Body 19 (2007)

 

Chon is suffering from nightmares. He tries not to sleep because he's scared of a girl that he sees each night in his dreams. In the dreams, the girl screams for help before she is cruelly killed. Ae, Chon's sister is worried about the illusion that Chon sees in his dreams, so she introduces him to a psychiatrist. Chon tries to prove that what he sees is not just the illusion. Finally, Chon is right when some clues in his nightmares lead him to a morgue number 19. And now, the story of the dead body inside the morgue is gradually 

Body is a Thai horror-thriller film. It is produced by GTH, the same production company that made the hit Thai horror film, Shutter. Body is directed by Paween Purijitpanya and co-written by Chukiat Sakweerakul.

I was very impressed with the Thai film Shutter and consider it one of the better Asian horror movies that I've seen.  The same company has now brought us Body 19 and it's damn good.  Like the best movies in Asian horror, this film is at times difficult to understand. But that's also why I love them.  You need to watch the movie several times to catch things that you missed or that didn't stand out on the first viewing.   When you see it again, it becomes "Oh shit...this makes sense now."

Body has parallels to an actual murder case in Thailand, in which a physician was convicted and given the death penalty in the dismemberment of his estranged wife. It's a stunning film visually for the most part.  The one scene that truly stands out is from the museum where the butterflies come alive. But then in other places there is an obvious use of CGI which stands out a bit too much.  The camera tends to take different directions often showing us views that induce paranoia and voyeurism.  But this film doesn't rely on the effects.  It's the story and suspense that make it really stand out.  But isn't that the case with all good movies.  I really don't want to go into too many details of the film because it has a twist and the enjoyable part of these great Asian horror films is not knowing what's coming next. The mystery all leads back to a corpse that is behind door No 19 in the hospital morgue,

The film stars Pae Arak Amornsupasiri as Chonlasit (Chon),  Pang Ornjira Lamwilai as Ae, Kritteera Inpornwijit as Usa, Patharawarin Timkul as Dararai.  The acting is fair for the most part.  However, I felt Pae did a great job as Chon. His slow realization that he may be crazy was excellent.

I'm still here....FIND ME

 It’s a long film….running to 1hour and 58 minutes which could drag for some viewers.  The film does have a slow pace at times.  Small trims could have been made here or there, but not without making the story seemed rushed.  The long running time allows us to journey into the slow descent of madness that Dae sinks into. Asian horror fans will dig this movie....others with small attention spans will probably not. I loved it and my opinion is usually correct.

KB
Trivia
The original title was 'Body number 19', for the international English title, 'number 19' was dropped. This takes much of the meaning out of the title, since the meaning of the body in drawer #19 was the whole climax of the film.

Was in its release year the biggest hit in theaters in Thailand.

About halfway through, we see a woman in a zoologic museum, where many of the animals suddenly show little sings of life (an eye blinking, a tongue slipping from a beak, etc), and gradually the size of the animals increase, from a little snake to a full grown elephant. After that, suddenly a huge dinosaur skeleton is shown. In an Q&A during the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the director of the movie said this was a homage to Steven Spielberg (whom the director is a big fan of), who can, according to the director, make dead animals live again using his imagination.

Body 19