Inherit film review: Thai horror explores society’s Faustian pact

Inherit | Dir. Banjong Pisanthanakun | ★★★★☆

Our obsession with looking – and remaining – young is stretched to its horrifying logical conclusion in slick Thai horror film Inherit. 

The Manasvanich family is in crisis over a chemical leak at their factory, which may or may not be causing birth defects in the local population: the last thing they need is an unexpected visit from a long-lost octogenarian relative. But when Grandma Woranart turns up, she is no little old lady – she’s a bombshell in eveningwear who makes everyone both horny and uncomfortable. 

“Grandma”, as this seemingly twentysomething woman insists on being called, appears to have found the elixir of youth. What’s her secret? Botox? GLP-1s? Chemical peels? Sure, all of those, she says with a sultry smile. The family’s teenage daughter Oui strikes up a particularly firm friendship with Grandma, lounging with her beside the pool and going on girlie shopping trips, only slightly perturbed by the string of violent deaths that follow in her wake.

It doesn’t take long for everyone to realise that Grandma has sold her soul to an ageless centipede demon, and soon the chase is afoot: can the Manasvaniches exorcise this evil spirit before she claims another vessel – and will this secretive family survive intact?

For Western audiences, part of Inherit’s charm is seeing a familiar trope – demons being battled by religious types – shifted to another culture. Priests bearing crucifixes are replaced by robed monks and icons of the Virgin Mary become statues of the Buddha.

Inherit sees Banjong Pisanthanakun on top form

It’s all brilliantly acted, especially the wonderfully over-the-top, vampish performance by Davika Hoorne as the sexy Grandma. It helps that it’s all so gorgeous to look at, with director Banjong Pisanthanakun (The Medium, Shutter) once again showing some exquisite visual flair.

For the first hour, Inherit is content to slowly simmer, demonstrating laudable restraint in the way it dishes out its jump scares and moments of gory body-horror. But the more the net closes around Grandma, the more we see of her true face, and the less frightening the whole thing becomes; a flash of a centipede escaping from under a duvet is a far more chilling sight than dozens of CGI monsters appearing at a window. The introduction of an unlikely deus ex machina to wrap things up in the final act also feels deeply unsatisfying given the solid narrative work up until that point.

Still, Inherit remains a smart and scary satire of our obsession with flawless skin, one that will feel as relevant in Birmingham or Bristol as it will in Bangkok.