Let’s be miserable.
Ghost Lab is the first Netflix film from Thailand, and it might be our first Thai film reviewed on this blog. Unfortunately, it isn’t very good.
We follow two doctors, Gla (Paris Intarakomalyasut) and Wee (Thanapob Leeratanakachorn) who are still in training at their hospital. Gla believes in ghosts and Wee doesn’t. The two see a ghost and decide to do a bunch of research to prove their existence. What follows is an increasingly uneven and jumbled experience.
The idea of two scientists investigating the paranormal after an encounter could have been interesting. However, when we start the film with Gla not only believing in ghosts but being obsessed by them it feels a little too convenient.
Convenience and inconsistency are the name of the game in Ghost Lab. After a discussion about ghosts and Wee is unconvinced BAM, we get a ghost. We need to see another one and BAM we get the chance. Our two moronic characters walk into every situation at its most useful.
The clumsy storytelling would be more predictable if the film had any idea what direction it wanted to go in. At first, we have kind of a quirky horror/comedy. However, the directing is just weird even at the initial tone. We have odd closeups, a lot of foot shots, and stilted dialogue. It never feels like we’re in a hospital. It never really feels like anything.
I had wondered if we would tie in the oddities of the film to the quirky nature, but instead we just drop the quirkiness and aim for some sort of somber storytelling after the first of many twists arrive in the story. The twists aren’t interesting nor are they logical, but whatever. The somberness changes to vengeance and cruelty to outright disgusting and ends completely asinine.
The film has nothing going for it. Stiff and unlikable characters, bad effects, bad writing, tonal shifts, and poor structuring make this one of the worst films of the year. Unfortunately, I can’t really rip on it without spoilers, so click ahead if you’ve seen it or don’t care.
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