Director: Chalit Kraileadmongkol, Pakphun Wongjinda
Year: 2023
Country: Thailand
Alternate Titles: The One Hundred
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
In the early stages of the pandemic, tourists forced to quarantine at a hotel in the middle of the city slowly realize one of the guests was possessed by a mystical centipede-like beast that needs human hosts to inhabit, forcing them to find a way to stop the creature before it can overtake them all.
Review:
For the most part, the film was rather fun and had a lot to like about it. A lot of this starts with the central story, which puts the film in an interesting cross-section of time, yet still tells an intriguing story. The initial setup at the beginning, where everyone is placed inside the hotel to quarantine and is forced to follow their guidelines despite the hotel being ill-prepared for that kind of service, starts this off rather nicely. This is given a nice touch with the threat coming from the mystical centipede creature that shows up as the body-hopping abilities come into play rather nicely. With the folklore of the creature’s history establishing it as the type of being that works really well in this type of environment, where no one can be trusted already because of the pandemic protocols, this setup provides quite a lot of fun and suspense to have from the main setup.
In addition, this has a lot of fun with the creature feature qualities. The use of the Tabongplum legend allows this one to generate some fun. The first attacks are nicely over-the-top with the possessed figure wandering around snatching victims in the dark corridors or remote sections of the hotel, where it can use the sneak attack advantage and the extra-long grasp it has with the massive tentacles, providing the killing blow. Since there’s no witness and no evidence left behind upon investigating everything until much later on, there are some decent attempts at suspense with the patrons not knowing who or what is responsible, even after more of them start to go missing. The ability of the creature to possess others and take them over to do its own killing makes for a great touch since not knowing who it is but still having to deal with the thousands of creatures crawling over every surface possible, lets the final act flow heavily with some impressive visual effects for the creatures. It all gives this a lot to like.
That said, the film does have some big issues. The main drawback centers around the film’s focus on the hotel's guests and staff trying not to catch the disease rather than dealing with the creature on the loose. Far too much of this one is spent on the cleaning protocols and safety precautions being utilized at the hotel, so it never really makes the creature any kind of priority. It just shows up unannounced and begins its rampage seemingly randomly, as a series of innocuous scenes show the crew trying to deal with the influx of guests they have. It has more time for the manager to try to get the staff in line, or the guests going through their own personal issues while staying inside. This all ends up leaving the film without much in the way of a detailed story or investment in what’s happening until the final act.
The other issue here is that there's a huge discrepancy in the final half that goes off in a bizarre direction. Rather than provide a continuation of the idea that the creature has been going through the staff and guests to find a suitable host, instead, we get a wholly confusing story about one of the guests featuring a blood type that will enable the centipede to become immortal with them as a host. Several flashbacks try to help this connection make sense, involving how that comes into being and what caused the creature to try this, but it only serves to be illogical, attempting to bring everything together so the film comes off rather weakly during this ending section. Lastly, the need to include several unnecessary subplots to try to extend the running time, most notably the hotel owner's extramarital affair that goes nowhere, is somewhat infuriating. These are all enough to bring the film down overall.
Overview: ***.5/5
Featuring a lot of good creature feature qualities while being let down by some storyline factors, this one is a generally solid feature that gets brought down by these other issues. Viewers who appreciate this kind of genre effort or are curious about it will have a lot to like, while those who aren’t interested in these factors should heed caution with it.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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