Zena’s Period Blood: THE PROMISE You Can’t Escape
It can be difficult finding horror films of quality, so allow me to welcome you to your salvation from frustration. “Zena’s Period Blood” is here to guide you to the horror films that will make you say, “This is good horror. Point blank. PERIOD.”
“Zena’s Period Blood” focuses on under-appreciated and hidden horror films.
“Promise me, you won’t let me die alone.”
As soon as I heard these words, I knew this was a promise that I would most likely break. But was I selfish for wanting to live? I mean, I’ve had best friends before and friendship was more important than anything else to me during my teenage years. That’s why I searched for an answer to this question as I watched the 2017 film responsible for this quote. In 114 minutes, director Sophon Sakdaphisit will make you feel the joy, security, insecurity, loss, regret, denial and danger that comes with being a teenager, making a life-changing promise, and breaking that promise. This journey of a film is the drama horror thriller entitled The Promise.
It opens to 1997 Bangkok, where friends Ib (Panisara Rikulsurakan) and Boum (Thunyaphat Pattarateerachaicharoen) are teenagers to wealthy fathers who oversee the construction of Sathorn Unique Tower, the biggest luxury apartment complex coming to Thailand. However, in the middle of construction, all of Southeast Asia experiences a financial crisis. Many industries halt, and many people are left in poverty. Boum’s family downgrades to selling items at a market, while Ib’s family handles the crisis differently. Ib’s father takes his anger out on Ib, abusing her and threatening to kill himself. Seeing no way out from this life, Ib and Boum agree to commit suicide on Boum’s Birthday. They meet at the tower. After tears fall, Ib places the gun to her head and pulls the trigger. Horrified at the sight, Boum rushes away to leave her friend in the unfinished tower.
Twenty years pass before we meet well-established Boum (Bee Namthip) and her daughter Bell (Apichaya Thongkham). Bell suffers from sleepwalking; however, she is far from cheerless, especially with her 15th birthday party coming up. Boum recalls her own 15th birthday, the day she broke her promise. Unfortunately, Ib also remembers. Her vengeful spirit now haunts young Bell. This time, Boum is willing to give up her career, her freedom, and even her life to save her daughter. But the rules of the promise have now changed.
The story for The Promise pulled from Thailand’s actual history. With more than eleven straight years of financial success leading into 1996, Thailand pegged the baht at 25 to the U.S. dollar, meaning the Thai government discontinued adjusting their currency to foreign exchange rate changes. However, in mid-1997, the Thai government was forced to float (adjust) the Baht. This became the catalyst for a series of events leading to a financial crisis for most of Southeast Asia. What resulted were massive layoffs in different industries, especially real estate and construction.
Though Thailand’s economy has recovered, it came at the price of vast poverty and escalations of mental illness, fear, and suicide. The Promise visits this time and covers the rise and decline of the Sathorn Unique Tower, one of the biggest real estate ventures in Bangkok. This high-rise construction began as the ideal hub for premium luxury apartments. But the financial crisis halted production, which unfortunately was never resumed. The tower stands today, now famously referred to as “Ghost Tower” for its rumors of being built on a burial ground, its shadowy and abandoned corridors, and its accounts of suicide victims. It now serves as a tourist attraction, though I am still debating if I should ever visit such a place, especially after seeing this film.
Although The Promise doesn’t offer much gore, it excels in delivering clever scares. Majority of these scares are left to the viewer’s imagination. For example, Ib’s presence is often implied around obscure corners, behind self-opening doors, or in characters seeing her in places where Boum and the viewer see empty spaces. A successful execution of this can only come from an experienced filmmaker.
Director Sakdaphisit has been terrorizing the world for over a decade. I’ve come to know him from Laddaland (2011) and The Swimmers (2014). I adore his unique voice in horror and appreciate that he pays homage to directors before him. In The Promise, he pays tribute to Wes Craven with a shot of a theater prompt that shows Scream (1996).
It was also a pleasure to see Sakdaphisit work with the talented Bee Namthip. The mixture of strength, vulnerability, and fear came through effortlessly in her performance. I first learned about her from her fierce catwalk in ASAVA Elle Fashion Week 2016. No one walks like her. And by the time she turns to head back up the runway, you’re asking the closest server for a fresh pair of underwear because of how intense things got for you at that moment. She also starred in the reality show The Face Thailand, in which she served as a mentor to aspiring models. To see how she endured a secret tormenting her in The Promise left me stunned by her acting range.
Also springing from The Face Thailand was Apichaya Thongkham. She is now a regular on Line TV’s The Gifted, where her ungainly character is a complete departure from the endearing Bell in The Promise. Her character’s attachment to everything cute, particularly appropriately timed selfies when people are gloomy, left me distraught when her mother’s past failure affected her in a life-threatening way.
The Promise invokes a story into this horrific time in history. It is crafty in its telling and timing of delivery. It forces you to remember promises you broke, and it shows how the fear of dying can become smaller than the fear of not being able to protect the ones you love.
In addition to contributing to Dread Central, Zena Dixon has been writing about all things creepy and horrific for over six years at RealQueenofHorror.com. She has always loved horror films and will soon be directing her own feature-length horror film. Feel free to follow her on Twitter @LovelyZena.
Categorized:Editorials Zena's Period Blood
