P (2005)
P is a Thai horror movie that came out in 2005 in the language of thai.
How I watched: Tubi
For the short of it: P is about a young girl who uses her witchy powers.
The long of it?
So yeah this movie is literally titled P. P! If you don't know Thai (and I don't) you would have to google a little bit to figure out why. By that, I mean literally looking on the IMDB page. It means "ghost". With that out of the way let's go on ahead and get into today's movie.
Aaw is a young girl who just so happens to be a descendant of a family that does witchcraft which in turn the girl has to bear the stigma in her village as everyone keeps their extreme distance to her. Totally sucks, you know? She acknowledges it all too well but yeah she only lives with her grandma as the only surviving relative in the family looking after her, as far as we can tell. The grandma has apparently been teaching Aaw all these incantations to be a witchy witch so yeah.
One day, the grandmother falls gravely ill and the now older Aaw seeks out a local supplier of the medicine needed for her survival. Unfortunately, they are poor AF and already have IOU's up the ass so the lady says that while she cannot keep giving the medicine all willy nilly, she is now older enough to earn some moolah to buy the medicine. She implores her to head to Bangkok because she knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy, but is actually a lady. And she will give her a job.
The ever so sheltered Aaw is desperate as fuck to help her dying grandmother so she reluctantly agrees to take the next bus to Bangkok. Fresh off the boat - I mean bus- she meets Pookie who is very blunt and standoffish however still gets her from Point A to Point B. B as in BARRRRRRR. Because her new job will be at a bar.
She takes her to meet HBIC Mamasan who totally looks like that matchmatcher from Mulan, like her evil sister from another mister sort of way. Upon asking her name she's like "Aaw? Nah, your name will be Dau for the rest of the movie."
So the now Dau is thrown to the wolves as she was clearly unprepared to enter in the world of dancing for strange white men for their own pleasures. Yes, I really mean that. This "club" is catered to exclusively white colored foreigners. Like, what the fuck is this shit, right?
Dau is such a scared little puppy and she claims she's 18 and from going from living in sheltered village in the middle of nowhere to all of a sudden being forced to wear hella revealing clothing and dancing in front of old white dudes. I felt the 2nd hand embarrassment for sure. The other girls working there are as friendly as you expected them to be.
Having enough of this she resorts to using her witchy stuff and cast an incantation for her to be more...liberated as we say. During which there is a series of flashbacks from the grandmother giving her the urgent caution that she should use her powers responsibly such as never using it for evil because that negative energy will come right back to her. Also, don't eat raw meat. Because, ew.
Well, well, well. Dau's incantation was a success. Maybe a little too much of a success because she ends up stealing the main girl's customer which hella infuriates her. Does Dau care? Hell to the no! Homegirl is on a roll l romancing all the dudes there.
Just as quickly as she got her mojo, she now has to bear the repercussions as she starts doing more evil incantations with disastrous results. I'm talking about rapid decline.
You would think that this sound like such a great horror movie, right? I wish I could say so but OMG I think this movie is such a hot mess. And it totally shouldn't be! That's what gets me so angry about this. The premise was pretty perfect but the execution totally lost itself towards the end. The first act setting the whole movie up was actually very decent but it totally lost it's spark when it gets to the climax of the movie. Such a shame.
Also, keep in mind that this movie is being touted as the first Thai movie to be directed by a westerner. A British former child actor, Paul Spurrier, directed this movie so that totally explains the "club" that is only open to the "white colored foreigners" and the plethora of white Caucasian actors sprinkled out through this movie. Very little of them had speaking roles though. Interesting but it's a shame that this movie just ain't it for me.
Another thing about this movie is that god awful CGI. I would have totally preferred just special FX but jeez so this made it so cheesy. Why, Paul? WHY?!
Some of the scenes were unnecessary in my eyes such as Dau's first day she gets her first customer who takes her away for the night which also was her first experience. Gave me such ICK vibes down to my soul. The scene should have been way more condensed and it's so sad because the whole time I thinking this is what girls HAVE gone through. This exact scenario IRL. I just really wanted to cry. So heartbreaking. Which that was the only real scene to compel any kind of emotion.
You could compare this movie to Black Swan, the one with Natalie Portman. The other way around, I should say because Black Swan came out 5 years after this movie. It does have a lot of similaties. That being said, better off watching Black Swan because it executed the same storyline in much better clarity.
With that being said, what is my verdict?
Sorry, Paul
If you are interested in watching P then please CLICK HERE to see which streaming services you can watch it on via the free streaming guide app JUSTWATCH!
