Movie: LADDALAND 怨鬼之家 ลัดดาแลนด์

Cast: Piyathida Woramuksik, Saharat Sangkapreecha

Director: Sophon Sakdaphisit (Jim)

Genre: Horror

Language: Thai with English Subtitles

Release Date: 9 June 2011

Distributor: Golden Village Pictures

Being a ardent fan of Thai horror movies, I was delighted yet nervous at the same time to attend the premiere of Laddaland at Plaza Singapura last night.

As with most people, I have a love-hate relationship with horror movies. Each time after watching, the horrifying scenes would be looping in my mind for days and despite that, there is a incessant urge in me that's begging to be spooked.

(Spoilers below!)

Having found a new job in Chiang Mai, Thee was finally able to afford the downpayment for a house of which to call his own. He was looking forward to the arrival of his family from Bangkok so they could all have a better life together but his daughter Nan, was bitter about leaving Grandma behind who had raised her since young.

Other than the strained relationship with Nat, life seems to be picking up for Thee. One day, the Burmese maid whom he was about to hire was found brutally murdered and stuffed inside the fridge at her employers' house.

And that is when things started to go awry: Thee loses his well-paying job and the housing loan soon began to suffocate him while relationship with his wife and daughter worsens.

At the same time, his neighbors began moving out of the estate over rumored sightings of the ghost of the aggrieved maid. Thee must then decide whether to stay on or to move back to Bangkok (and face his insufferable mother-in-law who did not think too well of him).

The Thais do have a knack for making horror movies. Director Sophon Sakdaphisit (Shutter, Coming Soon, 4BIA), for instance, did a pretty good job in making us 'jump' with fleeting shadows and the sudden loud music.

Embarrasingly, I had to peep through the gaps of my fingers at certain parts. I cannot get the scene of the maid staring into the spy cam that was attached to the collar of the neighbor's cat out of my mind the entire night!

There were some burning questions left unanswered as I stepped out of the cinema: Who actually killed the maid and for what reason? Why is she murdered in such brutal ways and why is she terrorising the people who had nothing to do with her death?

The storyline may be quite predictable but Laddaland is still one spine-chilling production, nonetheless!

Laddaland received a horrifying 4/5 from me!