The Medium

A documentary crew arrives in northeastern Thailand to film Nim, a medium who says she is a channel for a local deity. The further the camera gets into the family, the more something else surfaces: her niece Mink starts showing strange symptoms. First changes of personality, then self-harm and behaviour nobody can explain. The family attempts a ceremony to transfer the spirit and it goes the other way. Banjong Pisanthanakun directed and Na Hong-jin produced. It is a co-production between GDH 559 in Thailand and Showbox in South Korea, shot in found-footage form. It premiered at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival on 11 July 2021 and opened in South Korea four days later. It took roughly 7.23 million dollars. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 81 percent. Reviews praised the density of the narrative and how Thai belief is worked into it, while some complained about the length and the mockumentary format. It won Best Film at Bucheon and Best Cinematography at the Molins Horror Film Festival. Who it is for: viewers who like folk horror and films that build slowly and end hard. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot take violence toward animals and bodies. The last half hour goes a considerable distance.