Streaming Availability: Shudder
There is a weird, I'd argue perverse trend in demonic horror movies which is this concept that "evil necessitates faith". This can be done well. The Exorcist tore down modernity, a society that had no place for gods or spirits, and replaced it with a primal religious fervor. Elias Koteas in The Prophecy found in his faith a pride and strength to stand tall against Lucifer. Then there's much worse movies like The Exorcism of Emily Rose or (the title gives away the game) The Exorcist: Believer, where demons push the protagonists into the open arms of the Christian God. I'm really uncomfortable with a vision of faith born out of fear from the unknown, it seems dangerous in real-world terms. Your God should not just be an Anti-Satan.
The Medium is a Thai film from 2021 which flips entirely, the demonic does not restore faith in the gods, it destroys it. There is no religion, positive or negative remaining. Just darkness, chaos, and...
...what amounts to a less interesting movie than one first thought. The Medium is a real disappointment because 90% of this I think is extremely cool. I love exploring other cultures in this series and their exorcism practices. But then everything intriguing about this fades away to become a mindless V/H/S segment.
The Medium is staged as a documentary about practitioners of Satsana Phi, the folk religion of the Tai peoples of Southeast Asia. Most of Thailand is heavily Buddhist, but in the rural regions, such as Isan where The Medium is set, older forms of worship persist. The documentary subject is Nim (Sawanee Utoomma), an older woman who has been the priestess and medium for a (fictional) goddess named Ba Yan, the local spirit deity of her town. Ba Yan has been passed down for generations, always inhabiting the women of the family. It appears that the documentary will get to film the next inheritance when Nim's beautiful niece, Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolpech) begins to show symptoms of possession. But then, the family notices Mink's disturbing behavior. Before long, they are unsure if Mink is possessed by the goddess or by something much darker.
The whole mockumentary aspect of The Medium is a decision I'm not against. This is a gorgeous movie, whoever in-universe is editing this doc is doing an amazing job. There's lots of beauty shots of mountainous Thailand, a lot of detail in the shamanist practices. It feels authentic to both the supernatural world of this place and mundane daily life. Most of the plot progresses with very little interaction from the filmmakers. Sometimes Nim will answer a question from a director off-screen or Mink will yell at the camera. The filmmakers are not characters and never should be in a story like this. The structure does a allow a sort of investigative progression. The characters know more than we do, and we learn more and more about this family and how cursed they actually are.
And for 90% of The Medium, it seems to be avoiding the very dumb and well-trodden tropes of Found Footage horror. There is no frame story about this mysterious footage, no creepypasta fetishes for old stuff, no cameramen fleeing for their lives. Rather the production is artful and subdued.
...Until the last 10% of this movie, which is everything I just said it was not. It is a disaster, frankly.
Until then, the mystery of this family and what is inside Mink is fascinating. We never get a clear idea of what is is inside her. Her mother, Noi (Sirani Yankittikan) refused Ba Yan and turned towards Christianity. But that along with multiple currents of other sinful activities has created a perfect storm of evil inside this young woman. There's incest, there's a dark family history of beheading people, Mink's grandpa ran a factory and had a labor crisis, and on top of everything else, Noi also sells dog meat. (Consuming canine meat is increasingly taboo in Thai society and is illegal, but it still happens.) For a moment we think the demon might a Dybbuk-like ghost of Mink's dead brother. Or maybe it is the souls of the people her ancestors wronged. Or maybe the Christian element has let in a Satan. Or maybe it is Ba Yan's horrifying revenge.
That is assuming there even is a Ba Yan. Aunt Nim is certain of her faith for most of the movie, yet she harbors doubts. There's a devastating post-credits scene after a conversation with Noi, that she realizes she's been a fool this whole time, peddling magic beans and snake oil. Another shaman friend admits to being a con artist half the time - and his exorcism magic does not work for shit. (Not that exorcisms ever work in movies, they almost never do.) The statue of Ba Yan is beheaded mysteriously, causing Nim terrible distress. Either the goddess was never real, or has abandoned this family, or was devoured by whatever is creeping inside Mink. Faith has lost. The Medium is co-written by Na Hong-jin (this is a Thai-South Korean production), the director of The Wailing, another upsetting and hopeless movie where devils win.
So that does make for nuanced and interesting drama at play here with the main female leads. They're great actresses. However, their characters both disappear halfway through The Medium. Mink's rebellious character fades away to just having her writhing around as a full monster lady. The Medium does a full replay of Paranormal Activity for what feels like way too long, just Mink crawling like a freak over and over. And her aunt Nim dies suddenly in her sleep. That leaves nothing for the movie to do but embrace its basest schlock instincts.
It is really disappointing. The last thing The Medium needed to be was a
Found Footage movie. The climax is an attempt to save Mink that turns into a huge zombie attack with every character devoured. It goes on forever too. The cameramen getting their guts ripped out are not characters so their plight is uninteresting. And it's really poorly-shot compared to everything else. There is only way to shoot a POV of fleeing through the woods, and Blair Witch Project did this almost twenty-five years ago. It did not look great back then either.
I just like I've seen this shit already a million times and The Medium was doing something different until it got lazy. The Medium goes considerably more extreme with things, killing a cute fuzzy dog and a baby. If you cut out the last half hour of this movie and no ending at all versus this, it would be better. Toss away everything I said about this being about faith, The Medium was an nasty exploitation film at its core. I feel like I was tricked. I'm more a fool than poor Nim.
(...sigh)
Next Time! Another culture's vision of the demonic, this time Indian, with the new movie It Lives Inside.
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