The Coffin (2008)

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The Coffin started out great, promised a lot of potential, scares and quite possible a lovely twist on top. Sadly, that old saying "a job well started is a job half done" does not apply here, cause I have to say, this one is a real downer. So, why did The Coffin fail so bad? Well, it is a tad bit too slow, not unusual for such productions but still, and the way it heads to the end, it's just not interesting and annoying at times. I mean, we can kinda anticipate the twist if you are used with such movies, so why drag this along? Get there and do try to act more like a horror film, show some scares, create some tension, make better use of your surround noises! Anyway, it doesn't look like they tried to hard, I think it was a great idea that was not fully exploited, resulted in a half baked scrip and put on screen with no real intention of actually making another great horror that will remain up there, with the rest!This one will seem long, boring and almost kinda useless. It should have done better. They had all the ingredients! Cheers!

Following the Thai custom to cheat death and rid oneself of bad luck, a man who lays in a coffin for an evening subsequently experiences a series of terrifying incidents.A Thai film, filmed in Singapore... I do not know much about Thai films or films from Singapore, but I can say that this is surprisingly stylish. I mean, am I wrong, or is Thailand a country where you can live comfortably on a dollar a day? So far, the film has received generally negative reviews, with people pointing out the obvious blue tint. Yes, the tint is overdone. It seems to be a growing trend in recent years, and I have not found out why. But beyond that, it is not a bad film... maybe nothing special, but not bad.I would not personally recommend this one to people, but perhaps if someone was really into Thai or Asian films... this definitely has a vibe that Chinese and Japanese films have. Not sure why they have the obsession with ghosts that they do, but here is another example of that motif.

It's quite clear right from the start that the director is out to make a stylish movie, what with everything looking blue like he taped cellophane over the camera lens. I suppose artistic style can be used to create a mood of suspense for a horror movie if done right, but here it just makes everything look bleak.Fortunately, not every shot is blue, and the director does provide the usual ba-dumm moments, though none exceptional. The movie was mostly a bore, with style over substance, and the only pleasant surprise I got from it was Ananda Everingham's delightful British accent, though I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise because of his name. Karen Mok, cool as she is, didn't really bring much to the movie (though I doubt she could've).

Original Asian films like Ringu have set the bar for psychological horror movies that are deeply unsettling without resorting to gore and blood. Along comes a wave of similar Asian horror movies of discontented long-haired female ghosts in white gown, only to fail in their imitation. Just like The Coffin.This movie seems novel with the inspiration from the Thai practice of lying in a coffin to change one's luck. However, it starts out slow, and never changes its pace. It's boring, lacklustre and tries way too hard to create symbolic meanings.The supposed twist at the end is nothing new, nor is the long-haired female ghost that seems too familiar.The dialogues are painful, so are the executions of them by the mediocre cast. This is what you get for casting people for their looks.