Body (2007 film)
Encyclopedia
Body is a Thai
horror
-thriller film. It is produced by GTH, the same production company that made the hit Thai horror film, Shutter. Body is directed by Paween Purijitpanya and co-written by Chukiat Sakweerakul, who had previously directed the thriller, 13 Beloved
.
Body has parallels to an actual murder case in Thailand, in which a physician was convicted and given the death penalty in the dismemberment of his estranged wife.
Among the cast is Arak Amornsupasiri, who plays the main protagonist Chon. Arak is the guitarist in the Thai rock
band, Slur.
with his sister, Aye. Chon is having bad dreams, in which he is visited by a ghostly woman who appears to have been dismembered and put back together. He also sees a misshapen black cat
and occasionally sees a fetus
. Chon sometimes finds himself in places, such as a musical performance, and cannot remember how he got there.
After Chon slices his finger open while cleaning some prawn
s for dinner (the prawns had started moving around and bleeding profusely), Chon's medical student sister Aye takes him to the hospital.
Chon is eventually referred to a Dr. Usa for psychiatric treatment. It becomes apparent to Dr. Usa that there is some connection between Chon, herself and her increasingly distant husband, Dr. Sethee.
In the course of Usa's investigation, she discovers there is a connection between her husband and a mysterious university lecturer, Dr. Dararai, who possesses supernatural powers of hypnosis
.
Meanwhile, Chon continues to have bad dreams, and they are becoming increasingly horrifying and real. He is repeatedly drawn to a spare room in his house, and when he opens the door, he sees a man chopping up a body. When the man turns his head to look at Chon, the man's face is Chon's. It turns out to be another dream and after discovering that Dararai has gone missing he realises that Dararai is dead and communicating with him, Dararai asks him to find her.
A teaching assistant whom Usa questioned about Dararai ends up being killed in a gruesome accident involving barbed wire around a university museum exhibit. A young doctor also meets his end in a vat of acid after talking to Chon about Dararai.
Chon comes to the conclusion that whoever tells of Dararai's disappearance is killed and tries to stop the killings, but is always too late.
Back at there rented house Chon is being tormented by Dararai again who constantly says "find me" and now discovers a secret room in the house (the one in his dreams) which he suspected earlier behind a cupboard and discovers burnt photos of Dararai and Sethee in what seems to be an intimate relationship. It now emerges that Sethee had an affair with Dararai and that Dararai took photos of themselves in bed with each. Dararai wanted to blackmail
Sethee with the photos or tell Usa and as a result Sethee met up with Dararai, Drugged her drink, injected her with a paralysing liquid and chopped her to pieces (in the hidden room that Chon finds).
Chon is about to tell Usa that her husband has killed Dararai but while at her house he is again attacked by Dararai's ghost who says she will kill his sister, enraged Chon stabs her with a pole in front of Usa and Sethee's daughter May. After seeing May (who's scared and terrified) he leaves to find his sister.
These events between Usa, Chon, Sethee and Dararai(and her ghost) lead to the university hospital's morgue
, and body number 19. Chon goes to the morgue and discovers that the body in the morgue, which is in drawer 19, is actually Chon's body. Chon has, in fact, died a couple of years ago and Sethee who has a multiple personality disorder believes that he is Chon when in reality he has killed the teaching assistant, the doctor and has stabbed his own wife Usa who he believed was Dararai's ghost when he was believing he was Chon.
He is arrested but because of his mental health issues his trial is put on hold. A flashback occurs back to the scene when he is about to drug Dararai's drink. Its revealed that Dararai was aware that Sethee has drugged her drink hypnotises him and gives him a multiple personality disorder.
The flashback finishes and he is being escorted to prison in a van with his Lawyers in the van(to protect his safety). He escapes out of the van and runs from the police and lawyers, He runs in front of another van that is carrying metal poles on top. The van stops in time and doesn't run over Sethee but the metal poles are flung off the van and they all hit and impale Sethee. He is left on the road with lots of metal poles pieced inside him.
The last scene shows Sethee in hospital being operated on, he is unconscious but suddenly Dararai's ghost appears and it turns out her ghost wasn't part of Sethees mental mind but was real and was manipulating Sethee. She finally reveals that she forgives him and after clicking her fingers his mind goes back to normal but this makes Sethee conscious again and wakes him up halfway through his operation leaving him screaming in pain as Dararai disappears and the ending credits show.
The story in Body has parallels to an actual crime case in Thailand
, about Dr. Wisut Boonkasemsanti, a gynaecologist who also taught in the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University
. He was convicted and sentenced to the death penalty for the 2001 death of his wife, Phassaporn, who was also a gynaecologist. Wisut was found guilty of dismembering his wife and flushing her remains down toilets.
Cinema of Thailand
The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited...
horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
-thriller film. It is produced by GTH, the same production company that made the hit Thai horror film, Shutter. Body is directed by Paween Purijitpanya and co-written by Chukiat Sakweerakul, who had previously directed the thriller, 13 Beloved
13 Beloved
13 Beloved is a 2006 Thai horror comedy/psychological thriller film written and directed by Chukiat Sakveerakul and starring Krissada Sukosol Clapp...
.
Body has parallels to an actual murder case in Thailand, in which a physician was convicted and given the death penalty in the dismemberment of his estranged wife.
Among the cast is Arak Amornsupasiri, who plays the main protagonist Chon. Arak is the guitarist in the Thai rock
Thai rock
Thai rock is a genre of rock music from Thailand. The music genre of rock emerged in the 1980s in Thailand and became widely popular in the 1990s. The sub-genre of string and pop rock began to flourish in the 1980s with bands like Asanee-Wasan and Micro...
band, Slur.
Plot
Chon is an engineering student living in a rented house in BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
with his sister, Aye. Chon is having bad dreams, in which he is visited by a ghostly woman who appears to have been dismembered and put back together. He also sees a misshapen black cat
Black cat
A black cat is a feline with black fur. It is not a particular breed of cat and may be mixed or of a specific breed. The Bombay, known for its sleek black fur, is an example of a black cat. The all-black pigmentation is equally prevalent in both male and female cats...
and occasionally sees a fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
. Chon sometimes finds himself in places, such as a musical performance, and cannot remember how he got there.
After Chon slices his finger open while cleaning some prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
s for dinner (the prawns had started moving around and bleeding profusely), Chon's medical student sister Aye takes him to the hospital.
Chon is eventually referred to a Dr. Usa for psychiatric treatment. It becomes apparent to Dr. Usa that there is some connection between Chon, herself and her increasingly distant husband, Dr. Sethee.
In the course of Usa's investigation, she discovers there is a connection between her husband and a mysterious university lecturer, Dr. Dararai, who possesses supernatural powers of hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
.
Meanwhile, Chon continues to have bad dreams, and they are becoming increasingly horrifying and real. He is repeatedly drawn to a spare room in his house, and when he opens the door, he sees a man chopping up a body. When the man turns his head to look at Chon, the man's face is Chon's. It turns out to be another dream and after discovering that Dararai has gone missing he realises that Dararai is dead and communicating with him, Dararai asks him to find her.
A teaching assistant whom Usa questioned about Dararai ends up being killed in a gruesome accident involving barbed wire around a university museum exhibit. A young doctor also meets his end in a vat of acid after talking to Chon about Dararai.
Chon comes to the conclusion that whoever tells of Dararai's disappearance is killed and tries to stop the killings, but is always too late.
Back at there rented house Chon is being tormented by Dararai again who constantly says "find me" and now discovers a secret room in the house (the one in his dreams) which he suspected earlier behind a cupboard and discovers burnt photos of Dararai and Sethee in what seems to be an intimate relationship. It now emerges that Sethee had an affair with Dararai and that Dararai took photos of themselves in bed with each. Dararai wanted to blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
Sethee with the photos or tell Usa and as a result Sethee met up with Dararai, Drugged her drink, injected her with a paralysing liquid and chopped her to pieces (in the hidden room that Chon finds).
Chon is about to tell Usa that her husband has killed Dararai but while at her house he is again attacked by Dararai's ghost who says she will kill his sister, enraged Chon stabs her with a pole in front of Usa and Sethee's daughter May. After seeing May (who's scared and terrified) he leaves to find his sister.
These events between Usa, Chon, Sethee and Dararai(and her ghost) lead to the university hospital's morgue
Morgue
A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification, or removal for autopsy or disposal by burial, cremation or otherwise...
, and body number 19. Chon goes to the morgue and discovers that the body in the morgue, which is in drawer 19, is actually Chon's body. Chon has, in fact, died a couple of years ago and Sethee who has a multiple personality disorder believes that he is Chon when in reality he has killed the teaching assistant, the doctor and has stabbed his own wife Usa who he believed was Dararai's ghost when he was believing he was Chon.
He is arrested but because of his mental health issues his trial is put on hold. A flashback occurs back to the scene when he is about to drug Dararai's drink. Its revealed that Dararai was aware that Sethee has drugged her drink hypnotises him and gives him a multiple personality disorder.
The flashback finishes and he is being escorted to prison in a van with his Lawyers in the van(to protect his safety). He escapes out of the van and runs from the police and lawyers, He runs in front of another van that is carrying metal poles on top. The van stops in time and doesn't run over Sethee but the metal poles are flung off the van and they all hit and impale Sethee. He is left on the road with lots of metal poles pieced inside him.
The last scene shows Sethee in hospital being operated on, he is unconscious but suddenly Dararai's ghost appears and it turns out her ghost wasn't part of Sethees mental mind but was real and was manipulating Sethee. She finally reveals that she forgives him and after clicking her fingers his mind goes back to normal but this makes Sethee conscious again and wakes him up halfway through his operation leaving him screaming in pain as Dararai disappears and the ending credits show.
Cast
- Arak Amornsupasiri as Chon
- Ornjira Lamwilai as Aye
- Kritteera Inpornwijit as Usa
- Patharawarin TimkulPatharawarin TimkulPatharawarin Timkul is a Thai actress and model. Her films include Bangkok Dangerous and Jan Dara. She is the daughter of leading Thai dance and theater figure Patravadi Mejudhon. Her nickname is May.-Biography:...
as Dararai
Parallels
The film production company's official synopsis states:The story in Body has parallels to an actual crime case in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, about Dr. Wisut Boonkasemsanti, a gynaecologist who also taught in the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University
Chulalongkorn University
Chulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and is the country's highest ranked university. It now has nineteen faculties and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university in Thailand, it consistently attracts top students from around the country...
. He was convicted and sentenced to the death penalty for the 2001 death of his wife, Phassaporn, who was also a gynaecologist. Wisut was found guilty of dismembering his wife and flushing her remains down toilets.