Their desolation in seeking help for their possessed daughter is only exacerbated by the isolation of the rural village that they live in, compounded by the incompetence of the local police and the general lack of any sort of available spiritual assistance. The misdirection sends characters on wild goose chases in desperate attempts to save Mink, who becomes more and more deranged as time passes. The film excels in foreboding red herrings, used to great effect. Mink's mother, Noi (Sirani Yankittikan) refuses Nim's help as she herself was chosen to be Ba Yan's vessel, but rejected it out of spite and the goddess's favour passed onto her younger sister Nim instead. The goddess chooses only women in their family, and when Nim's niece Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolpech) starts developing strange and unnatural symptoms during her father's funeral, Nim realises that Ba Yan might be attempting to transfer her divine favour to another vessel. But Ba Yan is not a completely benevolent goddess, as we find out. Nim is a shaman for the goddess Ba Yan, going on yearly pilgrimages up the mountain where the deity resides and healing the spiritual ailments of fellow villages. Set in a sleepy village somewhere in rural Thailand, it follows the lives of Nim (Sawanee Utoomma) and her family. The Medium is brilliantly executed, combining occultism, supernatural possessions and intense gore and violence to produce a fantastic cocktail which is more bloodcurdling than jump-scare hair-raising. Helmed by famed director Banjong Pisanthanakun, who has steered acclaimed titles like Shutter (2004), and produced by Na Hong Jin, it topped the advance box-office sales in South Korea despite a surge in pandemic cases, boosted by its success in the Bucheon Film Festival.

This rural-set, Thai-Korean horror film has been making waves since it was featured at the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival or BiFan, where it won the Bucheon Choice Award. The Medium is not for those who are faint-hearted.

The medium unionschiffer