#saeng krasue

[kittychicha]

FAVORITE MEDIA | THAILAND | HORROR

GIRL FROM NOWHERE (2018) INHUMAN KISS (2019) AFTER DARK (2020) THE MAID (2020) LONG KHONG (2020) REMEMBER 15 (2022)

[curlykytta]

The thing I'm most afraid of is me. Of not knowing what I'm going to do. Of not knowing what I'm doing right now. - Haruki Murakami

Inhuman Kiss (2019)

[kittychicha]

#LAKORNLADIES EVENT THEME: WOMEN IN HORROR↳ AFTER DARK (2020) | LONG KHONG (2020) | INHUMAN KISS (2019) | THE MAID (2020) | GIRL FROM NOWHERE (2018)

[kittychicha]

INHUMAN KISS (2019)

[kittychicha]

“When the war’s over let’s go to Bangkok together. I’ll show you around.” “Promise?”

[kittychicha]

MINNIE PHANTIRA IN INHUMAN KISS (2019)

[kittychicha]

[elimstillnotgarak]

I know my 'to watch list' is longer than Vegas' naughty list, but I still got myself distracted and watched Inhuman Kiss' (2019). And boy am I glad I did.

Following the story of Sai, a teenage girl who gets cursed to become a krasue - a demon that feasts on the organs of (mostly) animals-, the two hour movie blends horror and romance in a very intriguing way. It manages to emphasise three themes that I find highly intriguing:

Men's fear of women's bodies/sexuality. The progression from a little blood spot from period blood in the morning to a blood soaked mattress after the monster has awoken is, I am sure, no accident. Neither is the higly sugestive scene in which a woman is held down so that she is is not scream too loud and attracts the hunter's attention. The movie is not very subtle on this, but gloriously set in scene.

Loving the monster. There is a monster and it is loved. In many ways than one. The romance if gorgeous (Look, it is hetero, but one is a monster, so you win some, you loose some). And while there are searches for the cure, the monsterous sides are embraced as part of that deal. I am sold on that one. (It is still very innocent and chaste though.)

Love as monstrous. Yeah, the romance is great. And that is because it is in part a beast with claws that does more harm than it does good. It is also not necessarily simple. I am even more a sucker for that as you all know.

There are some parallels to Poot Pitsawat which - with 8 versions listed on mdl - seems to be THE thai go-to vampire love story (I watched the 2019 version which I still haven't written about because I am upset that Film Thanapat does not get bitten once, even though he literally begs for it shirtless, but that might be a very specific pain point ...) The monsters are linked to a war that plays out in the background, the curses span generations, women as monsters with male human pursuers and the obvious reference to Buddhism and the curses as a punishment for transgression ... I am pretty sure that these different variants of vampires are related. There is a fascinating difference in that - while blood does play a role - the main factor in spreding the Krasue curse is saliva. Quite interesting from a romance standpoint, but also in relation to vampirism as an illness.

I'll give you trigger warnings for gore, blood and body horror. I will also say that some of the special effects (mask and cgi alike) are fantastic, while I had to squint lovingly through others. (But I am also a bit of a monsterfuckee, so many things that are meant to be horrendous to me, do not work as intended.)

It plays with emotions more than it does with horror and fear, but it goes beyond your typical romance I'd say. I haven't caught up with part II but will if I find the time.

tagging @shannankle because we shouted over Shadow and DFF together and I thought this fits as well and @chaos0pikachu because we chatted over thai vampires in horror before. If you watched this, want to watch this and scream with me about it, please do.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'll binge the last four episodes of A journey to love, so that I can finally catch up with Girl from Nowhere and Make it Right. Unless I get distracted again on the way.