GHOSTS, VAMPIRES, AND PLACENTA

A Review of 

Nieng Arp, 2004

The opening title credit for អាប aka Nieng Arp aka Lady Vampire

Everyone that knows me knows that I have a love for weird movies. If you know me really well, you also know that I have a favorite sub-genre of weird and wild cinema from outside the United States—that sub-genre is anything that has to do with, or features, a Krasue. Known in Thailand as krasue, in Cambodia as Ahp, and also called penanggalan or manangaal in other places, this creature "manifests itself as a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her internal organs hanging down from the neck, trailing below the head." (Wikipedia: Krasue) I don't know why, but I have always found this vampiric folk legend not only incredibly interesting, but also aesthetically fascinating. It just looks so damn cool! Horror fans are familiar with H. Tjut Djalil's Mystics in Bali (1981) thanks to Mondo Macabro. Mystics in Bali features the same creature and is a lot easier to come across than any of the other krasue or leyak films. 

Nieng Arp is a 2004 Shot on Video movie that begins with a pregnant woman having contractions. Later that night she goes through tedious labor and is assisted by a few woman with the typical yelling of "push" and sweat. 

As we watch this scene another scene keeps being shown of an elderly woman that appears to be possessed lying on her hut floor. She twitches and moans and is lit in a soft blue. Exactly when the baby is born and you start to hear it cry, we start hearing wolf howls and then we see the krasue (I'll just call it a krasue even though the Cambodian equivalent is Arp) leaving an open window! There it is! It's beautiful! 

Do you remember those keychains they sell around Halloween time that have a button that you push and it makes this really cool beeping sound? Well you actually hear that sound as the krasue flies away! The krasue also glows green off and on, giving it even more of a mystical feel. If you're bothered by bad subtitles you will definitely be bothered by the subtitle work on this one. There are countless mistakes. I personally enjoy these films with or without subtitles and actually get a good laugh from mistakes like the following: 

Are you tire, honey??     What's a matter?? What is a matter?

 This couple keeps being followed by a shady group of guys. Even I want to know 'what is a matter' with these people. A fight ensues when the couple is surrounded by the gang of no-goods. I'm thinking the editors of the film didn't have access to any recording equipment because they use an audio clip of a punch sound that is attached to a score of some kind and this clip is repeated for every blow. Anyway, the gang splits and the woman helps her boyfriend up and they walk away. 
So back to the pregnant lady, or rather the lady that just had a baby. So legend has it that a krasue will haunt a pregnant woman who is either about to have or just had a baby. The krasue feasts on human flesh and blood. It is depicted as having a long tongue so as to reach the baby or placenta in the womb. 

There's nothing like a nice bowl of placenta.

The husband of the woman who just had her baby visits the house and asks his aunt, who helped during the labor, if his baby "is cute." She responds by saying "so cute" and hands him the bowl of placenta with specific instructions to "bury it underground, make sure the dog or cat don't get to it!"  She instructs him further saying, "cover with the thorns to prevent the bodiless vampire!" There's something beautiful about those subtitles. Just as the husband is digging, the krasue shows up.

 
Some villagers actually show up and manage to stab the "bodiless vampire" with an arrow, which goes right through her, but doesn't stop her. She yelps out a haunting moan before flying away. They keep chasing after her. We again go back to the loving couple and witness them being stopped again by the gang of men that has been following them. The lady is grabbed and told she is pretty to which she immediately responds, "you bustard!" Not bastard. Bustard. I'm not kidding. If this couple is tired of getting into trouble maybe they should stop taking long and dark back roads. Just a thought. 
We are again treated to the punching audio clip that is repeated through this whole movie if and when a punch is delivered. They also break the guys leg, punch him one more time, and then stab him. The stabbing sound effect sounds like something from a video game. The woman is then gang raped.

After the two are left for dead the camera pans up to a nearby tree where we see the krasue hanging out; her guts glow like a beau She drools into the mouth of the raped woman and brings her back from the dead (you read that right). And voila! We now have our vampire lady!

16 YEARS LATER

We are introduced to a group of students on a study trip. One of them is the nephew of the enemy of the Krasue—the very man that left our now lady vampire for dead! The students get to a house that they want to rent during their local stay and are introduced to the owner who is the woman who was raped, killed, and brought back to life 16 years earlier. She is now a krasue! There is a scene where she taunts a couple of drunks and then feasts on their flesh after they fall off a bridge. The scene is dismissed as a nightmare.

The lady vampire's daughter doesn't want her mother to do bad things anymore, but the krasue is determined to get revenge. She doesn't only want to kill the nephew, but everyone!

Very SUZZANNAesque.

She keeps a casket in her cave basement where "the mother" sleeps. The mother is the krasue from the beginning of the film and the one that gave her vampiric life. 
One of the traveling students asks the krasue's daughter for her hand in marriage. She asks her vampire mom who tells her that no man can be trusted. The vampire woman meditates and tries hard not to kill anymore. She was visited by a monk that seems to know about her curse. She hears his voice in her head during meditation, "the spirit of the vampire will not control you!" 

Meanwhile two of the original gang members talk about forgiveness of sins. One is obviously more remorseful than the other. The vampire woman takes to sickness and tells her child (Paulika) that she doesn't want the "bodiless vampire tradition" to pass on to her. In the next scene Paulika starts demonstrating "bodiless vampire" qualities; namely lying on the ground, twitching, and moaning—she holds her neck tightly due to the pain of the head and organs starting to separate themselves from the rest of the body. We are not treated to blood and guts, but merely shots of her head moving up and then suddenly being lit in green light and having the actress where vampire fangs. This scene is also dismissed as a nightmare.

 Although we are not sure if the daughter is a bloodsucker or not, we are treated to great scares and effects. Two of my favorite are having the ghost appear on a Nokia cellphone and a Sony computer. 

The gang member that is being tormented by the Krasue and Holy Mother decides to get divine help. He hires a holy man to help him. They build a small "holy place" and sit in it. The Krasue and Holy Mother comes and attack. They kill the holy man and the man gets away. He goes, with his wife, to a monk who tells him that he needs to have a "holy shower" and needs to provide a food offering to the vampire spirit. But nothing can keep him safe! He is attacked by his wife who becomes possessed and he ends up killing her. She dies on the road with their nephew present. 

The Krasue shows up laughing at the horrific scene. The holy mother tells the man it is his day of doom and possesses him. The man walks slowly to his nephew who is confused at what is going on, but decides to defend himself nonetheless; they fight and the possessed man is stabbed and killed. The Krasue shows up (we get to see the back of her with lungs and other organs dangling) and the man stabs the vampire woman in the head and flings her to the ground. Some of the girls show up including the Paulika who yells, "Please, don't kill my mother!" This whole scene is awesome. I really wish there was more gore and better sound effects, but whatever. Beggars can't be choosers. 

So this movie is great. Like I said, I would have loved more gore and more head-leaving-the-body action, but whatever. The instances where we see the krasue is well worth the price of admission. My copy—and these screen grabs—are from the DVD-R available on Trash Palace through their website. It's a good copy, but I am always on the lookout for original DVDs. 

-Eddie

www.trashpalace.com