50/31
Overall, there’s a lot to like here
Chronology
Soriya returns to Cambodia to try to find herself after her mother’s death, where she discovers a family she never knew and an old building full of dark secrets. After her Japanese-Cambodian mother dies, a manga artist and her boyfriend decide to travel to Cambodia to learn more about her past, but when she’s confronted with strange occurrences in the building that suggest something darker is happening to the residents, they have to stop early, before it spreads. One of the strongest features is a really enjoyable and immersive setup that has a lot of interconnected parts that come together quite well. Starting with the context of her mother dying under mysterious circumstances while living in a community she had long since moved away from, it provides a way to create a returning motif while giving each other plenty of context.
This setup makes the film much more entertaining when the sinister instincts start to come true
Since we are aware of the relationship presented and how it affects her, the desire to reconnect with everyone when she comes to discover the cause is naturally part of their reunion. The presence of the community’s behaviors and rituals also seems like a perfect choice to enhance this type of story by making it seem like outdated customs before gradually becoming darker and more sinister. It brings a fantastic sense of impending dread, the longer the two stay in the community with increasing danger leading to more excitement. With a low-key nature that revolves around the good-natured if somewhat unnatural behavior of the community or simply noticing the ritual traps left behind, it is enjoyable enough to serve the film until it reaches the more overt sequences later on.
she was left alone in the apartment
The big sequence plays out as some form of bizarre food preparation with family members and others she’s met in the community and they perform what appears to be a ritual ceremony designed to prepare her for a special occult ritual that will soon turn into a nightmarish dream in which she can’t tell her dream from reality is impressive enough. She kicks off the rest of it in a much darker genre effort that includes several revelations about the visions she’s been experiencing, leading to a wild finale that reveals the dark origins of the ceremony as it is. to bring a new spirit to the hosts’ body that is once again more subdued than expected but still manages some generally creepy visuals and composed chases. It all works out well, because while there aren’t too many flaws, a few issues do arise.
Chief among them is the sense of confusion that reigns here as very little explanation is given
Given that the first half is much more ominous and low-key than anything else, there isn’t much in the way of revealing what’s going on, instead focusing on the eerie atmosphere of the building as well as their eerie behavior to generate almost exclusively fear. As a result, almost nothing is revealed about what the community is trying to do, what their ritual entails, or how everything is to be performed, so little is said about it. It’s not until the end that things really come together, so it might be a little confusing at first to figure out what’s going on. Another downside is that this setup also makes for a fairly slow first half, with very little to do other than set up scenarios that eventually pay off, so it takes a while to show itself.
Rating Unrated/R: Violence and language
These are some minor flaws in the display of this one.
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