The Medium (Thai: ร่างทรง Rang Song, literally: Mediumship) is a 2021 Isan-language mockumentary supernatural folk horror film[2] co-written and produced by Na Hong-jin and directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun. It is a co-production of Thailand’s GDH 559 and South Korea’s Showbox.[3] The film premiered at the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival on 11 July 2021.[4] It was theatrically released in South Korea on 14 July 2021.[5] It was selected as the Thai entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards[6] but was not nominated.
The film was judged the best feature film at the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and was awarded the Bucheon Choice Award for the best film.[7] On the box office front as per Korean Film Council data, it is ranked 15th among all the films released in the year 2021 in South Korea, with gross of US$7.35 million and 831,126 admissions, as of 26 September 2021.[1] It is the 6th highest-grossing Korean film of 2021.[1]
Plot
A documentary crew travels to the Isan region of Thailand to interview Nim, a medium who claims to be possessed by the spirit of Ba Yan, a local deity. She had been chosen to be Ba Yan’s host after her sister, Noi, refused to accept the role and converted to Christianity.
Nim attends the funeral of Noi’s husband Wiroj, who had died of a heart attack, and reveals that misfortune had befallen the men in his family. Wiroj’s father, a factory owner, had killed himself after being caught committing insurance fraud. Wiroj’s son Mac had died in a traffic accident. Noi is left with her daughter Mink, and they live with Manit (Nim and Noi’s brother) and his family.
Mink starts behaving strangely and exhibiting multiple personalities, including those of an attention-seeking child, an old man, a drunkard, and a prostitute. She also hears voices in her head, has nightmares, and experiences abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding. She is fired from her job after her boss discovers that she has been having sex with different men at her workplace. Nim initially believes that those are signs that Ba Yan has selected Mink to be the next host, but Noi refuses to give her consent to a ceremony to transfer Ba Yan’s spirit from Nim to Mink.
Nim later learns that Mink had committed incest with Mac, who had actually hanged himself, and thinks that Mac’s ghost is haunting Mink. After Mink attempts suicide, Noi thinks Ba Yan is punishing her for her earlier refusal to be Ba Yan’s new host by making her daughter suffer, so she arranges with another medium to conduct a ceremony to transfer Ba Yan’s spirit to Mink. This was done without Nim’s knowledge and approval. The ceremony fails; Mink becomes possessed by multiple spirits and she attacks her mother before running away. Meanwhile, on the way to Ba Yan’s shrine, Nim sees that the deity’s statue has been decapitated.
A month later, Mink is found in a delirious state in the ruins of her grandfather’s factory. Nim brings Mink to see Santi, a more powerful medium, who says that Mink has been possessed by numerous evil spirits. Mink’s paternal ancestors had been cursed for committing many wicked deeds, hence the misfortunes which had befallen her family over the generations. The failed transference ceremony had worsened Mink’s condition by making her more vulnerable to possession by any spirit. Nim, along with Santi and his students, prepares for an elaborate ritual to exorcise Mink. In the days leading to the ritual, Mink creates havoc at home by briefly abducting Manit’s son, boiling her family’s dog alive and eating it, among other things. Nim dies in her sleep the day before the ritual.
During the ritual, which is conducted at the ruined factory, Noi offers her body as a vessel to attract all the evil spirits haunting Mink, so that Santi can then exorcise her, trap all the spirits in a container, and bury it deep in the ground. Meanwhile, the possessed Mink has been locked in her room and the door is sealed with paper charms; Manit’s wife and others keep watch to ensure she stays inside until the ritual is complete. Halfway into the ritual, Manit’s wife hears her son’s crying coming from Mink’s room and thinks that Mink has kidnapped her son again. She enters the room, only to be stabbed to death by Mink. All hell breaks loose when the evil spirits possess everyone involved in the ritual, making them fight and kill themselves or each other.
In the meantime, Mink kills everyone at home and goes to the factory, where she meets her mother and a few survivors. Now possessed by evil spirits, Noi momentarily claims to be Ba Yan’s host when she chants a prayer while touching her daughter’s head, attempting to exorcise her. However, she is distracted when Mink apparently returns to normal and calls her “Mother”. Mink uses the chance to burn her mother alive, while the survivors are eventually overwhelmed by the possessed.
A mid-credits scene shows Nim undergoing a crisis of faith one day before her death. Before breaking down in tears, she wonders if she has really been possessed by Ba Yan or whether she has been imagining it all this time.
