Arisara Wongchalee, Death Whisperer, Denise Jelilcha Kapaun, horror, Jampa Saenprom, Kajbundit Jaidee, Manita Chobchuen, Michelle Samiha Lamloet Haque, movies, Nadech Kugimiya, Ongart Cheamcharoenpornkul, Paramet Noi-um, Peerakit Patcharabunyakiat, Porjade Kaenpetch, Rattanawadee Wongtong, reviews, Taweewat Wantha, Thailand
December 30, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Taweewat Wantha
Thai with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1972, in an unnamed village in the province of Kanchanaburi in Thailand, the horror film “Death Whisperer” (based on the novel “Tee Yod…Heard a Mad Groan”) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A husband, wife, and their six children battle a demon who has possessed the family’s middle daughter.
Culture Audience: “Death Whisperer” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and horror movies about exorcisms, no matter bad the movies are.
The mostly dull “Death Whisperer” uses the same clichés that are in other horror movies with about a girl possessed by a demon. The only difference is a large family of eight people are trying to save their relative. Don’t expect any real surprises, including an ending that indicates a sequel for this dreadfully tedious movie.
Directed by Taweewat Wantha, “Death Whisperer” was written by Sorarat Jirabovornwisut and Thammanan Chulaborirak. The movie is based on Krittanon’s novel “Tee Yod…Heard a Mad Groan.” People who haven’t read the book but see “Death Whisperer” probably won;’t be motivated to read the book.
“Death Whisperer” takes place in 1972, in an unnamed village in the province of Kanchanaburi in Thailand. The movie begins by showing a girl, who’s about 10 or 11, named Nart (played by Michelle Samiha Lamloet Haque) crying out in pain in her house. Her parents watch in horror as blood pours out of her mouth and something seems to bursting out of her stomach. It’s a demon, of course. Nart dies after the demon escapes.
With a demon on the loose, it should come as no surprise that this demon’s next target is another pre-teen girl. Viewers occasionally see the demon (played Manita Chobchuen) when it’s not inside a human body. The demon looks like a woman with a decaying body, but “Death Whisperer” is so poorly written, the demon doesn’t have a name or origin story. All that viewers will find out is that the demon preys on healthy children. Not much is told about the family at the center of the story either, except that they live in a fishing village.
The next girl to be possessed is named Yam (played by Rattanawadee Wongtong), who’s about the same age as previous victim Nart. Yam lives with her mother Boonyen (played by Arisara Wongchalee), father Hang (played by Paramet Noi-um) and five siblings: eldest brother Yak (played by Nadech Kugimiya), middle brother Yos (played by Kajbundit Jaidee), youngest brother Yod (played by Peerakit Patcharabunyakiat), eldest sister Yad (played by Denise Jelilcha Kapaun) and youngest sister Yee (played by Nutthatcha Padovan). All of the siblings except for Yam and Yee (who’s about 5 years old) are young adults, with ages ranging from late teens to mid-20s.
The personalities of the parents and siblings are utterly generic. The simple plot of “Death Whisperer” drags out for the entire 120-minute film. Yak has recently returned home after being a way from a few years for military service. He’s the obvious “alpha male” hero. Yam’s “demonic possession” consists of her mostly acting like a sleepwalker and whispering mind-control commands, until things get more violent in the last third of the movie.
Word soon gets out in the village that Yam is possessed by a demon. A few other people get involved in the family’s demon possession problem. Sarge Paphan (played by Ongart Cheamcharoenpornkul) is someone Yak knows from the military. Mr. Puth (played by Porjade Kaenpetch) is a local priest. Chauy (played by Jampa Saenprom), an elderly woman who lives alone, is stereotypically the village eccentric because she seems to have witch-like powers.
Mr. Puth mentions that the demon saw Nart as an “appetizer, not a main course.” How would he know that? Don’t expect the movie to answer that question. Meanwhile, possessed Yam utters laughably bad lines, such as when she shouts at youngest sister Yee: “Give me a massage, bitch!”
All of the acting “Death Whisperer” is mediocre-to-terrible. Worst of all, although the movie tries to have effective jump scares, most of them fall flat. The scenes with bloody gore aren’t very scary either. “Death Whisperer” is just a bunch of scenes of people worrying about Yam being possessed until a predictable exorcism showdown that ends in a flat and unimpressive way.
M Pictures released “Death Whisperer” in select U.S. cinemas and in Thailand on October 6, 2023. The movie is available for streaming on Netflix.