‘Would you stay or move out if your neighborhood had ghosts?’
LaddaLand aka Ladda Land – Thai: ลัดดาแลนด์ – is a 2011 Thai horror film directed by Sophon Sakdaphisit (ThirTEEN Terrors TV series; Coming Soon; writer of 2004 Shutter) from a screenplay co-written with Sopana Chaowwiwatkul (Phobia 2). The movie stars Saharat Sangkapreecha, Piyathida Woramusik and Sutatta Udomsilp.
The story is based on an urban legend, believed by many locals to have taken place in Chiang Mai late last century, about a family who moves into a new house where they gradually begin to encounter paranormal events. It was very successful in Thailand where it was the number one film in the country on its opening week.
Plot:
Forty-ish marketer Thee (Saharath Sangkapreecha), his wife Parn (Piyathida Woramusik), his rebellious teenage daughter Nan (Suthatta Udomsilp) and lively young son Nat (Apipich Chutiwatkajornchai) moving from Bangkok to Laddaland, an upmarket housing estate.
Convinced his new job with a company that sells dietary supplements is the answer to all his troubles, Thee ignores Parn’s legitimate concern over hefty mortgage payments; he also believes the move will lift Nan’s deep-seated resentment of him and his wife, who left the girl with her grandmother for much of her childhood.
Following the grisly murder of a Burmese housemaid and Thee’s unpleasant encounter with wife-beating next-door neighbour Somkiat (Sahajak Boonthanakit), ghosts start appearing before Nan, who is unable to convince her parents that she’s making up these supernatural incidents…
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Reviews:
” …Thai horror Laddaland is hiply designed and assembled, cost-effective, functional and cozily familiar. Director Sophon Sakdaphisit (who co-wrote The Shutter and directed another clever horror Coming Soon) fuses stock genre conventions with kitchen sink drama in a credible and moving way… The Hollywood Reporter
“Like Dream Home, it presents a horror-veiled satirical take on the plight of regular folk hoping to own real estate in today’s economy, but its humanistic heart echoes Kurosawa’s depiction of overwhelming external forces dismantling the unity of an otherwise loving family. Laddaland is good enough to overcome its aggressively sentimental final act…” Screen Anarchy
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“Keeping gore to a minimum, the pic maintains a consistent air of malevolence, and is well served by a precision-tooled soundscape that raises goosebumps with perfectly timed whooshes and ear-splitting screeches. Classy widescreen lensing by Kittiwat Semarat varies impressively from glossy magazine-like imagery of the Laddaland when Thee and family arrive, to moody pictures of interiors where menacing creatures hold sway.” Variety
