The torment doesn’t just end when the bell rings. It follows you down the corridor, lurks behind classroom doors, and creeps into the silence of your bedroom at night.
Bullying is its own kind of haunting – one that feeds on fear and isolation.
In Malaysia, the horror is real. Just last month, 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir fell to her death in Sabah, with five teens now charged for verbally abusing her. In Kedah, a Form One girl was found tied up in a school toilet.
This makes the arrival of “Attack 13” by renowned Thai horror film director Taweewat Wantha feel eerily timely. It’s chilling not just because of the jump scares, but because it holds up a mirror to the horrors already playing out in real life.
“Attack 13”, which runs for 105 minutes, features Korranid Laosubinprasoet, Nichapalak Thongkham, Veerinsara Tangkitsuvanich, Tarisa Preechatangkit, Ramita Rattanapakdee, and Nuttawatt Thanathaveeprasert.
The film is the first feature of 13 Studio, a new production company led by Taweewat that will be focusing on telling Thai horror stories.
The film follows Jindahra (Korranid), a new transfer student who clashes with Bussaba (Nichapalak), the school’s volleyball team captain and a feared bully.
When Bussaba is found hanged in the gym, her vengeful spirit returns to terrorise those who wronged her.
As eerie incidents spread through the school, Jindahra and her friends must uncover the truth behind the haunting before they become the next victims.
One half of “Attack 13” plays it straight, following Bussaba’s reign of terror, and the volleyball teammates struggling to stand up to her.
But just when that story hits its peak, the director flips the switch and the film dives headfirst into full on Thai horror.
What follows is a bloody showcase of deaths straight out of a “Final Destination” flick – decapitations, gouged-out eyes, and enough gore to make the squeamish look away. Backed by pounding music and relentless scares, the pace never really lets up
As a commercial horror, “Attack 13” does its job: it entertains, throws in a few unexpected twists, and keeps you hooked.
But the film also leaves plenty of unanswered questions. For instance, why did the novice shaman who raised Bussaba become a shaman at all, especially once their true identity was revealed?
The bigger issue, though, is the film’s message. Director Taweewat Wantha does highlight absent parents, teachers who do nothing, and the bystander effect.
But the core problem – bullying itself – feels undercut. Why bring back a dead bully as an even stronger, more terrifying force, only to torment her victims all over again? Why not give the victims some power or resolution?
Yes, the climax hints at addressing this, but the closing scene offers neither hope nor closure. Maybe that’s intentional. Maybe the point is that bullying is a vicious cycle – one that, like a ghost, never really disappears.
In the end, “Attack 13” is memorable – a horror flick that delivers on jump scares and gore, even if its message feels muddled.
Whether you see it as pure popcorn entertainment or a grim mirror of real-life bullying, one thing’s certain: it will leave you thinking long after the screams fade.
As of press time, ‘Attack 13’ is screening in cinemas nationwide.