During the height of the 1997 financial crisis, Boum and Ib make a suicide pact. Boum changes her mind after Ib kills herself. But Ib hasn’t forgotten her promise with her friend, and Ib will come to collect.
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The tl;dr Review:
The Promise is a bit more than just a horror film. Yes, it features typical ghost horror tropes, but there’s more of a tragic emotional side to it.
The soundtrack will also get to you, especially the more emotional songs that softly play throughout the film.
Then there’s the cinematography, which make some scenes more haunting than they would be if they were done by anyone else.
Those, and the rather well written story make The Promise an excellent film.
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The Full Review:
I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I’ve heard of The Promise before, but I rarely check out lengthy horror films.
I’m glad I decided to give The Promise a watch.
Set during and after Thailand’s financial crisis, The Promise follows the story of Boum and Ib, two best friends find their lives thrown into turmoil when the economy crashes.
That part is what sets this apart from traditional horror films of this type, which usually just feature a generic tragedy with a generic cause. The historical context give The Promise more plausibility and the aftermath of it continues to be an important part of the film. I mean, yeah, this is a ghost horror film, but it’s also so much more than that. There’s actual emotional pull throughout that compels you to watch until the end, and the bulk of that is from the strong writing. Character logic actually makes sense throughout The Promise, which isn’t something one can often say about most horror films.
The cinematography was also quite excellent. There’s zoom out shots that add a level of sadness to a shot, and even an almost long take that creatively shows a series of events in a way that most other cinematographers wouldn’t think to do. This unique use of the cameras makes some of the scenes very exceptional and adds more to the overall film as a result.
As far as the soundtrack, well it’s the sad songs that will get to you. One in particular is so well timed and beautifully composed that when it sneaks in, you feel the sadness and loss in it. There are some pieces made for the scary moments, but those are more or less standard Asian horror fare.
Bee Namthip is very genuine and sincere as Boum. Watching Boum struggle as her personal life crashes down around her felt very real and concerning. Apichaya Thongkham does a decent job as Bell, Boum’s daughter. Panisara Rikulsurakan (that’s a mouthful) is great as Ib, for both the emotional and scary parts.
That said, the scary scenes are more or less standard horror fare. There’s some well timed jumpscares and a few excellent dread building moments, but nothing that will set it apart from the standard Asian horror film.
Aside from the typical scary scenes, this level of high quality storytelling is what made me love Asian horror back when I started watching horror. So, overall, I definitely recommend checking The Promise out.
-Joseph
Joe's Horror Reviews 