Film review: Net I Die – sexy, trashy Thai horror about cyberbullying

1/5 stars

A recent social media phenomenon has emerged, whereby pretty young things with large numbers of followers can carve out a living endorsing luxury brands and products on their channels. But in new Thai horror film Net I Die (a wince-inducing pun on “Net Idol”), they have attracted the unwanted attention of a murderous supernatural force.

A year after the country’s most popular net idol, Monica (Kitty Chicha Amattayakul), hanged herself live on her video channel, more girls in the industry start dying in increasingly horrific circumstances. They were all tagged in Monica’s suicide video, including Sa (Sarunthorn Klaiudom), a former idol-turned-beauty entrepreneur. While the deaths fail to pique the interest of the authorities, Sa’s boyfriend Jak (Pitt Karchai) investigates, and all clues soon point to Sa’s new facial cream, Malisza.

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At one stage, it appears Net I Die wanted to include some kind of cautionary tale about the dangers of cyberbullying, but directors Preedee Weeratham and Nuttachai Jiraanont seem content to pursue a mystery so obvious, it could have been wrapped up with a single conversation and a visit to Monica’s video channel.

Net I Die’s primary failing is that murderous Monica is easily the film’s most sympathetic character. Elsewhere, the interchangeable cast of scantily-clad victims pretty much all deserve what is coming to them, and yet the kill scenes are neither scary nor gratifying. Offering little more than a few shadowy figures in the background and a cacophonic sound mix, the film makes for a torturous 86-minute ordeal.

Net I Die opens on February 1

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