The Sisters / Pee chong air (2004) – Thai Horror Film Review

Also known as The Sister and The Sisters, Pee chong air is a Thai horror film that debuted in Thailand in 2004. With a name like Pee chong air, you may forgiven if you think the film is about ghostly happening on a plane. It’s not. It’s about a rock band that makes an unfortunate choice when booking their accommodation.

I’ll begin this review by stating The Sisters is not one of the best Thai horror films I’ve seen. Nor is it the worst. It’s reasonably entertaining but has many flaws. One of the main ones is it often tries too hard to deliver the scares. The other problem is the acting. Much of the time, the cast doesn’t come over convincingly, making it harder to identify with or care about what happens to them.

However, The Sisters still managed to maintain my interest because I was curious to find out what was going on.

The film primarily focuses on the events that happened after the band took a room at a hotel outside of Bangkok, hoping it would be easier to find gigs in a smaller town due to less competition from better bands. Much of the story is provided via a testimony from Pim, the only girl in the band. She is also the only survivor. During her testimony to the police, she details the events that occurred after they arrived at the hotel along with the way her friends met their fates.

The police officer interviewing Pim tells her he wasted a lot of time looking for her and it’s strange that she has come to him now. She says if the same thing happened to him, he may not feel like seeing anybody either.

The band arrived at the hotel at 2 am on Saturday morning, after doing a gig. Pim and her bandmates: Boy, Kob, Uan, Yai, and Nui plan to play cards to kill time until daylight and then head back to Bangkok when it’s safer to travel, so they only need one room. Unfortunately, the room they get has a dark history that few people know about—not even the police. A couple of years ago, a prostitute called Saendao was murdered in the room. Her killer chopped off her head and left it in the airconditioning duct in the ceiling. Now anyone who looks in the vent and sees the severed head is cursed. One by one, each of band member looks in the vent, flees the room, and becomes tormented by ghostly apparitions that eventually kill them.

While watching The Sisters, it’s easy to draw parallels with Ju-On: The Grudge (2002). If the Japanese blockbuster wasn’t the inspiration for the film, its influence is still pretty clear. However, both Ju-On: The Grudge and its Hollywood remake (2004) are superior options. I’m not knocking this Thai film about a vengeful ghost. It certainly has its moments. Some of the scenes are pretty creepy. However, others are a little too gory for my taste. The scene, where the killer pulls his victim’s head out of the toilet and then carries it, by its hair, to the air conditioning vent is a good example. Probably added for shock value, the toilet bowl footage was unnecessary. It adds little value to the film but I suppose some viewers may enjoy it.

The Sisters also contains a brief child abuse scene that’s equally unnecessary and could have been handled differently. However, it does provide an insight into the reason why Saendo left her family home and her beloved sister to embark on such an unhealthy career path.

Overall, the main thing that lets The Sisters down is the quality of the acting, especially in the scarier scenes. Instead of seeing fear on the actors’ faces, you see someone trying to be afraid. At some points, it’s so bad it’s almost comical. Nevertheless, The Sisters is an okay film that doesn’t make the mistake of dragging on for too long. Think of it as a pot-boiler rather than a main event. Although it’s not a must-see film, it does offer reasonable entertainment value and is probably the best film you will ever see about an air conditioning duct ghost. Of course, it’s also likely to be the only film you will see about an air conditioning duct ghost because something tells me that, in this case, a Hollywood remake won’t be forthcoming.

Unfortunately, deciding whether to watch The Sisters is only half the battle. Obtaining or renting a copy can be harder. The film is not well-known outside of Asia. Nor is it widely distributed but certain platforms may offer the opportunity to view it online.