On DVD in Singapore: Somtum and Burn

Hot and spicy stuntman action in Somtum and the sizzlingly sensationalist thriller Burn -- two of last year's offerings from Sahamongkol Film International -- can now had on English-friendly subtitled DVD from Singapore. MovieXclusive has them.

Somtum, one of my favorites from last year -- quite possibly a guilty pleasure -- is a wild one. First, you get not only Australian strongman and wrestler Nathan Jones -- the shaven-headed bad guy from Tony Jaa's Tom Yum Goong -- but also 7-foot-tall, 320-pound bodybuilder-actor Conan Stevens. Then you have the double-flying knee kicks of girl Muay Thai artist "Kat" Sasisa Jindamanee from Born to Fight. Add to that cameo appearances by none other than Kat's Born to Fight co-stars Dynamite Warrior Dan Chupong and Dangerous Flowers' "Nui" Kessarin Ektawatkul, well ... I thought it was a lot of fun. The story has Jones as a gentle giant named Barney who is duped and robbed in Pattaya and befriended by Kat and her friend, played by "Grace" Narawan Techaratanaprasert. They feed Barney spicy papaya salad, which they discover turns him into a raging red hulk. Stevens is half a duo of diamond thieves and somehow the duelling plotlines mix for an ending that sees a jet plane totaled with bare hands and an all-out cage rasseling match. Interestingly, Somtum was in production concurrently with another fighting-kids-in-peril actioner, Power Kids, which also starred Kat and Grace.

Burn (คนไฟลุก), a crime-thriller directed by 999-9999's Peter Manus and starring "Tak" Bongkot Kongmalai, dealt with the sensationalistic topic of spontaneous human combustion. It was slickly done, with a plot involving an oily pharmaceutical company using Thai people as lab rats. It received some play at last year's American Film Market and then was pretty well dismissed. I thought it had its moments.

For extras, the Somtum DVD "a short 2-minute clip where Nathan Jones introduces himself and tells you why you should catch this movie" as well as a 15-minute collection of B-roll clips and trailer while Burn has nil for special features.

(Thanks Logboy!)