Death Whisperer
Directed by	Taweewat Wantha
Written by	Sorarat Jirabovornwisut Thammanan Chulaborirak
Based on	Tee Yod by Krittanon
Produced by	Narit Yuvaboon
Starring	Nadech Kugimiya Denise Jelilcha Kapaun Kajbundit Jaidee Peerakit Patcharabunyakiat Rattanawadee Wongtong Arisara Wongchalee
Music by	Terdsak Janpan Banana Sound Studio
Production company	Major Join Film
Distributed by	M Pictures
Release date	October 26, 2023 (2023-10-26)
Running time	121 minutes
Country	Thai
Language	Thai
Budget	฿20 million[1]
Box office	฿197.53 million (Bangkok, Metropolitan & Chiang Mai) ฿495.1 million (nationwide) as January 14, 2024

Death Whisperer (also known as Tee Yod; Thai: ธี่หยด) is a 2023 Thai supernatural horror film adapted from Krittanon's novel, Tee Yod.^[2] Produced by Major Join Film and BEC World, a joint venture of BEC World (Channel 3) and Major Join Film, directed by Thaweewat Wanta. Starring Nadech Kugimiya, Denise Jelilcha Kapaun,Karj-bundit Jaidee, Peerakit Patcharabunyakiat, Rattanawadee Wongtong, Arisara Wongchalee and Paramet Noi-um. It was released on Thursday October 26, 2023.^[3][4]

Storyline

The story takes place with a Thai-Chinese family in a village far from civilization in 1972 in Kanchanaburi province. A farmer family with six children including three sons, Yak, Yos, Yod, and three daughters, Yad, Yam, Yee, respectively.

Suddenly, horror happened to a young girl in the village. When she suddenly dies due to mysterious reasons. Soon after, it started happening to this family. When the three daughters encounter a mysterious and ghostly woman in black dress on the way from home to school.

Not long after, Yam was sick with strange symptoms. Her expression changed into a frightening one. Along with the eerie sounds that Yad heard in the middle of the night. It is a repeated, "Tee Yod, Tee Yod".

When the family is facing such a supernatural threat. Former soldier and hot-blooded eldest son, Yak, must return home to solve all the problems.

Cast

• Nadech Kugimiya as Yak
• Rattanawadee Wongtong as Yam
• Denise Jelilcha Kapaun as Yad
• Kajbundit Jaidee as Yos
• Peerakit Patcharabunyakiat as Yod
• Nutthatcha Padovan as Yee
• Arisara Wongchalee as Boonyen
• Paramet Noi-um as Hang
• Ongart Cheamcharoenpornkul as Serge Paphan
• Porjade Kaenpetch as Mr. Phut
• Manita Chobchuen as Woman in Black Dress
• Jampa Saenprom as Chuay
• Michelle Samiha Lamloet Haque as Nat

Original soundtrack

• "Tee doen-thang klap ma" (ธี่เดินทางกลับมา; "Who Traveled Back"), ending theme by Kan The Parkinson
• "Prod terd duang jai" (โปรดเถิดดวงใจ; "Please, Darling"), ending theme by Toon Tongjai

Production and background

Death Whisperer is based on a horror story posted on Pantip.com in late May 2015, which had over 2,000 comments and forwarded 130,000 times. The story was rewritten into a novel released in 2017 by the same author. It was just a few months before the film was released, it was also told again on a popular ghost program on the radio station. Krittanon, the author claims is a true story that happened to his mother's family in the past when she was a 15-year-old teenager in a province in the central region.^[5][4][6]

The term "Tee Yod", originating from a mysterious woman in black dress, remains enigmatic in both its meaning and linguistic origin. It has been suggested that it might be the Mon language. However, Ong Bunjoon, an expert in Mon arts and culture say that this word has no meaning. Moreover, he himself had never heard this word before, and if there is any word with the closest pronunciation. It's pronounced as Tae Yod (แตะ โหยด) which means "waist swing".^[7]

Taweewat Wantha, the director admits that he took the ghost's haunting style from the 1981 film The Evil Dead, in which a ghost haunts people in bugging ways. It is a ghost that laughs at viewers and has insane ways of haunting people.^[8]

The film held a sacrifice ceremony at Channel 3 Studio, Nong Khaem on the Monday, April 24, 2023, and began filming the first queue on the Wednesday, April 26. Before on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, the filmmakers released a poster of the movie out to be seen.^[4] On Wednesday, September 6, 2023, the first teaser was released to seen and the cast was officially revealed.^[9][5]

Later, on Monday, September 25, 2023, Major Cineplex and IMAX Corporation together with Major Join Film jointly announced the release of the movie Death Whisperer to be shown on official IMAX. The film was shot by using a dedicated from IMAX-certified movie camera, and send to remasted with IMAX DMR technology. It is the first Thai movie to be shown in IMAX theaters and Krungsri IMAX, all 7 official branches in Thailand.^[10]

Later on Thursday, September 28, 2023, Channel 3 and M Studio held a worship ceremony and press conference to launch the movie at the front yard of Maleenont Tower Building (Channel 3).^[11]

Release and reception

Death Whisperer launches on Tuesday, October 24, 2023 (2 days before the nationwide screening) at Infinity Hall, 5th floor, Siam Paragon along with the entire cast and crew. The Gala Premiere screens at 8:00 p.m.^[12] The pre-show started on 7:00 p.m. of October 26, 2023 only in Major Cineplex, IMAX theater and selected SF Cinema, Zigma CineStadium theater.

Its first day of screening was on Thursday, October 26, 2023, earning 39 million baht, making it the Thai film opening with the highest grossing of the year.^[13] Before making an income of 100 million baht in just 3 days.^[14] And after being released for only 5 days has already grossed 300 million baht, making it the fastest-grossing Thai film of the year.^[15][1] The movie Death Whisperer will also be released in eight other Asian countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Brunei and Cambodia on November 16, in both IMAX and normal resolutions.^[16] Later, it made a record of being the 9th highest grossing Thai film of all time in Bangkok, Metropolitan and Chiang Mai. The movie was released in Singapore on December 14.^[17]

After the film had been in theaters for about a month and had made a lot of money, Channel 3 and Major Join Film, the copyright owners, arranged the lowest ticket price to only 69 baht, and in the IMAX system it was only 99 baht.^[18]

Until the beginning of December, the end of the program. The ticket price was only 39 baht.^[19]

In Singapore, the movie received mixed reviews. Cherlynn Ng of The New Paper writes that "the well-paced film blends a compelling narrative, memorable characters and an atmosphere oozing with unease,"^[17] while Douglas Tseng of 8 Days compared the film with other horror films that were released in Singapore and wrote "it’s tough not to go in feeling" indifferent.^[20]

Sequel

In an interview on Channel 3's Hone-Krasae program, Taweewat Wantha said that a sequel is very possible. Moreover, the film itself seems to convey the same meaning. The ending scene shows Yak invading and destroying the broken spirit house and the large tree where is the habitat of woman in black dress, and concluded by saying, "You and I have definitely met" along with saw a woman in black dress in his two eyes.^[6]

See also

• Pop (ghost)

References

External links

• Death Whisperer at IMDb