Thai horror media has enriched the Asian horror scene for quite a long time, creating its own subgenre of narratives, which are some of the best examples of the amalgamation of modern and mythological elements in fiction. A good number of memorable Thai horror stories can be traced to anthology adaptations, as seen in movies like 4bia and Bangkok Haunted, and the recently released Terror Tuesday: Extreme is similar in that regard. The anthology series features eight unique stories, and even though narrative-wise these are not interconnected, they share a thematic connection as all of them address varied psychological issues as the root cause of fear and terror. With generally simplistic plot structure, each of the stories showcases their strength in different aspects, like characterization, buildup, or the final resolution, and some of them manage to linger a bit longer in the minds of the viewers than the others. Highlighting the strengths and shortcomings of each of the stories, we would like to rank them in ascending order of quality.
Episode 5: Spectral Class
The fifth episode of the anthology series, titled “Spectral Class,” follows a newly appointed school teacher whose attempts to save a schoolkid from his deranged, religious fanatic family culminate in a harrowing, violent outcome at the end. The story itself feels unfinished and patched up in parts, as between the crisis and protagonist there is hardly an organic connection, and viewers fail to relate with either of the characters they see, even though the premise provided ample scope to anchor a much more emotional structure for the narrative. The opening scene, which provides a good example of the impact of suggested violence, is easily undermined by the needless gratuitous gore during the final half of the story. The protagonist goes through a hurried, contrived psychological transformation, which seems really unwarranted in the context of the story, which fails to flesh out the degradation of mental sanity. Ultimately, the final product is a wayward slasher that neither scares its viewers nor has much depth as a narrative.
Episode 3: Ode To My Family
A dysfunctional family of four moves into an isolated villa—one that has a sordid history and is seemingly haunted by a spirit—whose apparent manipulations prompt the members of the family to try to kill each other. The major problem with “Ode to My Family,” the third story of the series, is the fact that we don’t know much about the characters except from their limited interactions with each other, which creates a distance between them and the viewers at the end. Now, hinting about the motivations, worldview, and psyche of the characters through spoken and non-spoken communication can be a genius move if the treatment is good enough, but that is not the case in this context, which is why when the burdens of a broken familial connection start haunting the protagonist, viewers are hardly able to sympathize with him. Additionally, the strange decision to use a narrative loop at the end, even while reaching a clear-cut ending, seems really strange and incomprehensible.
Episode 7: Dear Granny
The sudden disappearance and return of her grandmother triggers a series of supernatural events that start plaguing a reclusive teenage girl, who at the same time is frustrated by the occasional ogling of a nosy neighbor. The penultimate episode of the series, “Dear Granny,” has the classic elderly character scare factor that Asian movies often employ: broken family dynamics, some neat practical effects, and empty house setting —basically everything that can contribute to a good horror story. Despite that being the case, it doesn’t rank higher on the list for the basic reason that it doesn’t fully commit to the very obvious psychological dread of loss of family and instead ends the segment with a needless supernatural element factor. The character of the mother, who acted as a connecting thread for the audience as she tethered the other two characters of the story, was sidelined unnecessarily. The connection between the daughter and her grandmother, which is the foundation of the emotional core of the story, is only explored through exposition, which is not the best way to approach the situation when the conflict between these characters constitutes the crisis in the story.
Episode 6: Girl Next Door
As a cautionary tale for Peeping Toms, “Girl Next Door” is a decent entry as it combines claustrophobic atmospheric horror and an unreliable protagonist to amp up the tension and ambiguity of the story. The limited character interactions, the protagonist’s troubling past, and his isolation contribute to an effective intrigue—and without giving away too much to the audience, it uses the narrative confusion in a positive way to build up momentum for the final revelation. However, this is where the story fumbles as the resolution sits right between a supernatural element-induced crisis and a tragic fate triggered by personal demons—without choosing either side at the end. This could actually work for a number of viewers, but we feel that, in accordance with the story itself, veering more towards the psychological affliction side of things would have seemed more justifiable.
Episode 1: Our Little Sister
The first story of the anthology, “Our Little Sister,” which chronicles the protagonist’s broken mental state following the tragic loss of her family, which leads to her adopting strange ways to cope with the trauma, sets up the mood for the rest of the series. At its core, it is a plain and simple story of pent-up feelings like guilt, shame, and regret contributing to a tragic delusion, but sometimes representing the basic aspects turns out to be troubling enough—fortunately, that is not the case on this occasion. The only major drawback is that for viewers who have seen enough horror movies, the twist in the story turns out to be way too predictable.
Episode 8: Viral Curse
The final story of the series, “Viral Curse,” acts as a much tempered hybrid of horror classics like “The Babadook” and “Ringu.” As the story follows a single mother overburdened by financial troubles and concerns for her little daughter, she starts feeling the life of her daughter is threatened by the presence of a malevolent spirit, which manifested right after she listened to an audio story that lines up with her own predicament. From the setting to the presentation of supernatural dread, to the emotional connection between a lonely mother and daughter, and a protagonist with whom the audience is able to sympathize rather easily—”Viral”Curse” has nailed everything perfectly. The peer pressure, experience of an outsider, fear stemming from loneliness, and everything else which led to the mental breakdown of the protagonist mother figure was addressed in a proper way, which compensates for the predictable end to the story. If only the final few moments of the segment were handled a bit better, it would have been ranked among the top two of our ranking.
Episode 4: The Vow
While we criticized the predictable aspects of the last two stories in the ranking, the same aspect actually works wonders for “The Vow,” the fourth story of the anthology, which highlights how fear of repercussions and repressed guilt manifest in the worst ways possible. The couple, as the lead protagonists, find out the secrets they have hidden from each other after a vengeful goddess starts haunting them, forcing them to spill out the unpleasant truths, which eventually allows them to strengthen the foundation of their prolonged relationship. There is good use of prosthetics in psychically-induced supernatural elements, but the fear factor is dialed to the minimum, which was an intentional choice as how the selfish desires of protagonists’ gradually build on to become the grisly wounds in a relationship makes for a better element of horror. There is nothing over the top when it comes to showcasing the dread; the characterization is aptly done, and the transformation in the relationship dynamics in the span of one night of terror is handled pretty well—and this entry can easily share the top spot of the anthology along with our favorite pick, “Wedding Dress.”
Episode 2: Wedding Dress
The second story of the anthology series, “Wedding Dress,” perfectly combines the supernatural with psychological elements as it focuses on the tragic story of a designer/tailor whose extreme body dysmorphia leads to her eventual derangement, though her devotion to her craft brings her back as a terrible spirit of vengeance. The atmospheric dread, the graphic body horror, and the critique of the established perception of beauty standards only elevate an already strong narrative, which flaunts a sense of awareness by pointing its fingers at societal norms and class conflict. The set design occasionally conveys a subliminal fear through stacked discarded mannequins, empty floors, flickering lights, and dimly lit stairs, but it can also be over the top in a good way if the story demands such treatment—like the ending corpse wedding scene of the segment. With its resonance of pathos, visual depictions of horror, and underlying theme, “Wedding Dress” feels like a short story written and illustrated by horror legend Junji Ito, which should convey to genre aficionados how much we have loved this particular entry.
