The Coffin, directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham will be released on DVD August 31, via Breaking Glass Pictures. It is based on a Thai ritual. The ritual involves a person who wishes to “cheat death and end bad luck” being sealed in a coffin and a funeral being performed over them. This is done in large groups. People claim to have gone into a coffin with Cancer and come out only to be given a clean bill of health on their next doctor visit. Some people believe in it and others believe it is hogwash.
Su (Karen Mok) is a young woman who left Bangkok and Jack, to whom she was going to marry. She hasn’t told anyone that she has lung cancer. She goes to Thailand to be part of a mass funeral. Soon after participating (possibly even on her way home from it as the movie suggests) she is involved in a serious car accident. She escapes with only bruises, but learns that she no longer has cancer. While recuperating, she is given some terrible news and begins to have disturbing visions.
Chris’s (Ananda Evringham) girlfriend is in a coma. He goes in to a coffin with her name written on a piece of paper. While in the coffin he has strange, frightening visions of a woman. He ends up having a seizure and is brought to the hospital where he is revived after his heart had stopped. His girlfriend wakes from her coma and they both start having visions of that same woman.
The film goes back and forth between the two as they struggle with these nightmarish visions and try to figure out how to stop them.
Now, you may have noticed that I used the phrase “cheat death” and suddenly had visions of tires crushing heads or perhaps more lovely images of sweet Emma Bell in another film of late. Let me assure you, this film’s ramifications for cheating death are far less flashy (silly) and over the top. They are terrifyingly psychological. The constant visions and slow, psychological torment these characters went through is much more satisfying than the bizarre, elaborate and sometimes 3D fuckery of The Final Destination Films. That’s because it’s not Death chasing them; it’s Karma. Karma won’t kill you. It will just make you full of regret and make you wish you were dead.
This film is creepy. It is dimly lit and mostly blue, gray and just feels cold all the time. In the beginning it resembled a National Geographic Channel documentary (not necessarily by that previous description, just because of the camera work). The entire film looked very pretty in stark contrast to the events transpiring, which just made it more creepy. There were moments in this film in which I jumped and possibly exclaimed an expletive. Complete out of nowhere scares. Then there were others that were not so clever, but at least they weren’t terrible. It is not often that I am startled during a film, so needless to say, this film had my entire attention.
The direction is excellent, the acting well done. There really isn’t anything not to like about this film. Especially the end. I won’t ruin it, but “lesson learned” is a nice way to put it. This is a great and interesting thriller, check it out.
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