Buppha Rahtree Malee Rattikarn (2026)

More Twisted Than Terrifying

Seriously, there's going to be lots of spoiler. Hopefully, I avoid the major one.

I went into *The Stain* expecting a horror movie. The trailer looked promising, and the premise of a mysterious woman, a troubled past, an apartment complex, and a supernatural presence sounded like exactly my kind of thing. I also noticed its relatively low 6.7 rating on MyDramaList, so I wasn't expecting a masterpiece. What I wasn't prepared for was how much the movie is actually a psychological relationship drama with horror slowly creeping into the background.

About halfway through, I'm still undecided whether this is a good horror movie, but I am definitely interested in the story.

The strongest part so far is the relationship between the characters. Pran and Malee knew each other since childhood, and their history is much darker and more complicated.

Pran is probably the most interesting character to me so far. He initially comes across as quiet and caring, especially because he falls for Malee first and clearly carries feelings for her from childhood. But there are warning signs everywhere. His childhood relationship with violence, his tendency to immediately want to eliminate problems, his reaction to the cat, his beating of Kim, and the moment he nearly hits Malee all suggest that there is something deeply wrong underneath his calm exterior.

What makes him more interesting is that he seems to know it himself. He openly tells Namsai that he's afraid he might hurt Malee. That self-awareness doesn't necessarily make him less dangerous; if anything, it makes the character more complicated.

Asanai is another character I can't quite figure out. At first, he seems like Pran's loyal friend who can calm him down when his temper gets out of control. But the more he talks to Malee and Pran, the more manipulative he seems. He tells Malee that Pran could eventually hurt her, tells her that he could give her more than Pran, and later encourages Pran to think that Malee could leave him just as easily as she left Kim.

Then there's Namsai. She's probably the biggest contrast to Malee. Malee feels like someone who has already been damaged by life, while Namsai initially feels almost untouched by it. She's cheerful, vibrant, easy-going and brings a completely different atmosphere whenever she appears. I can understand why Pran is drawn to her, even though his attachment to Malee is much deeper.

However, I can understand why people describe this movie as more of a psychological/relationship drama than straight horror. The horror isn't constant. A lot of the runtime is spent on relationships, jealousy, trauma, manipulation and sexual tension. If you're expecting something like *Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum* or *Siccin*, this isn't that kind of horror.

So far, I'd describe *The Stain* as **a psychological relationship drama that slowly mutates into supernatural horror**, rather than a pure horror movie.

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