Movie: The Thai Coffin Ritual For The Living

Thai film director Ekachai Uekrongtham, maker of Beautiful Boxer and Pleasure Factory, has a new film to be released: “The Coffin” - a movie about a deeply bizarre Thai death ritual for the living. Another artful Thai horror film.

Inspired by the true Thai ritual of lying in coffins to get rid of bad luck and prolong life, The Coffin is a supernatural thriller about a young man and a young woman who decide to go through the ritual in Thailand.

Chris, a claustrophobic Thai architect, does it in the hope of saving his Japanese fiancée who’s dying of brain tumour. Sue, a nutritionist visiting Thailand from Hong Kong, does it to save her own life after being diagnosed with lung cancer - one week before her wedding.

We had quite some stories on absolutely about the morbid tendencies of Thai society. The Coffin enters a whole new level. Think of relaxing in a coffin as a remedy. And as always, Wise Kwai had the first mention of not only the first (Korean) trailer:

After the ritual, Chris and Sue experience what appear to be miracles in their respective lives. But soon, they find themselves confronted with a series of bizarre and terrifying incidents.

With the help of a professor specializing in paranormal cases associated with the ritual, they set out to exorcise the ghosts that haunt them, and attempt to reverse the wheel of karma.

Thrilling, mysterious and ultimately moving, The Coffin is announced to be a spine-chilling film about
the beauty of life and death, and coming face to face with living and dying.

Thai-born writer/director Ekachai Uekrongtham was inspired to make The Coffin after hearing about the “mass funeral for the living” where thousands of people turned up at a North Eastern temple in Thailand to lie in coffins and went through the ritual.

Referred to in Thailand as “non loeng sadorcro”, which literally means “lie in a coffin, get rid of bad luck”, this controversial ritual has been around for decades but has become increasingly popular in the last few years.

It involves participants lying in coffins while of monks perform death rites on them as if they are already dead. This is then followed by a chant of new life. Shot below is from a real ritual:

Many participants had said they felt as if they were reborn after the ritual - with all their bad karma buried behind them. Some claimed that the ritual helped fool the spirits that they’re already dead so they could start their new lives afresh like newborns.

There are also others who reported that they’ve met with the spirits of their dead loved ones while lying in the coffins.

Or is it just a bad omen to lie in a coffin as a living?

This “death rite for the living” is not without its detractors. Some brand it as an occult practice while many feel it’s bad omen to lie in coffins when they’re still alive.

Some went as far as saying that this ritual is nothing but a case of commercialism entering the sacred religious domain.

The critics, however, have not stopped more and more Thai people to voluntarily go through this death ritual for the living.

In Thailand, one may request for the ritual to be performed on him or her at a number of temples across the country. A few temples publicize and conduct mass “non loeng sadorcro” on a regular basis.

Usually no fee is charged, but participants normally give donations to the temples in return for having the ritual performed on them.

It’s speculated that the ritual in its current form is an evolved version of what started out as a simple act of donating coffins to the poor and those who died without relatives.

Actually, some of those coffins look rather comfy!

Thailand release date is August 21st, 2008. Koreans seem to be loving such stuff. And don’t you love those bones in the ashes? Completely not after my fancy, but we’re here to share and inspire, aren’t we.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Movie: The Thai Coffin Ritual For The Living”

Oneditorial on July 8th, 2008 5.06 pm

I saw the trailer last week. It already scared the hell out of me. I do not mind sleeping next to the coffin of someone I know, but I do not think I would be comfortable to laying down in a coffin while I am still alive, even though sooner or later we will all be sleeping there eternally.
BangkokDan on July 20th, 2008 5.38 pm

Wise Kwai has a good overall refresher - the Thai site of The Coffin has gone live.

BangkokDan

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