ART OF THE DEVIL II

Directed by the Ronin Team (Kongkiat Khomsiri, Isara Nadee, Seree Pongpint, Pasith Buranajan, Putipong Saisikaew, Art Thamtrakul, and Yosapong Polsap)
Written by Kongkiat Khomsiri and Yosapong Polsap
Cinematography by Tanon Watananpaiboon
Music by Wutichai Praiwan
Cast: “Namme” Napakpapha Nakprasitte, Hataiwan Ngamsukonpusit, Akarin Siwapornpitak, Chanida Suriyakompon, Namo Tongkumnerd, Pavarit Wongpanitch, Korakot Woramusik

2005/100 mins/ Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/Thai/NTSC Region 1

Review from Tokyo Shock/ Media Blasters DVD

A group of teens return to visit their friend, Po (Akkarin Siwapornpitak) two years after his dad commits suicide. They, then, visit his stepmother, their former teacher Panor (the pretty “Namee” Napakpapha Nakprasitte). But, when last they saw her, they found her having an affair with another teacher and video taped it. They also used black magic on her lover, who earlier forced oral sex on one of the girls, in revenge for the video taping of them. Now, weird, horrifing things begin to occur, as Panor uses the black arts, herself, to exact her own revenge.

This movie has nothing to do with the first film, aside from the connection of revenge and black magic. But, in using that as a basis to launch itself, the film turns out to be even better than likable but flawed original. In fact, this is smashing gorefest that really goes for the throat and throttles you all the way.

While, it is directed by a total of seven men, the movie never feels schizophrenic or uneven. Instead, it is a well flowing, highly, entertaining, and engrossing affair. The twists and turns that the film takes work well and lead to more than a couple of “holy shit!” moments. It is, in fact, very creepy and suspenseful. There are a couple of truly chilling and scary scenes in it. The acting is strong, but where the film really succeeds is its unadulterated gore content. From the opening scene of man that has hooks come out of his very own skin to the very last of scene splatter, the film holds nothing back and manages to shock and repel like very few movies can. The most horrifying of all scenes involves the use of a blowtorch and will make even the most hardcore audience member wince.

While, the movie features many hot Thai girls, much like the first one it, fails to show any of them nude, sadly. A weak lesbian kiss between the film’s hottest girl Namo Tongkumnerd and a tomboyish chick does nothing to make for the lack of nude flesh. That said the movie does convince me that I may need to visit Thailand soon!

Tokyo Shock casts its evil spell on us by releasing ART OF THE DEVIL II on DVD. Presented in its 1.85:1 aspect ratio in anamorphic widescreen the film looks good. The colors are nice and bright, but in the darker scenes the movie comes off too soft. To hear the film in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround you will have to suffer through some truly horrid dubbing. The original Thai language is available in stereo. only. That sounds fine and fierce, so I will leave it to you to choose what is more appropriate for you.

The only real extra is “Behind the Scenes: Art of the Devil II”. It has interviews with all the directors and major cast. They discuss some interesting points of the making of, as well as working on the movie. Some minor grammatical errors in the subtitles to this featurette, aside, it is a good, fluff piece.

The disc also includes trailers to the movie itself, as well as: DEATH TRANCE, GARUDA, the first ART OF THE DEVIL, and ZATOICHI TV. It comes in a keep case and is broken up into twelve chapters, accessible from the static menu that plays the film’s score in the background. Sadly, an inlet card is not included. That said, the cover is pretty cool, I think.

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Review by Giovanni Deldio. All Rights Reserved. 2008. ©

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