The Victim
(2006)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: C-
In yet
another tired subgenre work of someone losing their sanity, Monthon
Arayangkoon’s new supernatural thriller The
Victim (2006) features an actress who can really feel her performances. She reenacts the deaths of real life murder
victims for the police and the more she does it, the more pain she starts to
feel. Eventually, we discover she is
developing a supernatural connection to the dead and soon, it may kill her.
Coming from
Thailand, it has some good moments initially and the country is always
interesting to see, but the film quickly implodes as the director and
screenplay cannot properly separate the two worlds of the real and supernatural
as analog to real life and filmed life.
Besides confusing film and video, the editing is simply not thought out,
the story gets sillier than scarier, there is no suspense and the conclusion is
very disappointing. Watch this too
often, and you’ll be the title character.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is not bad as shot by Director of
Photography Paiboon Pupradub, with some good lighting choices when the editing
does not go out of control. However,
there is possible digital combing and definite aliasing errors from the master
to this disc. The Dolby Digital 5.1 and
DTS 5.1 are better, but still reflect how limited the audio is, with the DTS
barely better than the Dolby. Still, the
5.1 mix is not utilized as well as it should be. Extras include TV spots, trailer and a making
of featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
