The Ghost of Mae Nak (2005)

Dir: Mark Duffield

Set against the urban sprawl of modern-day Bangkok, "The Ghost of Mae Nak", although directed by a Westerner, plants itself firmly in the current Eastern cycle of now-cliché spookiness. It's a loose adaptation of the Thai folk legend, Mae Nak in which a vengeful ghost manifests itself in the house of a newlywed couple in the form of (you guessed it) a pale-faced soggy dead girl. If you've seen "Ringu" or any of its innumerable clones, you'll know the drill by now and Duffield's overlong screenplay does little to separate itself from the pack. Only the occasional flash of black comedy and some show-stopping gore set pieces (the man being split in half with a pane of glass was spectacular) enliven what's otherwise a fairly mediocre effort. *1/2