The Medium (2021) aka Rang Song (TJ 1080p BluRay x265 HEVC 10bit AAC 5.1 HeVK) Banjong Pisanthanakun Narilya Gulmongkolpech Sawanee Utoomma Sirani Yankittikan Yasaka Chaisorn Boonsong Nakphoo thriller demon incest ghost religious found footagehq

The Medium (2021) aka Rang Song aka ร่างทรง, directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun, The Jokers remaster, encoded in 10 bit HEVC with AAC sound, including original Thai theatrical 5.1, and subtitles in English and French.

IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13446168/

Video encoded in two-pass 12.0 Mbps x265 10bit with the veryslow preset for archive quality image. Audio encoded separately with Apple AAC for the highest-quality AAC sound available. Text subtitles converted to SRT, image subtitles converted to VobSub and repositioned.

Note : I've made my dislike for found footage known in the past, but I'm considerably more positive to its close cousin the mockumentary, and this is mostly the latter, though it devolves a bit into found footage clichées near the end. Either way, it's an interesting, creepy folk horror featuring fascinating local beliefs from rural Thailand, with some gloriously neon-tinted, day-glo Christianity thrown in. Narilya Gulmongkolpech as the possessed girl is quite convincing, although it's Sawanee Utoomma as unflappable medium Nim who's the film's spine, with a pragmatic attitude and permanent skeptical scowl, whether she's facing down annoying relatives or demonic spirits. I'm a bit split on the ending, which as mentioned does turn into some found footage clichées, but on the other hand, the way the rituals and religion go apocalypically wrong to the detriment of a whole lot of people is kind of impressive in itself. Well worth a watch, I think, though I hope you like the name Mink, because it makes up about half of all the dialog.

A documentary crew is interviewing Nim, a shaman or medium who is possessed by the spirit of Ba Yan, a local protective deity. This mediumship is inherited by women in her family, and she herself was chosen after her sister Noi refused the calling and converted to Christianity. After her sister's husband Wiroj dies of a heart attack, we hear about the misfortune that seems to be visited upon all the men in his family, his father killed himself after getting caught committing insurance fraud, and his son Mac died in a traffic accident. Noi and her daughter Mink are all that's left of that branch of the family, and they live with Nim and Noi's older brother Manit and his wife. Mink starts exhibiting strange behaviour, seemingly turning into different personalities, as well as hearing voices, suffering debilitating pain, and vaginal bleeding. They initially suspect that Ba Yan has chosen Mink as her next medium, but Nim isn't so sure, and refuses to perform the ceremony that would let Mink welcome Ba Yan into her. It also turns out Mink had an incestuous relationship with her brother, and Noi suspects his spirit might be haunting her. After Mink attempts suicide, Noi decides to take Mink to a different shaman to perform the spirit acceptance ceremony, but Nim interrupts it, and Mink goes into a trance state and escapes. After Nim spends many days on a ritual to locate her, they finally find a malnourished and near dead Mink in the ruins of her grandfather's factory, but this is only the beginning of the chaos unleashed by her spiritual possession.

This is a shot on video mockumentary, and it looks it, although it has some rather nice nature shots in between the shaky cam. There's little noise or other complications to the image, so it encodes very nicely. The sound is similarly clean and sounds good. Too bad there's no commentary or anything, I would have liked to get some more context.

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Note from HeVK