Even though autumn has come after summer, the heat hasn’t gone away. There is nothing better than a horror movie to blow away this autumn heat. This week’s movie night, The Medium, Rang Zong could be the perfect choice if you are looking for a horror movie.
The title of the movie The Medium means the medium between human and the spirit, and the secondary title Rang Zong means shaman in Thai. For a brief summary, the film starts in a rural village, “Isan”, in northeastern Thailand. From houses, forests, mountains, trees, and rice fields, people in Isan believe that everything has a soul.
RangZong (Shaman) “Nim”, who enshrines the ancestor god “Bayan God” following the generation of the family, intuitively feels that the condition of his nephew, “Ming”, whose abnormal symptoms are getting worse by the day, is unusual.. The filming team, which ccompanied Nim to cover the shaman, begins to capture the mysterious phenomena that takes place in Ming, Nim, and his family to capture the moment when the god possesses Nim’s body.
The movie was directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun, the screenwriter of the movie was Na hong jin. The genres of the movie are horror, thriller, and drama. However, unlike most horror movies, jumpscare is not the main theme of the movie, rather, it is closer to the fear of tightening the atmosphere little by little. The Medium is a fake documentary film.
These types of films bring realism to the audience when they are watching the movie, but sometimes for the people who are unfamiliar with documentaries, it might seem boring and some situations might seem far-fetched. Also to add another spoon of realism, this film chose to film by hand to give immediacy to the audience. However, this kind of technique could cause motion sickness to the audience.
Many people who watched this movie didn’t spare praise for the actors. The actors’ tremendous acting immersed people and made them feel as if they were in the place. People also paid more attention to Narilya Gulmongkolpech’s realistic acting as Ming. Although there were favorable reviews for these actors’ acting, the movie was criticized by some people for their unnecessary provocative scenes in the movie. On the other hand, there are people saying that those realistic scenes of deaths made this movie perfect as a horror movie.
The movie may be divided into likes and dislikes, but the actors’ great acting and screenplay will be enough to cover all the shortcomings. Since it has been released as a VOD on streaming services since September 16, 2021, it will be worth watching at home at least once.
By: Jaehyun Lee