28/36
Overall, there is a lot to like
Narrative
After her mother’s death, Soriya returns to Cambodia to find herself; there she encounters a family she never knew and an ancient building full of dark secrets. After her mother’s death, a Japanese-Cambodian manga artist and her boyfriend decide to travel to Cambodia to learn more about her past, but when she encounters strange events within the building that suggest something darker is going on among the residents, she must stop before it spreads. One of the strongest features is the really enjoyable and engaging setup, featuring numerous interconnected parts that come together very well. Starting with the context of her mother’s death under mysterious circumstances while living in the community she had long been estranged from, this provides the means to establish the reason for her return, as well as providing enough detail about their history with each other.
This setup helps make the film much more entertaining as the menacing instincts begin to materialize
Since we are aware of the relationship presented and how it affects her, the desire to reunite with everyone when she arrives to find out the cause is a natural part of their reunion. This makes the presence of community behaviors and rituals seem like the perfect choice to flesh out this type of story, which appears as quaint customs before gradually becoming darker and more menacing. This creates a fantastic sense of impending dread the longer the two remain in the community, with the increasing danger leading to more emotion. With the subtle nature revolving around the good-natured, if slightly deranged, behavior of the community or simply noticing ritualistic decorations left behind, this is good enough to serve the film until it gets to the more obvious sequences later on when she is left alone in the apartment.
A feverish nightmare that she cannot distinguish dream from reality is truly impressive
The big sequence works as a form of bizarre meal preparation with the gathered family members and other people she has met in the community performing what appears to be a ritual ceremony designed to prepare her for a special occult ritual that soon turns into a dream. The remainder of this begins in a much darker genre effort that includes several revelations about the visions he is experiencing, leading to the wild finale where the dark origins of the ceremony are revealed, as it involves bringing the new spirit into the body. by a host who is once again more subtle than expected, but still manages to manage some generally disturbing scenes and chases overall. This all comes with a lot of positives, as while there aren’t many negatives, there are several issues.
Among the main factors is the feeling of confusion that is felt here, as very little is explained
As the first half is much more sinister and understated than anything else, there isn’t much to reveal about what is going on, preferring to stay focused on the creepy atmosphere of the building and its sinister behavior to generate almost exclusively scares. As a result, almost nothing is revealed about what the community is trying to do, what their ritual consists of, or how it is supposed to be performed, so very little is mentioned. Only at the end do you start to understand something, so it is possible that at the beginning it can be a little confusing to understand what is happening. The other downside is that this setup also has a rather slow first half and not much else happens other than the setup of the stories that will bear fruit at the end, so it takes a while for it to start.
Rating Unrated/R: Violence and language
These are the few small drawbacks that can be found in this model.
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17/29
