Fantasy horror from Phranakorn: Deep in the Jungle

Be very careful. There's a fantasy horror film coming from Phranakorn Film: Deep in the Jungle.

It is written and directed by Teerawat Rujeenatham and stars Jesadaporn Pholdee (Dang Bireley's Young Gangsters).

Phranakorn is a prolific studio, and churns out a lot of comedies, all with the same cast of comedians doing the same scatalogical jokes, double entendres and slapstick pratfalls. Nonetheless, audiences eat the stuff up, because, well you know ...

The studio also has done some horror and fantasy films. In the Name of the Tiger was one of their fantasy titles a couple of years back. It had some cool stuff going on, with some fancy stunts and a bit of flashy CGI. I tried to watch it, but couldn't get through it. Perhaps, with some patience I'll be successful in figuring it out. Horror titles from Phranakorn have included Pern Maung: The Haunted Drum, which got some attention from the awards earlier this year, and Train of the Dead, which is being marketed overseas.

Now comes Deep in the Jungle, which from the poster looks to be another retelling of The Snake King's Child, an old Cambodian legend that was last depicted on film in 2001.

It's basically the same story, just given an injection of sci-fi fantasy horror, placed in a contemporary setting, and perhaps this time some CGI snakes, instead of real snakes glued to a bathing cap, like the Cambodians did for Snake King's Child. Here's the synopsis for Deep in the Jungle from the company's website:

Nawin, an army secret service agent decided to withdraw from a scientific investigation because of unlawful procedures that involved International forces. Although he had tried desperately to avoid the illegal acts of the armed forces, it seems the harder he tried the more involved he became. He was constantly under surveillance no matter where he went or what he did which made him realize there was more to the situation that meets the eye.

Jin, a young woman who Nawin once saved from a brutal attack is undergoing a strange transformation within her body as her blood circulates through mutation. This transformation on Jin, is what Nawin believes the International forces are after. The half breed mix between animal and human.

Nawin decides to help Jin by taking her back to her birth place. As he leads her home, her illness seems to subside. They will soon grow close and fall in love. When it comes time for Nawin to choose between her and his life, he awakes to find that it has all been an image of his imagination…or was it?

Deep in the Jungle is scheduled to open in Thailand cinemas on July 17.

(Via 24 Frames per Second)