The Worst Film Ever

Perfect cast and a good story

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Twisted Thai witchcraft flick with an emphasis on using evil to seek revenge and to gain riches. Jittima(..the alluring beauty, Supakson Chaimongkoi) is a lover scorned, a pregnant victim who seduced a wealthy architect, Pratan(Tin Settachoke) who threw money at her to keep her away from his family(..that, while also arranging for her to be ravaged by his business chums). With the help of a secretly practicing witchdoctor, Jittima uses black magic to systematically eliminate Pratan's entire family. When she is hit by a car(..while spellbound at the site of Pratan's family, together as ghostly apparitions looking at her), Jittima loses her child, becoming even more volatile than ever before. Adding extra sting to her torment, another family(..whose mother's children were Pratan's)receives Pratan's luxurious estate and inheritance, with Jittima orchestrating a plan to besiege them, using the dark arts to gain access to the fortune she feels is rightfully hers. By capturing(..literally)the heart of Ruj(Isara Ochakul), Jittima will infiltrate the family, marrying him and progressively use witchcraft to destroy them with her eyes on the prize she's so longed for.The film focuses on this family's teenage daughter, Nan(Arisa Wills)and the effects on her watching each member falling prey to supernatural forces beyond her control. This is the emotional arch of the film, a family worsening at the hands of a pathological, cold-blooded female with a deadly agenda, gaining trust by those she is in fact exterminating. Interesting enough, the witchdoctor is just as guilty for he willingly participates in performing the rituals which cause such destruction, whose spells cause really horrific acts to innocent people(..many of the acts cause hallucinatory effects which force victims to see created horrors, resulting in certain death). There's no doubt that Jittima(..known as Boom to the family she's annihilating)is pure evil and to watch so closely her own handiwork, the architect of destruction she is, is really what makes the film so chilling. The violence that ensues can get quite disturbing such as the sight of an army of eels smothering Nan's brother Neng(Nirut Sutchart), Ruj's vomiting razor blades, Nan's mom constantly coughing up blood, her insides hemorrhaging, or reporter, Danai(Somchai Satuthum), a threat to the entire concocted scheme, suffering a piece of broken glass crawling underneath his skin, having to slice his body in order to get it out..you see the effects of just how dangerous black magic can be. I think it's the way Jittima carries them out, like a Black Widow slowly poisoning her husbands with arsenic, a cold and calculating series of attacks, that provides the film's most unpleasant tone. The inhumanity of it all, and the whole fact that no one suspects her(..the cynicism of this kind of power, seen earlier when Nan was forced by a friend, a true believer, into visiting a spiritualist, is established)is what drives the story, culminating in a showdown between Nan and Jittima, with Danai, a believer in the forces of good and evil, lending a helping hand, trying to uncover the one responsible for causing the black magic. One unnecessary decision, which mars the film, is the bouncing back and forth, to past and present, as Jittima discusses her reasons for what has transpired to a bound and distraught Nan. With more focus on linear story-telling, this could've been less aggravating. Still, the film shows the genesis of the monster that would become Boom until the very confusing climax when Jittima makes a very odd decision regarding her own fate, in turn shattering all that she has strived for. Another really bizarre sub-plot has this mysterious ghost girl hanging around Nan's kid brother..this ghost child is connected with Jittima, and it's quite a revelation, to say the least.

But only as high as a 6.First off, I have to say that my copy of the DVD will not play the original Thai audio, so I am stuck with the horrible English overdubs. I kept the subtitles on anyways but had to laugh at how different they were from the spoken lines. Sometimes the dialogue was more detailed and sometimes the subtitles were.So due to the fact I had to listen to the overdubbed version, I cannot comment on the acting as a whole. Most of the physical acting was decent, with body language and whatnot, but nothing really stood out.The Story: Pretty decent revenge/black magic story. The woman has an affair with a married man, gets pregnant, wants hush money, gets gang raped by the married mans friends, demands more money, gets bitch slapped around and then wants revenge. You're sort of torn about how you're supposed to feel about the main girl. She's sort of a slut and seems a bit like a gold digger, but she was also cast aside by the baby's daddy and raped by his friends. So you can see why she wants revenge but not to the extent she takes it, which is why she makes a good villain. She's a very pretty girl but can definitely pull off the evil look to her. The story gets a bit confusing at first since a lot happens in such a quick time with little explanation, but picks up a bit more later. She kills one part of the family and then moves on to the other side (It' sort of confusing to explain). You never connect with any of the characters except for Nam (the other main girl), so when a character dies, big deal. The twist (if you can call it that) is a bit weird, but very typical for a horror film. The little albino girl (or maybe she was just Swedish) was a bit creepy which I'm sure was their intentions. What, or who, the albino girl represented can be disputed. I won't go into detail as not to spoil too much.Now for some of the technical aspects. Some of the graphics were very bad, but I'm guessing this was somewhat a low budget so understandable. The physical graphics as in the gore (spitting up bloody razors, nails coming out of the head, the eels, stabbing, etc) was pretty good, something that if was digitalized, would have made this worse. Some shots were very well done but a lot seemed amateurish.Now was it entertaining? Yes, it was. Worth a rent if you can deal with cheesy horror films. Just make sure the Thai audio track works, or you may just laugh a lot at the English overdubs (especially the scene where the mother is being haunted by the previous family killed by the girl).6 out of 10 for being entertaining, with some good gore and a decent story

Fans of unusual Asian horror will no doubt be familiar with the spate of weird and rather unsavoury films that emerged from Hong Kong in the early 80s; titles such as The Devil, Seeding of a Ghost, Centipede Horror, Calamity of Snakes, and Devil Fetus delivered disgusting gore mixed with black magic, and quite often featured a plethora of slimy or creepy critters (bugs, worms, eels, snakes etc.) crawling from corpses or victims' mouths.Thailand's 2004 horror Art of the Devil, from director Tanit Jitnukul, is very reminiscent of such films: it's a revenge film that sees a woman using magic to torment and kill the family of a man who wronged her. It features some nasty gore, plenty of hokey voodoo rituals (including one that involves the use of a dead baby!), and LOTS of eels, but although it has the occasional good moment, the film is rather tedious overall, not as nasty as I had expected, and is hampered by some mediocre acting.Jitnukul's direction is slick and the film has a very polished look, but with a narrative that meanders rather aimlessly until the predictable conclusion, plus lots of confusing flashbacks, it's hard to stay interested for the duration. Lead actresses Arisa Wills and Supakson Chaimongkol (as vengeful bitch, Boom) are both easy on the eye, and provide a little incentive to remain focused, but, in the end, Art of the Devil proves to be nothing more than another forgettable horror flick.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

"Art of the Devil" is Thanit Jitnukul's first stab at horror which tells the story about one family's disaster after the father's mistress uses black magic to get revenge against him.The back of my VCD says:a mysterious and bizarre murder of a millionaire's entire family grips the attention of the public.Not a clue is uncovered; not a person can be fingered as the killer.The mysterious and gruesome deaths baffle everyone.A crime reporter goes to investigate the case, which leads to a beautiful lady.How can he convince others that she is the mistress of the occult,a witch who is skilled in the art of the devil."Art of the Devil" offers some gruesome effects including eels vomiting and bloody regurgitation.The acting is mediocre,but the film is quite interesting.Still there is not enough tension for my liking,but if you like horror films which deal with black magic you can give it a try.7 out of 10.