Toey and Kat fight zombies
By Tatat Bunnag
Photos courtesy of
Sahamongkol Film International
Did you know
Toey become well known when he played Rachanon in the TV series Suparburoot Jutathep.
Zombie films have been popular with horror movie fans for decades, with 1960s classics like Night of the Living Dead still finding new fans. More recently, TV series like The Walking Dead and smash hit movies like World War Z have kept the zombie genre alive and unwell.
The latest Thai zombie movie is Phee Ha Ayothaya, directed by MR Chalermchatri Yukol (Adam), who also directed the hit film The Cop. Set in the Ayutthaya period, the film is about people who mysteriously die in a village, then return as zombies to feast on the living.
Student Weekly recently caught up with the film’s two leading actors — 23-year-old Pongsakorn Mettarikanon (Toey) and 21-year-old Sonya Singha (Kat) — to ask them about the making of Phee Ha Ayothaya.
Student Weekly: What are your characters in the movie like?
Kat: I play a girl from a wealthy family named Mian. She loves her freedom and is a bit stubborn. Mian falls in love with Kong, a poor kid who lives in a temple. Mian wants to go out with Kong, even though it’s prohibited. Then everything in the village goes terribly wrong.
Toey: I play Kong. When people in the village start dying for no apparent reason and coming back as zombies, Kong tries to help Mian escape.
Student Weekly: What exactly is Phee Ha?
Toey: Phee Ha is a fictional term for people who die from an epidemic disease and then come back from the dead like zombies.
Kat: I can’t really describe how ugly a Phee Ha is. Their bodies are covered in blood and serious skin infections. They look like walking corpses with no brains, but they’re really strong!
Student Weekly: Do you guys get to fight the zombies in the film?
Kat: Yes! [Laughs.] When it comes to fighting, the villagers have to pick up anything around them to use as weapons. You’ll see sticks, swords, hammers, hoes, spades and shovels used as weapons. There’s a pretty gory scene where I use a hoe to cut off a zombie’s head! [Laughs.]
Student Weekly: Kat, how did your debut feature film role come about?
Kat: I was fortunate to meet the director, Adam, a few years ago. He said that he’d been working on a new horror film project and invited me to audition for it. The audition was very tough because I had to remember dialogue and the way of speaking used in the Ayutthaya period. But I was lucky to be chosen for the film. I really did my best acting in Phee Ha Ayothaya.
Student Weekly: What was it like working with Adam as the director?
Toey: Adam is a very talented director. He’s devoted to his work and art, but he’s also a very easy-going person. He’s very understanding, which is good for actors like us. It allows us to work without a lot of pressure.
Student Weekly: Why should horror movie fans not miss Phee Ha Ayothaya?
Toey: It’s a horror movie, but the plot focuses more on what goes on in the human mind when the survival instinct kicks in.
Kat: It’s a new style of horror film that has never been made in Thailand before. The movie has moments of horror, action, drama, romance and even comedy.
Vocabulary
- feast (v): to eat a large amount food, with great enjoyment
stubborn (adj): determined not to change your opinion or attitude
prohibit (v): to not allow something
epidemic (adj): rapidly spreading to large number of people or over a wide area
corpse (n): a dead body, especially of a human being
gory (adj): involving a lot of blood or violence
come about (phrasal v): to happen
easy-going (adj): relaxed and happy to accept things without worrying or getting angry
understanding (adj): showing sympathy for other people’s problems and being willing to forgive them when they do something wrong
kick in (phrasal v): to begin to take effect
