13: Game Of Death: Reviews

Ah, the end has come for my time in Fantasia and I’m surrounded by packed suitcases here in my hotel room but before checking out, word on Thailand’s 13 Beloved:

It’s good. Really, really good.

A film that defies easy categorization thanks to the way it begins by dipping into the black-comedy pool then gradually indulges those dark tendencies more and more through its running time, it’s too bleak and violent by far to be considered a straight comedy, yet too light to be taken as a horror or action picture. What it is is one bitingly on-the-mark satire of media culture fused with a dissection of just how close the hidden heart of darkness is to the surface of pretty much anybody.

We follow one character throughout, a meek salaryman struggling at work thanks to the sharkish tendencies of another worker in his offices who is poaching his best leads and clients, a situation that quickly leads to our hero being fired for not producing well enough. Out of work, deep in debt and desperate he is surprised b a phone call that tells him he is participating in a game show and that if he can complete thirteen tasks he will receive a cash prize of one hundred million baht. Task one: kill a fly. Task two: eat the fly. Task three: well, telling you wouldn’t be fair, now would it? the point is that the tasks start small and quickly escalate, every step taking him a little further until there is really no turning back: he must complete the course.

Probably the smartest film aimed at Thai multiplexes over the last couple of years, 13 Beloved is a pitch perfect mix of pop culture mass appeal with deeper thought and meaning, all of it tied together by the strong performance of the lead—the same actor who starred in Bangkok Loco, completely unrecognizable here—and stellar work by the director. The Weinsteins have bought this up for remake—which it is ripe for—and have no real plans for the original, so keep an eye on the import market. It’s a good one ...

PLOT:
Chit has a serious money problem. His family is broke and wants him to send more money, his girlfriend broke up with him since he couldn't make her a star and on top of all of this, he just got fired from his dead end job. One day he receives a phone call saying that he's been selected for a game show where he can win 100 million baht. He agrees to go along with it as he only has to complete thirteen challenges to win the cash prize. The catch? The challenges get more and more extreme every time he completes a task.

REVIEW:
I've been putting off watching this for quite some time now since it didn't really look like a horror flick to me. Well, since I received yet another DVD release of this movie this week from Singapore, I decided that it was finally time to check it out. Man am I ever so happy that I did. 13 Beloved is an extremely underrated Thai thriller with a great story that grabs you from the moment that it starts until the end credits start to roll. And yeah, I was indeed right, 13 Beloved is not a horror movie, it's an intense thriller but I have a strong feeling that it will appeal to many horror fans out there so that's why I'm going to go ahead and review it anyway.

Phuchit is broke, and I mean really broke. You can't help but to feel sorry for this poor guy. He's got a big heart and just wants everyone around him to be happy, but good things never come to good people. Things go from bad to worse when he gets fired from his job, but a phone call the same day will change his entire life. An unidentified person tells him that he's been selected to participate in a game show where he has to complete thirteen tasks in order to win one hundred million baht. If he fails to do so, he will win nothing. He decides to go along with it as desperate as he is. Besides, the challenges seem fairly simple, killing and eating a fly for fifty thousand baht isn't much to ask for. Unfortunately for him, the challenges become more and more extreme as he goes along.

13 Beloved is a top-notch thriller which deserves standing ovations for its cleverness and unexpected twists. There's only one thing about it that bothered me. Every once in a while, the movie attempted to be funny. It didn't work at all. Why they decided to do this is beyond me. That's the only issue that I had with this movie though. Other than that, 13 Beloved is a great thriller with a very likeable main character who I quickly rooted for. This guy is butchering people like there's no tomorrow and I'm sitting here hoping that he will win the money, how screwed up is that? That just goes to show how great the script for this movie is. Even though the entire thing is morally wrong, you can't help but to root for poor Phuchit who's doing everything he can to win the big cash prize.

Ultimately, I really loved 13 Beloved (or 13 Game Of Death as it's also known as). It's a classy, top-notch thriller which is widely underrated. Even if you're a hardcore horror fan, I'm sure that you will be able to enjoy this clever little thriller with more brains than most Hollywood thrillers these days. If you do decide to check it out, which I hope that you will, ask yourself a question after you're done watching this film - what would you do for a million dollars?

GORE:
A rotten body and half a head chopped off. Decent.

SOUNDTRACK:
Tight score which served the movie perfectly. Just as good as the movie itself.

BOTTOM LINE:
13 Beloved is an extremely clever thriller and beats the crap out of most thrillers that Hollywood produces these days. It'll grab you from the moment that it starts until it finally lets go. The ending is a bit disappointing but nevertheless ever so surprising and the humour wasn't much appreciated by me, but this is still a top-notch thriller so don't miss it.