it was directed, scripted and lensed by a non-Thai (Briton Mark Duffield), albeit one who has worked as a cinematographer on various Thai feature films and commercials for some time. Additionally, rather than set his dramatic offering in the past like, say, Nimibutr’s Nang Nak, Duffield had placed his 2006 film in a contemporary setting that allows for some visually pleasing music video-like moments involving his pair of photogenic leads.
Handsome Mak (Siwat Chotchaicharin) and pretty Nak (model-singer-actress Pataratida Pacharawirapong) are childhood sweethearts who have determined that their love is for “forever and ever and ever”. Early into this actually not particularly scary movie, they become newly-weds. Before that, the two young - and surprisingly naive - adults buy a creepy century-old house that anyone more discerning, never mind wary, would never have considered a bargain, even when priced at just 300,000 baht (~$73,200). And this especially since the place comes complete with a ghostly maiden (Pornthip Papanai) with a hole in her head!
Although Mak had been having disturbing nightmares involving a female ghost even while still living with his parents (and unwittingly strengthened a supernatural connection by purchasing a pendant for Nak before their wedding day that turned out to have been made from a piece of human skull!), the loving couple’s troubles really only begin in earnest after they marry and move into their own home. To be sure, some of their misfortunes do arise from the actions of human - rather than supernatural - others. Still, especially after Mak falls into a coma, there is little mistaking that the greatest threat to their love and lives comes from Mae Nak, the legendary female ghost eternally pining for a beloved called Mak...
For those for which this all sounds quite original and interesting, Ghost of Mae Nak may actually enthral or even serve up a few thrills and scares along the way. For someone like myself already familiar with at least one film version of this ghostly story though, this movie felt too connect-the-dots predictable to be all that entertaining. Its makers’ attempts at a contemporary incarnation and aesthetically pleasing packaging not withstanding, it all simply feels too old.

Yvonne Teh