Dæn sap

The Cursed Land is a chilling Thai horror film that effectively blends supernatural elements with a poignant exploration of cultural identity and social tensions. The film follows a widower and his teenage daughter who move to a dilapidated mansion in a Muslim-majority suburb of Bangkok. As they settle into their new home, they unknowingly unleash a series of terrifying curses tied to the house's dark history.

The film's strengths lie in its atmospheric storytelling, jump scares that will have you on the edge of your seat, and a compelling exploration of the protagonist's internal struggles. The performances are strong, particularly from the lead actors who deliver nuanced and believable portrayals. While the film's pacing may feel uneven at times, it ultimately delivers a satisfying and thought-provoking horror experience.

The Cursed Land begins with promise - a chilling atmosphere, haunting visuals, and a decent build-up rooted in Southeast Asian folklore. Unfortunately, it quickly descends into what feels like thinly veiled religious propaganda.

The film clearly elevates Islamic exorcism rituals as the only powerful and effective means against supernatural forces, while Buddhist practices are shown as either helpless or even counterproductive. The suggestion that the presence of a Buddhist shrine is what angers the djinns is not only reductive - it borders on offensive. This isn't just lazy storytelling; it actively undermines an entire belief system in favor of glorifying another.

Instead of offering a balanced or respectful portrayal of multiple faith traditions in the face of the supernatural, the film leans heavily into a narrative that casts Buddhism as spiritually weak and Islam as unquestionably superior. That's a disturbing message, especially in a region where both religions coexist and have rich, complex histories of dealing with the metaphysical.

What could have been a unique and culturally rich horror story ends up feeling like a sermon wrapped in jump scares. Horror is a genre that thrives on metaphor and exploration of the unknown - not on pushing a religious agenda. This film crosses the line from faith-based perspective into outright bias, and it's a shame, because the production quality deserved a more thoughtful script.

The multi-cultural and multi-religious approach in The Cursed Land is commendable and adds depth to its premise. Malaysian director and actor Bront Palarae delivers an outstanding performance, as expected, showcasing his talent in both Malay and Thai. However, despite his best efforts, even his remarkable acting couldn't fully salvage the film from its shortcomings.

The narrative spends far too much time fixating on Mit's personal decay, neglecting the more compelling aspects of the story, such as the community dynamics and the historical context. These elements, rich with cultural and religious interplay, are far more engaging than watching a grown man's slow descent into madness. The showrunners missed an opportunity to truly explore and expand upon the multi-cultural elements that were already present.

With tighter storytelling and a greater focus on these fascinating cultural themes, the film could have been far more impactful. As it stands, it's a decent watch but falls short of its potential.

After the death of his wife, a plant worker moves with his teenage daughter to a derelict mansion in a Muslim-majority suburb of Bangkok where his disrespect of several artifacts inadvertently unleashes a series of curses upon them and must try to make it right to stop the incidents from continuing.

Overall, this one has quite a lot going for it. Among the main likable features here is the strong storyline that lets the film work in localized folklore and traditions as a building block for more straightforward supernatural antics. Operating within the confines of the country's history by exploring Thailand's uneasy cultural and social relationship with Malaysian citizens with the Muslim community conflicting mightily with the more traditional Buddhist methodology in place throughout the country is a wonderous way to work with here. Rather than just simply coming upon a series of ghosts or hallucinations and thinking it's all just inside his head, the downward spiral is instead given a historical context that easily explains everything happening to him and his relationship with those around him. When those aspects are brought up as a possible means for the nature of what's going on around him, this setup becomes more believable which helps to bring together the confines of the final half where it all makes sense. In addition, the film gets a lot right with its series of impressive and somewhat chilling hauntings. With the opening setup featuring a small hint of the resulting curse that affects others coming shortly, the gradual build-up of events once the action shifts to the present day is quite intriguing. Featuring the traditional series of setups including hallucinations of people or things that aren't there, shadows coming to life behind their knowledge, or whispers of demonic influence taking hold, these aspects are a major part of the middle segments here as the haunted house-style structure is in place. These lead up to the strong finale where the spectacle is ratcheted up a notch involving the influence of spectral beings, banishment rituals, a supernatural combat session, and a more focused energy that allows for a lot of action to take place at a time when it's warranted and necessary. This section also brings about the big importance of utilizing the Muslim culture for how the demonic beings interact and how the spiritual battles take place which adds a different flavor to these scenes. As a whole, these factors are enough to bring about a lot of fun for this one although there are some issues here that arise. One of the main detriments is a challenging and somewhat unnecessary running time that goes on way longer than it should. While we get plenty of build-up surrounding their strained relationship and the need to rebuild it as well as the inner workings of their being in the community, some of this goes on way too long and causes the pacing to drag and stutter to a halt as a result. Quite a bit of the repetitive nature of the neighbors' trying to instill their beliefs upon the two or welcome them into the community at work is capable of being trimmed, much like the flashback explaining the origins of the cursed property that plays out in a reenactment rather than just being served as a story told explaining what happened. Seeing the past featured as it does with the various figures responsible for cursing and countercursing the location is just exhaustive and draining when just a simple story about it would've made the film go by a little easier. Also, the need to include the secondary backstory involving his depression over his dead wife and the grief associated with that as the reasoning for his easy possession doesn't need to be there as the religious history of the house and surrounding areas was already enough to explain what was going on. Tacking this on feels like overkill at a time when it doesn't need anything extra added to it, and is what ends up holding the film back slightly.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.