Movie Review: 4bia / Phobia (2008) October Horror Fest (20)

After watching this tale I thought two things... First was - I've seen this before somewhere and the second thing was... Meh!

The two hour movie are in the end - four interconnnect short movies. The story & timeframe are all connected.

Synopsis
The First Story was one of the best. All story is without any kind of voice acting and made almost entirely using technology appliances (in this case a mobile phone). A young teen - Pin - is stuck alone in her apartment as her boyfriend is away on a camping trip (Puak - from the Third Story). She had an accident several months earlier. She starts to receive some messages from a guy who says he can only be contacted at night and is cramped for 100 days. She then sends her picture and when she asks for a photo he sends her photo back saying that he is in there. A ghostly face is slightly visible in the photo. She starts to get nervous and stop messaging. She then discovers that the son of Princess Sophia died and was buried with a cellphone so he can communicate with anyone. Later that night she receives a message from the stranger telling that he is coming to her house. The lights from the streets and building start do disappear and she is attacked by the ghost throwing her out of window into her death. We then watch the scene that made her accident. The Prince receives a text message from his girlfriend ending the relationship and he throws himself under the cab.

The Second Story is probably the one who is less connected to the others. Some guys are bullying a nerdy guy called Ngid and then beat him to death. One of the gang members (Pink) is upset but don't stop them. When he is beaten he curses them. It seems he needs a photo of a dead person with their eyes open to make it work. And one by one the gang starts do die. Even Pink, who had done nothing is targeted to be killed since she was guilty by omission. She is then taken to the police station and none believes her. She then gauges her eyes because the curse is only possible if the ghost of Ngid can see the victim eyes. It seems Ngid phot is of Pin (from the first story) who had died with her eyes open.

The Third Story is set not in the city but in a forest near some river. Four guys are going on a rafting descend., They are Aey, Ter (connects with the fourth story), Shin and Puak (the boyfriend from the first story). At night, while they are all in bed Aey says that if he died he will hunt the one who sleeps in the middle. As they are going on rafting an accident happens and Aey drowns and they can't find them. As the rest of the gang is in camp they decide they must go warn the authorities in the morning but then a strange Aey appears.Then Shin discovers Aey body in the water and try to tells him and Aey (who was a normal kid) becomes a dead person and starts chasing the rest of the friends. As they band together in the river they see across Aey and ask him to leave them alone and Aey points to the water and we see the body of Shin in the water and soon afterwards we also see the bodies of Ter and Puak. It seems they all died but since their soul hadn't seen the body it was not able to fully recognize it was dead. Afterwards they say they will all be friends in the afterlife.

The fourth story deals with Pim a Flight attendant, being call out to work in a charter with only Princess Sophia. As she arrives at the plane she is informed that her collegue will not be flying because it was discovered that her brother (Ter, from the previous story) died. Since the beginning we see a distant Princess Sophia maltreating Pim, including burning her harm with a tea. When she is being asked to dine she says that she wants to eat Pim's food instead (rice with shrimp). Pim then discovers that Princess Sophia knows about her affair with the Prince. When they land we see Princess Sofia sick and coughing. Later we learn that she died that night and they are being ask to travel her back to their own country. Again, the plane is empty, only a corpse on a seat (what a heck? who would travel some dead person that way??)  and she starts hearing coughs. From this moment on we are always in doubt what is happening and is really Pim fabricated some apparations and such or is really Princess Sophia revenge.  Pim is acting like a lunatic even  says to the captain that the Princess is after her. She tries to smash the plane's window but it's stop by the Captain who bound her to her chair. When the plane stops and some men entered the plan they see the corpse of the Princess in her place and Pim dead on the floor. 

Review
Did I enjoy? Some stories. The first is very interesting tale and it was done in a very interesting way. Without lines and some scary moments.. but not that many. Good brief tale. Go watch One Miss Called instead.

She looks like Jessica Alba... does she not? - No, that's not from the movie. There are no sex scenes or even cleavages whatsoever....

The second story is probably the weakest of them all. The CGI effects in the end are truly truly awful. It made me sick to watch them. The story is something we've seen before, a boy dwelt in the dark arts is on a revenge rampage.  Nothing particular interesting... The least connnected story of the bunch.

The third story is quite good and reminds me of some gothic tales from 1800's and such. We've got some dead dudes who don't know they are dead running around until they find out. Good plot. There is also a comic moments where they spoil several horror movies plots... and Titanic. Good stuff and the best of the lot.

The Fourth story is story focus on mystery and horror building. More a thriller than a horror (with the exception of the last few minutes - interesting two characters..).