I MISS U (2012)

Genre: Horor/Thriller
Director: Monton Aryangkun
Cast: Jetsadaporn Poldee, Natta Veeranut Tongme, Apinya sakuljareonsuek, Rhys Ifans, Chris Pratt, Lauren Weedman, Jacki Weaver, David Paymer, Mindy Kaling, Dakota Johnson
RunTime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Released By: Golden Village Pictures & Clover Films
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Official Website:

Opening Day: 26 July 2012

Synopsis:  Bee, a young and beautiful training doctor at the Hospital’s Surgical department meets Dr.Tana, a senior doctor who is also her supervisor during her internship. She got to know of the tragic story of Tana and his fiancée, Nok, who was also a doctor at the Hospital before she was killed in an accidental just before their wedding. Tana has been living in grief and sorrow since Nok’s death, yearning for his lost love. Tana’s devotion attracts Bee and she attempts to relieve him from his misery.  As she got to know Tana better, she realized that it is Tana’s grasping and attachment that are haunting him, keeping Nok’s spirit by his side…While Bee’s feeling for Tana grows, her fear and insecurity are creeping in too: having to face the ghost of Tana’s dead fiancée; Tana’s grasping of his past and most importantly, being the substitute and living in the shadow of Nok.

Movie Review:

How many times have you been misled by a seemingly innocent looking movie title? At first glance, 'I MISS U' seems a typical name for an ordinary romance film. However, it gets a little more complicated when it actually involves someone who has already passed away…

I MISS U is marketed as the top grossing Thai horror movie in 2012. Undoubtedly, there is always this market for Thai horror movies because they are known to be scary and creepily realistic. For this film, the superstition being emphasized is ‘missing the dead’. In other words, the more you miss the dead, the more they will linger around you. Hence the tag line, ‘if you love me, don’t miss me’. 

The plot of the movie is fairly simple and undecorated. Veteran Thai actor Jesadaporn Pholdee plays as Tana, the senior doctor who lost his fiancée over a car accident, and young Thai actress Apinya Sakuljaroensuk plays Bee, the doctor in training who eventually got attracted to Tana. Apinya Sakuljaroensuk is quite an eye candy, and she frequently stars in Thai horror films, hence the competence in acting ‘scared’. Her acting definitely added positive value to the film despite the bare storyline.

It seems more apparent that nowadays, the popular formula that most movie makers use for the storyline is to work the script towards uncovering some sort of a deafening truth. So for I MISS U, the story eventually leads to uncovering the truth behind the presence of Nok (the deceased fiancée), as well as the Tana, who appeared to be a faithful and dedicated fiancé. However, there were many unnecessary twists and turns, sometimes involving people who were not even directly linked to the main storyline. It seems like a very desperate effort to turn it into something more sophisticated, more meaningful. 

Technicalities wise, it was nothing impressive too. For horror film to work at best, it will require good background music and sound effects. That was missing from I MISS U. The sound effects and background music sometimes did not even seem to compliment the scenes and does not parallel with the storyline. The ghost is typical looking (usual darkened skin and dripping blood) and was not particularly visual impactful (I mean it may scare a 8 year old kid, but not so a 25 year old adult). On this note, it was a clever play on the psychological ghosts over the physical ghost, showing how the male lead and female lead respectively deals with them. 

At long last, the movie ushers the viewers to the ending. It is a painfully long journey to go through and congrats if you made it through without dozing off. To compensate the lack of a meaningful storyline, a chain of events are cramped towards to end which are intended to lead to the climax. But it seems a little too much. There were many points where it seemed like the right place to stop, but it dragged on and explained way too much. And after all those explanations, it chooses to leave the viewers with an ambiguous ending

Movie Rating:

(A production that's not visually impressive enough and tries too hard to impress - be prepared to leave the cinema with lots of question marks and go ‘huh?’)

Review by Tho Shu Ling