The Maid (2020) Review

*** WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS ***

When Joy (Ploy Sornarin) is hired to work as a maid for wealthy couple Uma (Savika Chaiyadej) and Nirach (Theeraput Sajakul) and to help care for their child Nid (Keetapat Pongrue), she’s happy for the opportunity but also wonders about the unusually high turnover of staff for what is a reasonably prestigious post. It isn’t long before Nid tells Joy about how she communicates with a previous maid called Ploy and Joy begins to have visions of a ghostly presence around the house.

Lee Thongkam’s twisty chiller is split into three chapters and, whereas this would normally be a stylistic choice with which I would struggle to be on board, that decision works perfectly here. The viewer is seated for a bold three course genre meal, shifting from haunted house horror starter to meaty, mystery main to sweet, substantial slasher flick dessert which guarantees tasty moments whatever the palate.

The pick and mix approach to the film’s form extends to the content too, providing scenes which positively drip with spectral atmosphere but also knowing exactly when to drop a massive jump scare. Also, for anyone thinking this will be too measured a tale, there’s a smattering of unexpected erotica to keep the pot boiling and a final act torrent of blood as the button marked “crazy” is pushed repeatedly.

For some, The Maid’s insistence on refusing to stick to a through line, be it J-Horror jump machine, flashback frightener or stabby shocker will undoubtedly frustrate and purists might see this flagrant bet hedging as its ultimate downfall: the aim to satisfy all risks pleasing no one come the end credit roll. However, it’s the anything goes, Greatest Hits manner in which the whole enterprise is assembled which kept me on my toes and thoroughly entertained.

There are few weak links here, whichever the stanza. The set-up lays the groundwork with the necessary conundrums regarding the homestead’s past and the fragile, icy relationship between Uma and Nirach. The middle act heads into crime thriller mode as the motives of the various protagonists reveal themselves around a horrifying, rain-soaked vignette. And that closing chapter…

Oh, my. That closing chapter. With a particular nod to a certain Mary Harron movie in terms of garment selection and character predicament, The Maid then spins off into a delirious burst of wild, wide-eyed WTF-ery as justice is served in an extreme manner. In the midst of all this is Sornarin, transforming from shy newbie to taker of control in a fine performance which strains credulity not one little bit.

Chaiyadei and Sajakul are fascinating as Uma and Nirach, their outwardly envy-inducing lifestyle a thin veneer failing utterly to cover the festering pile of resentment and petty jealousies underneath, unless they’re with other privileged folk who are too busy admiring the ostentatious furnishings and overstated birthday gifts to focus on the dumpster fire which is the couple’s marriage. It’s hardly an original view of how money can’t buy you happiness but the barbed exchanges between the two are a treat.

Where does The Maid land? It’s way too gory and ultimately too bonkers to function as a straight drama. It gives the drama room to breathe and it’s too focused on the ghostly elements to play as a festival of gore. It plays too fast and loose with its story jumps to play as an atmospheric ghost story which leaves most of the explanation to the imagination. Is it possible for a movie to succeed when it appears so intent on falling in the gap between the various stools being pushed in its direction? In the case of The Maid, absolutely.

The last thing I expected to get during Joy’s eerie, initial nighttime wanderings was a hyper violent revenge flick in which the body count literally piles up at one stage but The Maid, like the job and the characters to which it refers, works on many levels. For horror fans who are ready to lean into those swerves in tone, it certainly gets the job done.

THE MAID is released to download/stream from 11TH OCTOBER 2021

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