"INHUMAN KISS 2: THE LAST BREATH" (2023) Is Not The Bad Romance It Seems (REVIEW)
The intersection of love and horror is one of the most fascinating twists of the genre as it brings together two disparate emotions that share a lot more in common than one might think. Love is often characterized by feeling euphoric, a perpetual state of intimacy that resonates beyond the physical body into our intangible “soul.” Inversely, horror shocks us into fright by channeling our most primitive fight-or-flight instincts contained by the separation of the fourth wall or page. While they elicit different emotions, the strength of the sentiments expressed is well-matched and has become a go-to narrative device for movies as recently as “Strange Darling” and going as far back as F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu.” Sadly, our Western bias often means our references ignore how the themes of love and horror emerge in other parts of the world, particularly Southeast Asia where “Inhuman Kiss 2: The Last Breath” hails from. Distributed by One Tree Entertainment and written/directed by Paphangkorn Punchantarak, does this folk horror-tinged romance swoon and scare us?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Sao has inherited her mother’s curse of the “Krause” – a flesh-eating monster who possesses her body at night. When Sao starts to fall in love with the strange boy next door, they realize his genetic mutation might be the cure. But at what cost…
HOW IS IT?
“Inhuman Kiss 2” is a great title for a film and almost a perfect one for this film. It alludes to romance, which there is plenty of, as well as the inclusion of things that aren’t quite human to tease something terrifying. All the parts are there, but something is missing. Perhaps it’s that after almost two hours we know so little about our two lovebirds aside from their mutations/afflictions, or the odd shifting in languages from English to Thai and back without explanation, or an antagonist that is hardly seen or heard from in the entire film. At a conceptual level, “Inhuman Kiss 2” offers something unique and interesting that has the potential to crossover, but what it lacks is the heart and connective tissue to make the audience truly care.
In full transparency, we had neither seen nor heard of the first “Inhuman Kiss” film before watching this, but that’s okay because the first 20 minutes of the film seem to give us a good recap of what happened. Sao (Chanya McClory) is infected with the “Krause” curse, but her father is able to keep it at bay with the help of a local priest who has concocted a temporary serum. At the same time, Cloud (Kritsanapoom Pibulsonggram) is an Albino boy who lives at the orphanage the priest runs and has the ability to heal people and animals. Cloud and Sao meet when they are young, but after 12 years reconnect and find solace with each other. But Sao’s serum isn’t working as well, and there is some trophy hunter in search of mythical creatures with a price on Sao’s head. All of this sounds fun, but in practice, things aren’t quite as exciting. While a lot of time is spent with Cloud and Sao, we don’t learn much about either of them aside from the fact that they both face persecution for being different and only seem to be happy around each other, and that they have special abilities. The last part is what is emphasized the most as Cloud becomes a potential solution to Sao’s Krause curse, but it may take his life in the process. The perpetual threat of a “hitman” who turned into a demon by taking some of Sao’s medicine (it’s not entirely clear if this is what happened, as it’s not really explained) and the mythical trophy hunter who is paying him are a secondary thought and part of the issues we had with “Inhuman Kiss 2.”
There is such a thing as “doing too much” and sadly, “Inhuman Kiss 2” is a victim of it. If the emphasis was just placed on Sao and Cloud’s relationship and getting to know one another while struggling to exist despite their differences, this would be a far better and more focused film. It’s evident that the filmmakers here aren’t trying to make a full-on horror movie, but something akin to “Twilight” with Southeast Asian folklore. What it struggles to do is make you actually care about these characters the way you do about those sparkly vampires. When it introduces some other interesting plot threads, like the exotic mythical creature trophy hunter, it doesn’t get enough attention for one to even remember they are there nor explain how they became aware of Sao. The hitman-turned-demon dispatched by the hunter is also somewhat of an exercise in distraction whose only purpose is to set up a fight in the third act, which to be fair is kinda cool even if it looks kinda silly. It’s a classic case of spreading everything thin without considering the shallowness that comes with it, and we had high hopes that this was going to offer something not just different, but compelling.
LAST RITES
“Inhuman Kiss 2” is a romantic horror movie that fails to deliver the love or the scares due to lack of focus and depth with the characters. There are a lot of good ideas here, but how they come together leaves a lot to be desired.
THE GORY DETAILS
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Where can you watch it?
“Inhuman Kiss 2: The Last Breath” is available NOW on digital VOD.
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