When was the last time a movie scared the bejeezus out of me? About 10 minutes ago. This Halloween, the shocks come XXXL in The Medium, Banjong Pisanthanakun’s supernatural blend of Thai-Korean horror. A documentary crew is sent to Thailand in 2018 to study the lives of the shamans. (Pisanthanakun’s mimicry is such that it took a good 10 minutes before the realization set in that it was a work of fiction.) Long before organized religion became their way of life, the people of Isan were exercising their right to believe in evil spirits. Lest we forget: these are the same people whose prime source of meat is Rover. When asked how a dog owner could possibly dine on a four-legged friend, Noi (Sirani Yankittikan) counters that people own goldfish and they eat fish. (A plot thread such as this in a movie of this nature can only end in the unthinkable.) One witch doctor stands out from the pack: Noi’s sister Nim (Sawanee Utoomma) hails from a long line of shaman — or in this case shawoman — who specialize in black magic, not medical science. (Though when contacted by the family member of a terminal cancer patient, she’ll issue a death sentence like any other doctor on the planet.) Her next case is Wiroj, the late husband of her elder sister. All of the men in his family die under tragic circumstances. Once the family’s resident shawoman, Noi tricked Nim into housing the evil spirit of Ba Yan. Nim returns the favor by passing the demons to her niece and Noi’s daughter Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolpech). The demon inside Mink digs the accommodations, so much so that it’s afraid of being evicted. The documentary realism begins to fade when camera people film the gruesome death of their colleagues, but not before Pisanthanakun exposes his audience an unhealthy dose of night vision night terrors. And with only one jump-scare! Two shots, both of which are remarkably unsettling, will remain forever etched into my eyeballs. Pleasant dreams. Now streaming on Shudder. (2021) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.