Although not as bad as most horror films out of Thailand, The Mansion-Sister (2006) is pretty weak compared to Korean & Japanese equivalents, which Thai director Nasron Panuangkasiri has attempted to imitate. When films of this calibre are as good as can be expected, it makes me, even as a die-hard fan of Asia films, less & less at all tempted by Thai horror.

A minor complaint, the titular "mansion" seems actually to be a concrete apartment complex, crusty & dirty on the outside. Would that that were the only fault to grumble about!

Our heroine Kaew right away sees a J-horror style droopy-haired ghost-woman on the elevator. We'll never see her again; the director didn't feel it was necessary that anything add up to a story.

Kaew befriends a child, whose only name is Little Sister. Perhaps the never-again-seen elevator ghost had been Big Sister, who knows, don't even try to make sense of it.

Little Sister is at first only ambiguously a ghost & could be a Real Child, a sweet one at first brush. As the film progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious Little Sister is both supernatural, & not sweet.

New in the building & in the city of Bangkok, Kaew knows no one, & thinks her loneliness may have caused her to develop a fearful imaginate.

The hero of the piece, Karu, is a bad actor who can't overcome his completely swishy gayness, so it's kind of funny girls compete for his attention when in the real world it'd be guys competing for him if anyone would. The acting overall is mediocre but kind of endearing in its amateurishness.

Eventually the hauntings become relentless & redundant but the protagonist is sufficiently interesting to be worth watching even while events around her amount to hukum.

She & some school chums are making a short film for a college class, on the subject of ghosts, but Kaew never mentions she actully is haunted. But other students begin to catch glimpses of the ghost child, & paranoia spreads among them.

While researching for a script, they discover the child-ghost's identity. Originally friendly, she becomes possessive & needy & dangerous when the chosen object of her affection begins to make friends & gives attention to others. Kaew awfully beleatedly realizes she has to get out of the building fast or it's bad news all round.

In a coda we're given further reason to believe "the mansion" is multiply haunted, but never given a reason why. Well under an hour's length, The Mansion-Sister actually feels too long. The short running time makes me wonder if it wasn't originally made for TV, which for any other national cinema would explain the cheapness of it, but for Thai films is par for the course.

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl