Phobia 2 (2009) User Reviews

A worthy sequel!

[Nevorno · 8/10 · 24 January 2010]

Phobia 2 is (as is predecessor) divided into short segments, directed by an all star team of Thai movie makers. That is makers of movies of the scary kind! It's rather unfair to write a review of the movie as a whole, so instead I'll write a bit about the individual parts.

The movie starts out with "Novice", the story of a boy being dropped off at a Buddhist monastery. The segment is eerie and set in a beautiful environment. The horror theme is a mix between a few jumpscares and some painfully gory bits. All in all an OK segment, but it lacked in the scary department. 6/10

Segment number two, labeled "Ward" takes place in (surprise) a hospital ward. A young man is injured and confined to a hospital bed, next to a man on life support. He can't leave his room and bed as scary events unfold. That is also what the horror theme is based around, completed with a fair amount of well-directed jumpscares. 7/10

The third segment is named "Backpackers" and could be used as a propaganda film on why you shouldn't hitchhike. It has the feel of a classic horror movie, with great makeup, gore and sound effects. It also deals with morals in pressed situations as the protagonist has to make some tough decisions. It has been done before, but I still loved this segment. 8/10

The fourth segment, "Salvage" is set in a second hand car store, dealing in a very special type of cars. It's built around a lot of cool ideas and there's plenty of both gore and jumpscares, but the story is a bit weak in my opinion. 6/10

Finally, my favorite part. I loved the segment "In the middle" from the first movie and this one is even better. The cast from "In the middle" is back to poke more fun on the horror genre (including their previous adventure). The twists, turns, plot holes and clichés creates a truly hilarious and fantastic short. Banjong Pisanthanakun has a great deal of self distance and both Shutter (once again) and Alone are made fun of, as well as the entire Hollywood horror genre. 10/10

First, more scares. Second, more gory.

[khalifshirad · 8/10 · 18 December 2009]

I admit this movie is excellent. It got more scares and more gory. The movie had 5 stories("Novice","Ward","Backpackers","Salvage","In the end"). I like 5 of them. "Novice" is gory. "Ward" is scary, "Backpackers" is thrilling, "Salvage" is scary yet gory and "In the end" is Funny and scary. Phobia 2 is better than 4BIA. In 4BIA, Paween Purikitpanya made the story a little bit weird. But, well done for the improvement at Phobia 2. In Phobia 2, "In the end" Had the same cast as 4BIA-"In the middle". But, i think they are funnier at this movie. And Marsha Wattanapanich (who played at "Alone")is funny to you know. But she act funny a little overreacted. That's just what i'm going to say. Well done Phobia 2.

My Vote: 8/10

Lacking the suspense of the first Phobia

[eddax · 6/10 · 18 February 2010]

I quite liked Phobia so I was quite disappointed that this sequel, with five segments by different directors, doesn't come close to matching the first.

What I especially liked about Phobia was that three out of the four stories had good suspense. For horrors with relatively low budgets, the way to go is definitely suspense over special effects. With Phobia 2, none of the stories had any level of suspense close to the first's. The first segment was boring, the second was unoriginal, as was the third (zombies!) but it was still kinda cool, the fourth was kinda messy, and the last story was... fun, actually, since it was humorous and had a couple of twists in it.

I'll give the movie a marginal thumbs-up based on the third and last stories.

Uneven, but good overall.

[lewiskendell · 7/10 · 5 October 2012]

An anthology is the sum of its parts, so how does this particular set stack up?

Novice: A young man with a troubled past is left to live among monks, where karma catches up to him. Interesting idea, but lacking in execution and a bit boring until the end. (5/10)

Ward: An injured teenager spends the night in a hospital room with a brain dead old man on a respirator who is slated to be taken off life support the next day. Spooky and violent, with a twist ending. (7/10)

Backpackers: My favorite of the bunch. Two young hitchhikers are picked up by two truckers with cargo more dangerous than any of them know. I'd love to see a full movie made from this one. (9/10)

Salvage: A dishonest car saleswoman had a terrifying night when one of her vehicles is returned by an angry customer and her own son disappears. A gruesome little ghost story, once again featuring karma as a main theme. (8/10)

In the End: A funny and subversive tale about the filming of one of those "spooky long-haired ghost girl" horror films that had been coming out of the east so frequently in the last 10+ years. (8.5/10)

Phobia 2 gets off to a rocky start, but overall it's an entertaining and varied mix of Thai horror.

Pretty good.

[chrichtonsworld · 6/10 · 6 February 2010]

The problem with anthology movies is that the quality of each individual story differs from the other and therefore makes it real difficult to grade the overall experience. But i will try. The first thing I noticed that there isn't a real connection between the individual stories. Other than the prominent role given to cars. This movie could have made more impact had there been a cleverer connection. Phobia 2 is very visual and doesn't rely too much on dialog. Which is very smart since this way it will appeal to a large (international) audience. Most movies were creepy and had decent buildups. There are some sequences however that didn't work for me. I got the impression whenever a scene failed to deliver on tension and suspense they replaced it with gore. Which had the complete opposite effect on me of what was intended. From the five stories there are two that stand out. These are "Backpackers" and "In the end". This last story is absolutely hilarious and scary at the same time. It is full with twists and turns that will creep you out and will make you laugh. This story alone is the reason to watch Phobia 2. To be honest (apart from some scenes) I didn't find it really scary. Stories like "Novice" and "Salvage" weren't compelling enough. And too often the loud background music announced the scares which ruined most of the surprise. Overall however I enjoyed this movie. Just don't expect too much.

Mostly good.

[dzong · 7/10 · 23 September 2014]

"Phobia 2" is an anthology of Thai horror films made by some of Thailand's top film directors. As previous reviewers have mentioned, it's difficult to rate anthology films because they may vary wildly in quality.

"NOVICE" (by the director of "Body") is the weakest of the bunch. A delinquent teenager is dropped off at a jungle monastery by his mother who promises to pick him up "when things calm down". "Novice" has some very good ideas but ends up depending too much on loud noises and jump scares while also being somewhat dull. Great ending, weak film. 6/10 "WARD" (the directorial debut of a Thai producer) finds a teenager placed in a hospital bed next to an old man on life support after a routine bicycle accident. Strange things begin happening and the film achieves a claustrophobic "Rear Window" feel since the strong-willed teen can't movie his legs. Good but predictable. 7/10 "BACKPACKERS" (by the director of "Dorm") was my favorite. When it starts off with two silly Japanese teenagers hitchhiking in Thailand, you wonder why it's a horror movie. That's answered soon enough. Thrilling, spooky, gory and exciting. Sadly, this director has turned more to teen comedies lately. 10/10 "SALVAGE" (by the co-director of "Shutter" and "Alone") features another story about karmic justice as a woman who sells used cars gets a comeuppance that would never happen in an American movie. Also takes a while to get going, but ends up worth the time. 7/10 "IN THE END" (by the OTHER co-director of "Shutter" and "Alone", as well as "Pee Mak") is delightfully silly and a great way to end the series. You'll have to know a little bit about Thai horror (think "Scream"), acting and Thai sense of humor, so this might be the most difficult for Western audiences. Still enjoyable with a creepy ending....9/10

Comic horror

[ll_mei_li · 28 July 2011]

What I like about this sequel is that it was not the typical heavy, depressing Thai horror film unlike the others. Though there are several endings which are not really favorable for the protagonist, some parts of it contains comic scenes which lightens up the vibe. There was one episode though that I found a bit too exaggerated, especially in terms of the Special Effects, good thing the gore and the morbidity saved it.:) Another thing is that, unlike the first installment, the movie was not at all about the title, if I was the producer of the film, i would name it "KARMA" :) I like how the movie portrayed that your actions may affect the future and how your wrong doings may get back to you someday. It is like a modern horror version of a tale with a moral lesson. Criminals and bad people should totally watch this film. :) You could really see the regret in the eyes of the featured character. I also enjoyed the suspense and the make up of the monsters in this film. It was worth watching though, I recommended it to my friends and when they watched it, they also recommended it to their friends and they actually liked it and would give it a score of 10.

A sequel that actually was better than its predecessor...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 3 April 2011]

"Phobia 2" was a vast improvement from the first movie. There is a feel to this movie that the directors had an actual goal and ambition with their stories, unlike the first movie, which seemed like someone went "hey, lets make some short horror stories" and it was put on film.

The stories in "Phobia 2" are more thought through and more thoroughly fleshed out. The characters are given more depth and it is so much more easy to immerse yourself in the different stories.

The first segment, "Novice", deals with a troubled teenager sent away to a monastery where he must come face to face with the demons in his closet. This story wasn't really scary, but it had a nice twist along the way.

The second segment, "Ward", takes place in a hospital room, where a young man shares the room with an old man hooked up to life support. But all is not well here... This story was a bit disturbing, because there was always a shock just around the corner. The ending, however, was somewhat of a disappointment.

The third segment, "Backpacker", is my personal favorite. Two Japanese hitch hikers are picked up by a truck in Thailand. But the truck is carrying a dreadful secret both in its compartment and with one of the drivers. Now, what made this segment so unique (in my opinion) was because it had zombies in it, and I am a huge zombie fan. Lots of adrenalin and edge-of-your-seat thrills here.

The fourth segment, "Salvage", tells the story of a used car dealership that sells restored cars that were involved in accidents. And the cars carry the ghosts of their terrible past. This particular story was interesting and had some good moments along the way.

The fifth and final segment, "End", revolves around a film crew making a ghost movie. A horror movie within a horror movie, clever eh? However, the set is beset by trouble and things quickly fall apart. This particular segment was interesting because you had the group of young guys from "Phobia" (the first part) return to the sequel. There is a lot of humor in this segment, and it doesn't really fit in a horror anthology, but it is still good to watch. And well worth a couple of laughs along the way.

That being said, then "Phobia 2" is a good enough movie in the Thai horror genre, but there are far better movies available out there. But in comparison to "Phobia", then the stories are better here, the scares are better, and there is just a more wholesome touch to the entire movie. "Phobia 2" is a good choice for an evening of smaller scares, if you like Thai horror movies.

The last segment got me cracking up!!

[marcussanjuan · 9/10 · 8 September 2018]

In the plot summary it described the last story to be scary but it was actually very funny!!

Don't Waste Your Time

[kenji9083 · 4/10 · 4 May 2020]

Simply put, not scary at all. Overall second rate productions.

Ignore the last story

[m-siddharth93-746-157778 · 8/10 · 18 August 2013]

I found the first four stories spine-chilling but the last one was a real turn-off. Come on, why would anyone mix up comedy with horror? This comedy horror mix up works for other movies which wanna go unconventional and doesn't have a decent plot.

Phobia 2 had these 4 superb stories, this movie surpasses its prequel by ages, fortunately CG was better in this one, the make-up artist has done a fabulous job. Direction is marvelous, the guy knows when and where to pop the horror.

If I had to rate the five stories individually, 8,7,6,9,5 (out of 10).

It would have been much much better if the fifth story was placed either in between or in the beginning. Concluding, download the English subtitles and do watch this movie.

Brilliant Direction + Puerile Screenplay = Appallingly Pedestrian Nonsense.

[supadude2004 · 2/10 · 12 July 2011]

Direction was very polished, first rate even. But that's where any attempt at greatness departs. The problem with every segment of the five short horror movies, was... in every single case, and without exception: screenplay. Hackneyed shock noises and age old visual jolts are used to move the seen it all before "horror" along to stories that are so fast-forwardable - my remote control (when called for) simply couldn't get through this effort fast enough. Admittedly, I did attempt to watch the whole thing without fast forwarding, but tedium was stretched ad infinitum. Overall Phobia 2 (i.e., "Trang 5") was as just as forgettable as any average movie usually is. Shame, though that the direction, cinematography and production were all first rate. But a movie needs a good scare story and not just the same old shocks (yawn) in order to deliver.

In conclusion, this was a perfectly forgettable movie which should not be watched by those with more than half a functioning brain.

Great Fun!

[Pairic · 8/10 · 16 July 2019]

Phobia 2: Thai Horror Anthology with vengeful ghosts, a slapstick humour horror film crew, zombies and possessed cars. Ghost driven lizards jumping on backs, a shaman near death who is determined to live on, a child zombie leaping and biting a monk on the neck, how do you know if an actor in a host film is really dead? Best of the lot is Backpackers, hitchhikers find out that the truck driver who picks them up has a rather strange cargo.; involving drug-smuggling, people trafficking and zombies this has the potential for a full length movie. Great fun. 8/10. On Netflix.