2024 Inhuman Kiss

• AKA “Sang Krasue”
• Directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri
• Written by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri, Chookiat Sakveerakul
• Stars Phantira Pipityakorn, Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang, Sapol Assawamunkong
• Run Time: 2 Hours, 2 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TFqTs0gxcY

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is a Thai film, which in itself was interesting as something we don’t see too often. It was also a lore and creature that was different from what we’ve seen before. It was very well made with great effects, a sort of horror love story. And it’s on the long side, but worth it.

Spoilery Synopsis

We open with four children walking through a field and then a jungle in Indonesia. Jerd and Noi whine about how far it’s been. As it gets dark, they come to a large abandoned house out in the woods. They’ve heard that inside this house is a chest that holds Nual’s spirit. She guards the forest. When Noi wants to leave, Ting and Sai side with Jerd to go inside. Sai gives Noi a “protective amulet” to help keep him calm inside. We soon see that there is absolutely a ghost inside the house with them… Credits roll. 

Years later, the little kids have gotten older; Sai is having her period. She and Jerd talk about school being closed due to the war in Bangkok. It’s nice having some time off. They go to a hospital that has been abandoned, but they aren’t sure why. Sai helps out at the hospital, but today, she’s the only one there. Aunt Kamlai, an old woman, comes in with an injured boy, and she mentions that a Krasue ate her chickens. The old woman talks about the rules of Krasues. 

Sai talks to a man in town who is going on patrol to watch out for the Krasue. No one has seen it in a long time. Ting talks to Sai about how cute and rich Jerd is, and Sai blushes. 

That night, she dreams of the old house and scary things. When she wakes up, her window is open, she’s covered in blood, and all scratched up. Maybe the blood the previous night wasn’t from her period. 

She and Jerd go back to the old house in the woods. There are dead animals outside the house, and then they see someone coming in the darkness. It’s Noi, and he’s got a torch. He’s just come back from the war; his parents were killed. 

Then a bunch of other people arrive, and they don’t look happy. The leader of the group says they’ve come from a neighboring village, where all the chickens and small animals have been eaten by the monster. He says “If a mother Krasue spits in water and a girl drinks it, she becomes another Krasue.”

The man opens a cage. He’s literally got the dead head of a Krasue in there; they have a whole bunch of heads. These men have come to hunt the Krasue that’s been bothering the villagers. 

Sai and Noi catch up. He was just getting started in medical school when the war interrupted things, and she says she’s been volunteering at the hospital. The chief of the village talks to Noi about the new men in town. He doesn’t believe in Krase and wants the men gone as soon as possible. Sai feels funny on the walk home. 

In the morning, Sai vomits blood and chunks, there’s more blood on the bed, and her chest is all red and veiny. One of the nearby farmer’s cows has been torn apart. 

Noi is suspicious of the Krasue hunters, but Jerd wants to learn to fight the monsters. Noi says he doesn’t believe in ghosts, but Sai isn’t so sure. That night, we see what’s been happening to Sai. Her head separates from her body and flies around the village menacing a baby. Noi follows the red glowing head back to Sai’s house and watches it reattach Sai’s head. Yes, Sai is the Krasue. 

Noi leaves the hospital and goes to stay in a monastery with a monk. The monk explains more about Krasues. 

As night falls, Tad and the hunters are out in force, watching to shoot the flying head. Noi comes to Sai’s house with a bunch of chickens to feed the monster so it doesn’t have to go out. 

After sunrise, Sai and Noi talk about monsters, and they both know what she is now. He feeds her again that night and several nights after. They get closer and closer. Jerd, on the other hand, spends all of his time with Tad and the hunters; no one has seen the monster in nearly a month.

Sai accidentally infects Kaew, a little girl at the hospital, and she becomes a Krasue that very night. Tad lures the tentacled head out with a lizard and captures it. It fights back, and the men shoot it. Tad laughs as the Krasue dies in his hand. 

Kaew’s parents tell Tad that the little girl had just gotten back from the hospital, and Tad and Jerd look at Sai.  Sai realizes that she infected the girl and feels terrible. 

Tad and Jerd and the men watch as Noi leads Sai out into the jungle and back to the old house. She’s drawn to the place for some reason, and they want to investigate what might be there. They find glowing bushes and plants; she eats one, and says it makes her feel better. It will stop the transformation. 

The  couple starts to kiss, but Sai thinks he may be infected as well. He takes the chance. Jerd feels betrayed and beats up Noi. Sai hides from Tad in the haunted house and we get a flashback to how she became infected. 

Sai’s head comes off and kills one of the hunters. Then another, picking them off one by one. Shots are fired, which attracts Jerd, who fights with Tad to defend Sai. Meanwhile, a lot of the hunters are killed. 

The next morning, the village has to clean up the mess and tend to all the wounded. Tad tells his story, and he says this Krasue isn’t like the others. When darkness falls, the whole village is out looking for the monster. Noi falls over in pain and Sai looks for the magic plants she picked. 

Tad and the mean hunters come after Sai, but the village Chief, Sai’s father, isn’t having that. There’s a standoff as she scrambles to eat the magic plant to hold off the change. 

Sai eventually comes out and shows that she’s not a monster. Tad accuses Sai of infecting the little girl, but Sai turns it around and accuses Tad of kidnapping and trying to rape her. Jerd is conflicted but takes Sai’s side against Tad. Later, Tad sprouts fangs and attacks Jerd; he’s not a Krasue, he’s something else. 

Noi goes after more of the magic plant but finds that Tad has burned the whole field, so that’s not going to help again. Meanwhile, we see Jerd has been infected with something nasty and is now Tad’s unwilling minion. 

Noi wants Sai to run away to Bangkok with him. Sai goes to say goodbye to Jerd and sees what he’s become. Jerd says he;s know all along that she was the monster, and he only went with the hunters to misdirect them. He’s loved Sai for years, but she only has eyes for Noi; still, he wouldn’t betray her. He begs her not to leave him now, and he’s a pathetic mess. She also says goodbye to her father. 

Noi says goodbye to his monk friend. The monk explains the other half of the legend, the Krahang, the male version of the Krasue. The Krahang is cursed to destroy the heart of the Krause he loves. 

It’s movie night for the village, and Sai is dragged along until she starts to feel chest pains. Noi waits for her at the rendezvous spot, and he collapses in pain. Jerd hears Tad’s twisted voice in his mind. 

During the movie, in front of everyone, Sai has a seizure and does her thing. They all watch her tentacled head fly away. Meanwhile, Jerd and Tad transform into demonic-looking monsters as well. 

The villagers chase the flying head through the woods while the batlike Krahangs fly in and capture her. Jerg has the head, but Noi shows up to fight him. Noi begs Jerd not to hurt her, and he hesitates. Tad charges in and the two monsters fight each other. Meanwhile, the villagers beat the crap out of Sai’s headless body. Tad rips out Jerd’s heart right in front of Jerd’s parents.

Noi carries Sai’s body as her head flies along next to him, but they’re cut off by Tad. The head pulls Tad way in the air as the monk shoots him from afar; he’s a sniper-monk. 

We flash back to the previous Krasue, a woman named Nual. Her husband locked her head in a box inside that old house and chained it shut. The husband, we see, is the monk, and he knows the whole story. 

Noi carries the limp Sai’s body through the woods as the villagers pursue him. Noi insists he can cure Sai, but Sai’s head knows better; her body is dead. They both cry and then kiss. She cuts his boat loose and watches him float away. 

Someone shoots Sai’s head from behind. We get a flashback montage of happier times as Noi screams at Sai’s floating, lifeless head. 

Brian’s Commentary

Villains.Fandom.com says, Krasue are spirits from Southeast Asian folklore depicted as the head of a young and beautiful woman that floats at night with her internal organs hanging below her – she is a vicious creature driven by extreme hunger and thirst, active throughout the night until she must return to her body by daylight: during the hours of day she will wander among the local population as a normal human, albeit with a tired expression.

This one is fun because it’s a kind of monster we haven’t seen before, in a country we don’t see much of in horror movies. It’s long, but it doesn’t get boring, although it could have been shortened a bit. 

The characters and actors are all interesting and well done. The “love triangle” aspect is really well done without being too cliche. The special effects and creature makeup are excellent here, although we don’t see much of the monster for the first hour. 

This was way better than I thought it’d be. Excellent!

Kevin’s Commentary

This was cool all around, with the uniqueness of a foreign land and a creature that was new to me. Two kinds of creatures actually. I thought it was really well made and entertaining.