Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...
8 friends decide to go to a cabin in the woods for farewell o one of their friend Jin who is going abroad for further studies. We slowly find out that 5 of these friends have been friends for a long time while 3 of the others joined them almost in the end of high school, one of them being Phee. Phee and Jin hooked up but Phee wanted to be only friends and hence Jin keeps avoiding him. For fun they decide to reshoot a horror film that they had shot 5-6 years ago as a school project, between they do that, eerie events begin to take place, including ghosts, murders, attacks etc. The 5 friends thing they are under curse by Non, one of their other friends who is missing, but no-one wants to talk about it. The remaining three claim to have no idea who Non is and try to find out what really happened to him and why the rest refuse to reveal any details. Murders, unexplained attacks and horror continues for a few more episodes, until around episode 4 or 5 when we start getting the back stories of each of these. 8 characters and who Non was. The shy kid Non who was always bullied was the actual script writer of the short horror film. Slowly layer by layer we see how each of these friends in some way or the other do wrong with Non. In fact, there is even a teacher who doesn't spare Non. Almost 5-6 episodes are dedicated to back story of how bad and how much worse it got for Non. Back in present time, Phee tells Jin the truth about who he really is and why these murders and unexplained events are happening. I am not going to ruin the suspense here, but I have to say the twists and shocks and the reasons were quite well put together.
The show begins like a typical horror , mystery show with gore, blood and some unexplained events and I wasn't sure if the show will manage to hold my attention, but the show actually picks up when it goes into flashbacks and you start seeing the layers of everyone's secrets, scandals, suspicions and hidden truths. And this continues for a while, and there is a reason because almost everyone of them, including Jin who loved Non, did wrong by him. You realize how these 8 friends are not the innocent victims as we originally think. They are all devious plans, distinct motives, personal hidden agendas and how poor Non gets wrapped up in all this. In most shows they would show character like Non being wronged once or twice, but here the bad deeds continue for a while and at some level I feel that was necessary to eventually make a reasonable case for what and why these killings eventually happen. The interesting twist by episode 9-10 on who these 3 new students are, how they planned to avenge Non etc was a master stroke. I was not expecting that. There is plenty of skin and sex as you would expect in B grade horror cult films. The relationship moments come in rapid succession. Each impactful scene ushers a tidal wave of seduction, sensuality, and turbulent emotions. It avoids typical BL lovey-dovey moments and goes straight on raunchy sex.
As actors everyone gets a good opportunity here. Instead of only focusing on the leads, the screen time is spread evenly among the cast helping them get into spotlight. Unfortunately not everyone really fits the mould. They all somehow look school kids and the maturity needed to carry out the events that they do felt missing. Definitely Non was the star, whose downward spiral is the centre pit of the story. He clearly stands out and then is the guy Jn, who is just a good eye candy. Phee's character stands out too and then we see who really Tan is. All of these unfolding keeps you hooked. The provocative finale challenges viewers to examine questions about morality. Which characters deserved to live or die? Did everyone receive proportionate punishments for their crimes? We will have to ask ourself. As a show, this definitely surpassed my expectation. The screenplay, story writer, and director have clearly tried to give it all. As much as I am not a fan of horror, and hence lower rating from me, but if you like the genre, this is a very good, novel and brave attempt to mix this with BL, the definitely will hold your attention. Yes, its impact would have been higher if this was crisply edited, but despite all this, still watchable. Don't go with my rating here, but watch it. (6/10)
Comments
Because the first 4 epsiodes were soooo bad I really had to resist the need to drop the show (I'm not the biggest fan of supernatural thai shows, let alone horror ones).
And then came episode 5. And Non's story. It takes you to the guts and never leaves you. To the point you actually want the others to die in the most horrible way. I think that would have anyone question themselves if they're really against death penalty...
The open ending was brilliant too in the way I don't know what (I wish) is actually happenning. Has the brother actually gotten his revenge after all and is it right?
Quite unique, just need to get past the first 4 episodes.