As Laddaland opens, Thee (Saharat Sangkapricha) purchases a house in the titular gated community and moves his family there from Bangkok. His wife, Parn (Piyathida Woramusik) is excited about the move, as is his young son, Nat (Athipitch Chutiwatkajornchai). However, their teenaged daughter, Nan (Suttata Udomsilp) resents that she's had to leave her friends and school behind. Nan had been living with Parn's mother, who hates Thee. The family gets settled into their new home and Thee starts his new job -- everything seems perfect. This perfection is shaken up when a maid is found dead in one of the nearby houses. Then, Parn notices that the neighbors are a bit odd, and that the husband there is abusive. As more and more mysterious things happen in the area, the family's financial situation begins to decay. Instead of being the paradise which they'd hoped it to be, Laddaland begins to become a very dark place.

As with many Asian countries, Thailand has exported its share of horror movies over the past decade, although they didn't have quite the output of Japan or Korea. And, at first glance, Laddaland appears to be another one of these films. However, Laddaland actually leans more towards drama, as it explores the dissolution of a family, and this is what makes the movie interesting and unique. While everyone in the family has some sort of supernatural experience throughout the movie, the primary focus is on Thee. He's the first one to see a ghost and this experience coincides with the onset of his financial problems. As the spirits in Laddaland grow more restless (and more of the residents die), Thee's woes escalate. The question then begins to arise -- is any of this really happening, or is it all a product of Thee's crumbling psyche?

Which brings us to the one major issue with Laddaland. If you've seen any Asian horror films, then you know that the idea of ghosts is much more readily accepted in that part of the world than it is in the West. This isn't to imply that the characters in those movies enjoy seeing these spirits, but they aren't as surprised. These ideas definitely apply to Laddaland. Everyone who dies here becomes a spirit which continues to haunt the neighborhood. (The lowly American TV series American Horror Story clearly bought into this Asian idea of hauntings.) And while Thee is certainly shocked and horrified to see the ghosts, the movie never questions the fact that they are there. Things would have been much more suspenseful and intriguing if we, the audience, had been left to wonder if the hauntings were real, or simply a figment of Thee's mind. One gets the feeling that Director Sopon Sukdapisit is suggesting this, but never fully embraces the idea.

As noted above, the movie falls more into the family drama category than the horror genre. This may not seem like much of an issue until one notes that the film's running time is 117 minutes. This means that we have a lot of scenes of growing family discord. Thee and Parn argue. Thee and Nan clash. Thee deals with the family finances. Much of this becomes very redundant and we begin to wonder in which genre the movie wants to live.

This isn't to imply that the movie is a complete loss. The second half of the film definitely contains some tense scenes. This is Sukdapisit's second outing as a director, but he's worked on several Thai horror films (including Shutter which was remade in the U.S.) and he shows that he knows what he's doing. In scenes reminiscent of The Eye, the characters attempt to not look directly at the ghosts (I'm not sure why), so we get interesting camera angles and growing suspense as the spirit passes by. A scene involving a ghost hiding behind a child's drawing is the high-point of the film, and one which shows that less truly can be more in a film like this.

In the end, I came away from Laddaland with more of an education about life in Thailand than enjoyment of a foreign horror movie. The Laddaland subdivision looks like something in Florida, which I found very interesting. The most powerful feeling which I had while watching the movie was the thought that someone in America is going to scoop this up for a remake. The idea of tying a ghost story to growing financial problems is a good one, and I guarantee that someone will jump on this.

Laddaland shows the universal creepiness of haunted wheelchairs on DVD courtesy of Millennium Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing little grain and no defects from the source materials. The colors look good and the image is never overly dark or bright. Foreign films can sometimes have a flat look, but Laddaland is crisp and image is nicely detailed. The DVD carries both a Thai and an English dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks. The tracks provide clear dialogue and sound effects. The dubbing on the English track is pretty bad, especially Nat's high-pitched and breathy voice. However, both tracks provide excellent surround sound effects. This is one of those tracks where the surround effects aren't overpowering or constant, but every once in a while there will be a well-placed noise from the rear speakers which makes us jump. I love tracks like this which show that someone actually put some thought into the placement of the sound.

The Laddaland DVD contains a few extras. We begin with "Interviews with the Director and Lead Cast" (6 minutes) in which we hear from the filmmaker and the cast, who speak in very general terms about the story and the production. "Behind the Scenes" (6 minutes) contains a few moments of on-set footage, but it's dominated by the speakers seen in the previous piece discussing the shooting of three specific scenes. The final extra is the TRAILER for the film.