Nang Nak

1999 ‘นางนาก’ Directed by Nonzee Nimibutr

In a rural village in Thailand, Mak (Winai Kraibutr) is sent to fight in a war and leaves his pregnant wife, Nak (Intira Jaroenpura). Mak is injured and barely survives. He returns home to his doting wife and child, or so he thinks.

Intira Jaroenpura Winai Kraibutr Manit Meekaewjaroen Pramote Suksatit Pracha Thawongfia

Alternative Titles

Nang Nak - Return from the Dead, ナンナーク, Premonición, Любовь юной Нак

romance thriller drama

100 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by julianblair ★★★½

A movie that will feel novel to western viewers that have not been exposed to Asian ghost stories.
In a way, it's a romantic tragedy tinged with Buddhist supernatural beliefs. One can't help but sympathize with the husband Mak and his wife Nak and the lot that fate has dealt them.
Mak returns home from serving in the Thai military. He has a tender and joyful reunion with his wife and newborn child. Soon, he begins to feel he is being shunned by his riverside community.
One day a friend dares to tell him the shocking truth: His wife and child died in child birth while he was away. Mak has been communing with ghosts...and the people of the settlement…
Review by Mitchell ★½ 2

He was a boy, she was a ghost
Can I make it any more obvious?
Review by cbeths ★½ 1

if nothing else, you WILL come out of this knowing everyone's names
Review by Steve Carlson ★★★ 1

I liked it when the ghost made that one dude beat his own head in with a rock.
Review by Dapukkk ★★★

"Hanya maut yang memisahkan"
Salah satu horror legendaris dari negara Thailand yang sering bgt diputer di tv nasional pas gua kecil. Film ini memiliki cerita yang unik yang diangkat dari kisah nyata. Filmnya sendiri bergenre romance horror dan pas gua nonton film ini pertama kali, gua ngerasa kasian sama karkaternya dan pas gua rewatch ulang, rasa kasian gua masih ada, cuma horrornya yang tidak ada.
Ceritanya seputar sepasang kekasih yang sudah lama tidak bertemu, saking saling mencintainya si suami tidak sadar kalo istrinya udah meninggal. Jadi kebayang ga sih, saking cintanya lu sampai jadi denial sama keadaan sekitar tentang kematian istri lu. Nah ini yang ngebuat film ini menjadi pilu, kasian, sedih dan romancenya bener2 berasa dibanding terror horrornya.
Pertama…
Review by Adrian Ho ★★

Asian Cinema #32 - Thailand
In life and death, we are connected. That is the best way to describe this film. Nang Nak does explore that religious aspect of Buddhism as do the Thai Horror films and the Thai films that seem to transcend borders. As a horror film, I can’t say that Nang Nak is great or even good, cos it isn’t, but at least it’s interesting, and if seen in another context, one that deals with the circle of life, it is effective. There is a certain tenderness that the film has that is refreshing but doesn’t lend itself well to the horror tag that this film has put upon itself. The most notable thing in the film…
Review by Thea ★★

"hey what should we name the couple"
"mak n nak"
"shit boss u the OG
Review by Zainal. A ★★★½

Nang-Nak was apparently a huge success in it's native Thailand and I can see why. Successfully blending a tragic story of a love that transcends life and death, with sometimes harrowing horror elements—the film as a whole is very solid.
Review by WraithApe ★★★

One of many retellings of an ancient Thai folk tale, the story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong or Nang Nak; the restless spirit of Mak's wife, who dies in labor and comes back from the dead. On returning from his tour of duty, Mak is bewitched into seeing her as she was before he left, along with a healthy newborn baby - the rest of the villagers see her as she really is and try to warn him before it's too late. It's a solid retread of an old story, with some nice cinematography but it's not without problems. One is Nak herself, who doesn't possess an ounce of menace and just mopes around - she spends most of the…
Review by tobe_whooper ★★★★

Visually-accomplished, moving tale of love and loss. It took me a while to acclimate to its rhythms--which is probably due to cultural illiteracy--but once I did it was very rewarding.
Cf. Ghost of Yotsuya
Review by adra mm ★★★★ 1

I knew about a whole story (from Pee Mak), but I (still) continue to watched this film till finish. And I love it! it still works no matter how.
Review by leo 🦇 ★★★

nak is literally so pretty she does not deserve all this

Recent reviews

Review by Adam B-round ★★

Not for me. Everyone in this village has the exact same haircut
Review by Kbefep ★★★½

Sarah was right as always, nontraditional ghost stories are the best ghost stories. Though I expect this is actually bathed in Thai tradition. For me at least it's so damn fresh, and powerful for it. This film is just damn fun and weird and yay!
Review by epicsteven ★★★

It's at least fun to watch.
Review by Steve Carlson ★★★ 1

I liked it when the ghost made that one dude beat his own head in with a rock.
Review by Mario TWH ★★★

Some categorise this film as a Thai horror story but apart from a couple of editing and cinematography tricks, including one eerily effective scene, the film is not all that scary. Instead, it invokes a sense of pity.
While the film is set in the 1800s, it fundamentally infuses contemporary issues of Thai society, such as the role of femininity in a community, with Buddhist philosophies, such as how attachments bring about suffering.
Review by audastic ★★★

I like the cinematography here, however the story wasn't as scary as I thought it would be lmaoo it was okay I guess????
Review by Peter ★★★½

Folky ghost tale from Thailand is very easy on the eye and easier on the nerves. That's not to say it isn't good horror cinema but its horror is in the aftermath of viewing, taking its time to put all the pieces in place before quietly leaving them for us to see whole and get it. The exact opposite of a James Wan "Boo!" fest. Recommended but bring your patience.
Review by Dapukkk ★★★

"Hanya maut yang memisahkan"
Salah satu horror legendaris dari negara Thailand yang sering bgt diputer di tv nasional pas gua kecil. Film ini memiliki cerita yang unik yang diangkat dari kisah nyata. Filmnya sendiri bergenre romance horror dan pas gua nonton film ini pertama kali, gua ngerasa kasian sama karkaternya dan pas gua rewatch ulang, rasa kasian gua masih ada, cuma horrornya yang tidak ada.
Ceritanya seputar sepasang kekasih yang sudah lama tidak bertemu, saking saling mencintainya si suami tidak sadar kalo istrinya udah meninggal. Jadi kebayang ga sih, saking cintanya lu sampai jadi denial sama keadaan sekitar tentang kematian istri lu. Nah ini yang ngebuat film ini menjadi pilu, kasian, sedih dan romancenya bener2 berasa dibanding terror horrornya.
Pertama…
Review by TodayIveWatched ★★★★★

Nonzee Nimibutr gives the famous Thai legend a new look in his 1999 romantic horror film, "Nang Nak." Featuring Winai Kraibutr as Mak and Intira Jaroenpura as his ghost-wife Nak, the film is based on the Thai legend of Mae Nak Phra Khanong and follows a man who returns from the war to a happy home where his wife and child eagerly welcome him. But there is something ominous about his wife, and he is completely unaware of the sad secret about what happened to them while he was away.

There's been a lot of adaptations of this classic Thai legend, but Nonzee Nimibutr's 1999 version remains to be a classic after two decades. Its depiction of the tragic romance…
Review by solh ★★★

Relieved to see his wife and infant son after returning from a stint in the army, a Thai man refuses to believe the rumours that his wife and child are ghosts in this movie based on a local legend. The film has some truly horrific moments, from the corpse of an army buddy decomposing in his arms, to bloodthirsty crocodiles circling a dead body, to rickety houses that bang and rattle in the night. For the most part though, this is a romance movie, largely focused on the affection that the couple have for each other and love blinding him to the truth. It is a nice and rather refreshing angle for a horror flick, however, the love between them is not especially well developed and mostly just consists of them crying out each other's name. The riverside locations are likewise very alluring, but the film is never really about life next to the river either.
Review by Aina ★★★★★

I've always been told Thai horror movies are the scariest. But no one has ever warned me how sad it could be too.
If you ever need to experience mixed feelings of horror and melancholic romance, this is the movie for you.
Review by Ella Mansbridge ★★

i really did think nak was 9 up until she gave birth and then I was confused. dear god I really tried to understand that first half. it picks up after prik fucking decomposes on mak. second half funny as fuck though :D