13 Beloved
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| 13 Beloved | |
|---|---|
 The Thai movie poster. |
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| Directed by | Chukiat Sakveerakul |
| Produced by | Prachya Pinkaew Sukanya Vongsthapat |
| Written by | Chukiat Sakveerakul Eakasit Thairaat |
| Starring | Krissada Sukosol Clapp |
| Distributed by | Sahamongkol Film International |
| Release date(s) | October 5, 2006 |
| Country | Thailand |
| Language | Thai |
| Budget | US$400,000 |
13 Beloved (Thai: 13 เกมสยอง or 13 Game Sayong) is a 2006 Thai psychological thriller and black comedy directed by Chukiat Sakveerakul and starring Krissada Sukosol Clapp. The story, about a man who is led through progressively challenging, degrading and dangerous stunts by mysterious callers from an underground reality game show, is adapted from the 13th Quiz Show episode in the My Mania comic-book series by Eakasit Thairaat. It was the second film for Chukiat, who previously directed the 2004 horror film, Pisaj.
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[edit] Plot
Phuchit is a struggling salesman of musical instruments. He arrives at a potential client to find that a co-worker from his firm has already made the sale. His girlfriend has recently dumped him. He lives alone in a small apartment. The next morning, he finds that his car has been repossessed. He arrives at work and is called into his boss' office, and is promptly fired.
He goes out to the stairwell to gather his thoughts and have a cigarette. He then discovers he has no more. He has a big stack of overdue bills from credit companies.
However, his mobile phone is still working. His mother calls. She needs some money to pay for his younger brother's schooling. Puchit agrees to send her some money.
Angrily, he crumples up one of his credit-card statments and throws it to the floor. His phone rings again. The caller says Phuchit has a chance to win 10,000 baht. Phuchit is ready to hang up, thinking the call is cruel joke being played on him by his co-workers. But then the caller tells Phuchit his full name, age, employment status and other details that makes Phuchit stay on the line. To win the 10,000, all he has to do is swat a fly that at that very moment is buzzing around him and has been pestering him the whole time he's been sitting in the stairwell. The caller even says there is a rolled up newspaper nearby. Phutchit grabs the paper and swats the fly.
He immediately receives a message that 10,000 baht has been transferred to his bank account. His phone immediately rings again. The caller says Phuchit will win more money if he eats the dead fly. He goes back to his desk, holding the fly while debating whether to eat it. One of his co-workers, a friend, Tong, comes to see him, just as he pops the fly into his mouth. She is stunned and is not sure what to say to him.
Phuchit receives another phone call. The caller explains that if he completes 11 more tasks, he will win 100 million baht. Needing the money, Phuchit reluctantly agrees to the play the game. The caller explains that if he quits the game or tells anyone about the game, he'll forfeit all his winnigns so far.
For the third stunt, he is told he must make some children cry. This act makes Phuchit recall his childhood, in which his father, a farang who had married his Thai mother, crushed his toys by stomping on them. Next, Phuchit must steal coins from a beggar.
For his fifth stunt, Phuchit is told to go to a fine Chinese restaurant. He is brought a covered plate that appears to be dog feces. Of course, he must eat it. This makes Phuchit recall when some bullies tried to make him eat dog feces when he was a child.
The stunts grow increasingly degrading, unlawful and deadly. He must jump down a well and drag up the corpse of a dead man. He must fight with a gang of school-age thugs while riding a public bus. He must break an elderly woman out of a hospital.
Meanwhile, Phuchit's friend Tong is concerned about the strange behavior she witnessed earlier in the office at later in the Chinese restaurant, and putting together clues overheard at the police station, she goes to her computer at work and gets on the Internet. She manages to hack into a website for a game called 13. However, unbeknownst to her, she is being watching, and unwittingly, she is made part of the game.
Eventually, Tong's life is put at risk. She discovers the place where the game is being run from, but is powerless to stop it. It involves players and watchers that perhaps number in the thousands.
Phuchit finds himself confronted by his cruel father, who is laying strapped to a chair, is wearing a straightjacket and appears to be unconscious. To win the 100 million baht, Phuchit must stab his father with a butcher knife. Phuchit hesitates, and eventually gives up. It is the last task, but he cannot complete it. Just then, his father reaches out, grabs the knife and fatally stabs Phuchit. All along, his father was the one who had engineered the game and had structured the stunts to demoralise and weaken Phuchit and put him in a position to be killed, so his father could win the game's cash prize.
[edit] Cast
- Krissada Sukosol Clapp as Phuchit
- Achita Wuthinounsurasit as Tong
[edit] Production details
- Stunt No. 5 involved Puchit eating a plate of feces, which in reality was a mix of durian, syrup and peanuts.
- The film covers one day but actually took about seven months to film.[1]
- The film cost 15 million baht to produce.
- A short film prequel, 12 Begin, was also made as part of the film's pre-release promotional campaign. It was shown in limited screenings at SF Cinema City theaters.[2] A sequel called 14 Beyond is being planned.[3]
[edit] Reception
The movie was No. 1 at the domestic box office on opening weekend, earning US$266,218 and edging out the previous week's No. 1, Rob-B-Hood.[4] It was hailed critically as well, with the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee calling it a "smart, ambitious commercial film" with shortcomings that "are the results of risk-taking rather than of incompetence."[5]
North American remake rights for the film were purchased by The Weinstein Company.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Srisirirungsimakul, Nuttaporn. October 6-12, 2006. "Behind the Scenes", BK Magazine, page 32.
- ^ Rithdee, Kong. September 29, 2006. "Maverick vision", Bangkok Post, Realtime, Page R1.
- ^ "More details about '13 Beloved'", Twitchfilm.net, October 15, 2006.
- ^ Thailand Box Office, October 5–8, 2006, Box Office Mojo (retrieved October 25, 2006).
- ^ Rithdee, Kong, October 6, 2006. "Death of a salesman". Bangkok Post, Realtime, Page R1.
- ^ Frater, Patrick. October 23, 2006. "Weinsteins Thai up '13'" Variety (retrieved October 24, 2006).
