Right, well I had I known beforehand watching this 2022 Thai and Singaporean movie was an anthology, I might have skipped it. Why? Well, because the majority of horror anthologies tend to be questionable affairs. However, I wasn't aware of this being an anthology, and thus I sat down to watch it.
There are three stories told in "The Antique Shop", all tied together by a narrative in between each story, set in the antique shop, hence the name of the movie. And yeah, the segments in "The Antique Shop" are of varied quality and entertainment value. However, I have to say that none of the three stories turned out as being exceptional.
The first segment is titled "Survive", and it is actually the most interesting of the three stories. Well, at least in my opinion. This wasn't really a story laced with traditional horror, but contents of the story and especially the end result of the story is what made it the most enjoyable of the three.
The second segment is titled "Half Second". It felt somewhat halfhearted, and I have to admit that I was left with a sense of 'was that really it?' when it came to an end. Again, this was nothing that really would fall into traditional horror in my book.
The third and final segment is titled "Happy Birthday", and it was actually the story that had the most potential to it. However, the director just failed to utilize the potential that was at hand, and the story ended up as being something you just shrug off and move on.
As most horror anthologies go, then also "The Antique Shop" was one such archetypical horror anthology. So don't get your hopes up here. And if you are watching "The Antique Shop" with the intention of getting to see traditional Asian horror, then you will be sorely disappointed.
The acting performances in the movie were fair enough, I will give the anthology that much.
Visually then "The Antique Shop" was good. There was a lot of attention to detail, and the special effects were good. However, a good special effect show can only do so much to carry a narrative.
This is not a horror experience that I would recommend, and it most certainly is not something I will ever return to watch a second time.
My rating of "The Antique Shop", from director Suphakorn Riansuwan, lands on a four out of ten stars.
