The Maid
Ratings: 2.5/5
Director: Lee Thongkham
Producer: Chan Pui Yin
Genre: Horror Thriller
Language: Thai
Release Date: 9 July 2020
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Star Cast: Ploy Sornarin, Kannaporn Puangtong, Sawika Chaiyadech, Keetapat Pongrue, Natanee Sitthisaman, Theerapat Sajakul, Ratchanok Suwannaket, Alina Homsangpradit, Naomi, Chi Wah Wong
Plot: Joy (Ploy Sornarin) joins a wealthy family as a maid upon the approval from the household mistress Uma (Savika Chaiyadej). Joy soon finds out that the only child of Uma, Nid (Keetapat Pongrue) is disturbed by a supernatural presence that also haunts the house and has a connection with Ploy’s personal life.
Review: A sprawling mansion, a good looking owner couple with a disturbed child, a young maid with a vendetta - already building expectations? Well, I don’t intend to burst your bubble but this Thai horror falls a few yards behind from winning unanimous praises from the true admirers of the horror genre. Spoiler alert!
The Netflix Original film had dropped an intriguing trailer indicating lurking family scandals amidst a supernatural ambiance with a pinch of drama to serve your fetish for weekend entertainment. And as promised, the film did begin on the anticipated note and made the supernatural presence felt without much delay. The track isn’t slow-paced at all, in fact, good enough keep you hooked. You eventually come to know Nid’s disturbing experiences are real and are the ripples of a crime committed by her parents. But what does the ghost want, why does it show herself (yes, it’s a she) only to Nid and Joy? What is really wrong between the husband and the wife? With time it comes to light that this indomitable spirit has a connection to Joy’s past and happens to be her elder sister, Ploy (Kannaporn Puangtong). Years back, she too joined the same household as domestic help and her bisexual nature got her involved in two relationships at the same time. On one hand, she was romancing the housemaster Nirach, on the other, she was rejoicing in her amorous moments with his wife. Gorgeous yet uptight Uma, being a lesbian was never happy in the coerced marriage until she found love and fulfillment in Ploy. These hush-hush affairs come out in the open when Ploy gets pregnant with Nirach’s child. To do away with the scandals, Uma and Nirach bury Ploy alive with the help of other home attendants but keep the child, giving birth to an evil spirit.
‘The Maid’ that thrives on a three-act structure, loses its sinister and compelling approach in the second half. The horror drama suddenly shapes up as a slasher melodrama that is neither convincing nor receives a smooth transformation. The epilogue leaves you dissatisfied with its amateurish conclusive acts; and we are definitely not looking forward to a Part 2!
Things that really got me in ‘The Maid’ are its first half storytelling, the camera work establishing the jump scares efficiently, and the background score of course, which has capably enhanced the most crucial anecdotes in the film.
‘The Maid’ can be a onetime worth watch if you won’t mind a little eerie company on a sluggish weekend. Up for killing some time?
