Film Review: Grace

Yet another Social Media-themed horror movie? Is this turning into a thing?

When Grace, also known by its Thai title as Awasarn Lok Suay, appeared in theaters here, I was leery of throwing away another twelve bucks and another couple hours of my time after what happened with Friend Request. Only one thing spurred me on. Grace is a Thai horror thriller. And no one does horror like the Thais. Only the Japs and Koreans come a close second.

Grace is meant as a cautionary tale about the hazards of Internet popularity, with Facebook again one of the driving forces behind the plot. But by the third blood-splattered corpse, you'll probably forget about all that and enjoy the violence. Because no one does violence like the Thais.

There's also a fair bit of very unsexy sex, most of it off-screen, but in a context horrific enough to capture the imagination. Because no one does rough sex like - well, you get the idea.

Warning - mild spoilers ahead, sexual scenes and violence

Because I think this movie is worth a watch, I'll endeavor to keep spoilage to a minimum. Not that there's all that much plot in there. It's all about the execution, see? (Execution, geddit? Hur hur)

The Premise

Care is an Internet idol, whose existence seems to be defined by the number of comments, Likes and Shares on her Facebook page and blog, Summer Trick. Ple, her best friend and online fiction writer, maintains that blog.

Grace is a former Internet idol for reasons which you will discover during the show. In her jealousy, she and her accomplice Jack kidnap Care and Ple, and the torture begins.

The Characters

Apinya Sakuljaroensuk as the titular character, an Internet idol fallen from grace (snicker). She was cute enough, but it was the acting that wowed me. Got a little over-the-top towards the end, but perhaps that's the nature of the business when playing psycopaths.

Nuttasit Kotimanuswanich as Jack, Grace's pervy and lecherous companion who likes to leer at cute girls in Cosplay uniforms and jerk off to Hentai porn. What an amazingly loathsome performance. One-dimensional, sure. But he fit the role so well, I hated him way before he did anything nasty.

Napasasi Surawan as Care, the annoyingly perky and cute Internet idol. Not sure I blame Grace for wanting to torture and kill her. Within minutes of watching her crap,I was fantasizing about strangling her myself. Jack does filthy things to her during the show, and even then I'm not sure I sympathize. She definitely gets the lion's share of the torture. On-screen punching bag, that's the character.

Latthgarmon Pinrojnkeerathi as Ple. The role took a back seat to Care, and it's something of a surprise at the end when she gets the spotlight shone on her, and she gets her turn as psycho bitch. But by then, one gets the sense that the movie has gone on just a wee bit too long.

Unknown actor as Nay, the shy and quiet nerd who is Care and Ple's photographer and unfortunately gets a serious case of "wrong place, wrong time". He wasn't even the target, and he was just minding his own business.

Unknown actress as Pim, one of the villains of the film, who contribute to Grace's eventual derangement with a cruel prank taken to extremes.

Unknown actor as Earth, the obligatory pretty boy role that turns out to be Grace's undoing. He was pretty enough, but bland. With a capital B.

The Mood

Mostly bouncy and cheerful in the beginning as we walked through the sheer joy that is Care's seemingly perfect life. Got bloody midway through, with loads of tension throughout. Somewhere at the end, while remaining dark, the violence got a bit corny. Be warned though, that this tale is not told in a totally linear way. Scenes are intercut with flashbacks which aren't obviously so, thus a bit of confusion might result.

What I liked

The acting - have I mentioned that Nuttasit Kotimanuswanich and Apinya Sakuljaroensuk really got their game faces on for this one? Apinya in particular. She really pulled out a whole range of expressions - meek and awkward at first, confident later, then crushed and depressed followed by cynical, sadistic and homicidal. As mentioned earlier, the entire movie is intercut with flashbacks, and it's not always clear when a certain scene is happening. Apinya takes care of that very well with the on-screen contrasts in personality.

The glorious, glorious violence. Now if there's something Thai horror always delivers, it's this.

What I didn't

The whole gang-rape/Internet shaming thing that eventually led to Grace wandering up the psycho path. I get why it was a necessary plot device. It just felt totally overused to me and I could see it coming a mile off. Having seen it in Shutter and more recently, Senior, this was a serious case of deja vu. Still, compelling enough as a reason to start killing people, I suppose.

Cosplay's not really my thing. Again, I get why it was a necessary plot device, with Grace being a seamstress and into making costumes and all. I get it, yes. But it does nothing for me and I just don't have to particularly like it.

The ending, with the chase scene between Ple and Grace, felt awkward and forced, like the movie was extending way past its closing time.

Conclusion

Moral of the story: Don't piss off Thai women. They're fucking nuts.

My Rating

7 / 10

Watchable. Take a stab at it!
T___T