Train of the Dead (2007) – Thai Horror Film Review

Although many Thai horror movies are excellent, Train of the Dead (Chum thaang rot fai phii) is not one of the better ones. It rattles along from one scene to the next with a somewhat disjointed effect.

Train of the Dead centres around the activities of a gang of crooks led by an aggressive individual named Joke. The other members of the gang are Ake (a stereotypical homosexual), Mued (a junkie), Kai (a big mouth), and Joke’s girlfriend June, who comes across as a lot more believable than the rest of the gang.

The film begins at a warehouse, where Mued and Ake are sleeping on camp beds. Mued wakes up and becomes frightened by the sight of a hat tossed over a jacket hanging on a pole near the bottom of his bed. After hiding under the covers for a while he gets up to do something about the unnerving silhouette. However, when he removes the hat, he finds a ghostly face beneath it. This gives Mued such a fright it wakes him from his dream. But was it a dream? When he sits up, the ghostly face is next to his bed.

This triggers another transition. Mued finds himself lying on a large grid-like platform over some murky-looking water, He gets to his feet, staggering to keep his balance, and then cowers from an unseen attacker before being transported to a graveyard, where he is being stalked by a ghostly apparition wearing the face from his previous dreams.

The old woman’s ghost advances on Mued scraping a large knife against the metal railing beside her. More craziness follows and then the opening credits roll against a backdrop of trials bikes and their riders. Trials bikes? That’s a WTF?! moment I didn’t expect.

The trials bike race serves a purpose by introducing Toh, who looks a little like Tom Cruise and beats the champion in a one-on-one race.

Moving on in the same disorderly fashion, the following scene shows a large rabbit and a purple dinosaur gatecrashing a kindergarten party. Everyone in attendance thinks the costumed interlopers must be hired entertainers until the intruders produce their guns. It turns out to be Joke’s gang and the story would be a lot more believable if they’d chosen to hit a bank instead.

After the heist and some motor vehicle mayhem on the streets of Bangkok, Joke and his gang board a train with Toh as their hostage and, although things were strange before, they only get stranger.

For one thing, Mued keeps seeing ghosts but his friends put his experiences down to drugs. The fact that, at one minute, the carriages are full of people, while the next they are empty doesn’t seem to make much of an impression on them. The presence of so many rich passengers does. Joke decides to rob the train.

Throughout the movie, the gang squabbles like children and except for June their behaviour isn’t even remotely believable. A fight scene between Joke and Toh is equally ridiculous. They start throwing each other around as if they have suddenly developed superpowers. The tussle results in a lot of broken furniture and crockery, which magically rights itself in front of their eyes.

One by one, each member of the gang has to face their demons and accept they are travelling on a train of the dead. There’s a good deal of blood and the film is quite gory in places, with lots of supernatural occurrences, like ghostly hands coming through walls, that appear to have been thrown in willy-nilly, just for effect.

At best, Train of the Dean might scratch through as a black comedy; as a serious horror film, it lacks credibility, though a few scenes are quite chilling.

When Toh becomes acquainted with a beautiful model called Rahtree, who appears to be the only person on board the train who knows what’s going on, it provides an interesting diversion. There appears to be a mutual attraction and I’m sure many viewers will hope for a happy ending.

Train of the Dead ends with more of a whimper than a bang, but all the loose ends are tied up nicely. That’s one of the few things that works in its favour.

If you want to watch a good Thai horror film, choose Shutter (2004) instead. If your tastes lean more towards the weird you may enjoy Train of the Dead, just don’t expect too much. That way, you won’t be disappointed.