You gotta have a bit of respect for a movie that makes practically requires research before viewing. To save you the time that I had to waste on Google, as well as the initial head-scratching that I went through on my viewing, here's a few facts one needs to know in order to truly understand Art of the Devil:

1) 1,000,000 baht = $25,000
2)As in many predominately Buddhist countries, young Thai males will actually be practicing Buddhist monks for a short term.
3)Do yourself a favor and look up “common-law wife” in your search engine of choice. I ain't explaining the nuances of that one here.

It's a peculiar experience, really, because Art of the Devil, at its core, is about as accessible as horror films get: its simple but involving story is about as “western” as they come, yet it becomes almost alien when set in Thailand, whose laws and customs were unknown to me before viewing this film. This feeling of confusion mixed with normally accessible themes led to a disorienting but overall quite satisfying experience.

It all begins when our heroine Nan makes the mistake of introducing her friend Boom to her architect father. The two begin a whirlwind affair, which ends up with Boom pregnant with the architect's child. Blackmailed by Boom, Nan's father writes her a check for 1,000,000 baht (see item 1 above) to keep quiet. Furious, he arranges for three of his friends to gang-rape Boom, all of which leads to her breakdown, ending in Boom being hit by a car and miscarrying her baby. Pushed over the edge and hungry for revenge (as well as money), Boom employs witchcraft in order to kill off the entire family of the architect, thus leaving her as the sole heir to his fortune.

And what kills they are! The architect's family has to suffer some of the most horrid deaths committed to film. They all, in some way, revolve around the victim's innards being filled with something...unpleasant, which is then vomited up in gory chunks. These gastrointestinal terrors include live eels, nails, shards of glass...all things that make a big mess upon expulsion. Even one son's ordination as a Buddhist monk is cut short, in an exceptionally disturbing scene, by a spew of blood and razorblades. It's easy, blatant horror that works on a base level.

Unfortunately, the fairly quick pace and meaty kills kind of trail off in the last twenty minutes, whereas Boom tries desperately to kill off Nan, her brother Bon, and her mother. Suddenly, Boom's normally quick and dirty methods turn into an inexplicable “Maybe I'll kill them, maybe I won't” indecisiveness, all while Nan's reporter friend Danai tries to find the witch doctor that's pulling strings for Boom. Unfortunately, this “race against time” seems to creep along at a snail's pace, pulling the viewer out of the tightly wound mood established by the first 70 minutes.

This surprisingly decent flick comes with a pretty nice presentation from the fine folks at Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters. Shot in 2004, the movie itself looks pretty nice, with a well-defined picture and a wonderfully muted palette. The only downside is a few instances of nasty artifacting in the darker scenes. Audio is clear and bold, with either the original Thai (the only way to go), or an ear-shreddingly awful English dub. Yecch. However, both mixes sound great, even in the dubbed version. Well, not including the awful synth-orchestral soundtrack, which was awful any way you slice it. Extras are slim, and consist of an atrociously cheesy TV documentary hosted by the biggest weenie in Asia (who hosts the entire show in front of a spewing fog machine), and the original theatrical trailer.

It's certainly not the best Asian horror flick I've seen, but Art of the Devil was a rather engaging film overall. It's easy to grasp, well-paced, and once you've gotten past the cultural differences, comfortably accessible. Not bad, not bad at all.