OMEN
DVD. Palisades Tartan.

It takes some nerve to title a film Omen, but writers Danny and Oxide Pang just about get away with it in this 2003 movie that, while nowhere near as good as their seminal horror movie The Eye, has some interesting ideas and a whacked out ending.

Starring Thai boy band D2B (who appear as characters with the same names as the actors), the film follows three childhood friends who have grown up to be not very good graphic designers. One night, the three take separate journeys home that lead them to supernatural encounters – one crashes his car and wakes to find himself in the home of a mysterious old woman, another meets a new girlfriend after she knocks a plant pot from her balcony onto his car below, and the other encounters a young street seller who uses sleight of hand to trick him out of a toy car. So, cars would seem to be central to the story, right? Actually, no. That really seems to just be a coincidence.

Eventually, the three stories converge, leading to a final revelation that is one of the oddest, and potentially most ludicrous you’ll ever see. I won’t spoil it much – the whole film has hinted at reincarnation, and that’s exactly what you get – but in the most unlikely way possible. It’s to the film’s credit that this revelation isn’t as laughably ridiculous as it could be, and instead almost manages to be quite touching.

The pop stars do a solid job in what is clearly a bit of a vanity film for them, as do the supporting cast (most notably Supatchaya Reunreung as the female romantic lead), but their characters are pretty thinly drawn, and much of the film is an exercise in atmosphere over story. But it’s not boring, and has some great visual moments working for it.

Thai horror is generally a mixed bag, and Omen is somewhere between the best and the worst of the genre. Not perhaps a film that will burn itself into your memory, it’s nevertheless entertaining enough, and certainly worth checking out.

LES DE MONZE

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