Inn_Auni

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.

*Childhood*

Pran and Malee actually knew each other when they were young. Pran witnessed Malee being sexually abused by her stepfather. When Pran accidentally distracted the man, Malee took the opportunity to hit him with a bottle. The man eventually drowned.

This childhood incident becomes extremely important because Pran's memory of Malee isn't simply that of a childhood friend. He associates her with trauma, survival and guilt from a very young age which in a way reflected his own physical abusive relationship with his father. Malee later ran away from home. She was taken in and raised by her mother's former employer.

Malee's younger brother was left at a temple by their mother, who went missing since that day, and raised as a monk. This makes the earlier scene where Pran sends Malee's favourite flower to the temple much more meaningful. The young monk wasn't just some random character. He was Malee's brother.

*Pran and Malee reunite*

As adults, Pran and Malee meet again. Pran is clearly the one who becomes emotionally invested first. He blends tea specifically for Malee and gradually becomes more interested in her. Malee, meanwhile, remains much more detached. Eventually, they become intimate and decide to enter a relationship. The difference in their feelings is noticeable. Pran seems to view their relationship as the continuation of something that began in childhood. Malee seems much less emotionally dependent on him.

Asanai, Pran's close friend, isn't particularly happy about the relationship. He warns Pran not to keep seeing Malee as the little girl from his first love because she is no longer that child. Pran tells him to leave them alone.

*Namsai enters the picture*

Asanai eventually invites Namsai, his younger junior, to a party, held at Pran's place. Namsai is almost the complete opposite of Malee. Malee feels mysterious, guarded and deeply affected by her past. Namsai is vibrant, cheerful and seemingly untouched by the ugliness of life. Pran notices her immediately. The contrast is obvious in the way Pran looks at them. His gaze toward Malee carries emotional attachment, while his first reaction to Namsai feels much more openly physical.

*Kim and Malee's other life*

Another part of Malee's life begins to surface when Kim comes looking for her. Kim initially sounded like someone much older and more powerful in my head, so I was surprised to discover that he's actually a relatively young man. Pran confronts him and ends up beating him until Asanai intervenes. This is one of the first moments where Pran's anger becomes impossible to ignore.

There is also an earlier scene involving Malee's cat. When the cat scratches Asanai, Pran immediately wants to get rid of it. His reaction is far more extreme than the situation warrants. The movie connects this behavior to Pran's childhood, when he killed rats because he feared his father would beat him if he didn't.

Pran seems to have learned a very unhealthy lesson: If something becomes a problem, eliminate it. Asanai repeatedly becomes the person capable of stopping him.

*The relationship starts falling apart*

Malee's missing cat becomes the trigger for the first major argument between her and Pran. Pran becomes so angry that he nearly hits Malee. Instead, he repeatedly hits himself, which frightens her. They eventually hug and reconcile, but the scene reveals something important: Pran himself is aware that he might be capable of hurting her.

Later, during a spiritual retreat with Namsai, Pran admits that he is afraid of hurting Malee. He also tells Namsai that he cannot lose Malee. Namsai responds that feelings can change depending on circumstances. This is where their relationship begins to shift. Namsai gives Pran a book intended to help him deal with his anger, and Pran thanks her for helping him understand his feelings.

*The husband reveal (I had the same reaction when Pran told this to Namsai. Excuse me, what do you mean by husband?)*

Then comes one of the movie's biggest early surprises. Malee already has a “husband.” Except “husband” doesn't mean a legal spouse. It's essentially the man she's currently attached to in her line of work. That man is Kim.

Malee goes to Kim's place and begins packing her belongings. She tells him that she is ending their relationship. At the same time, Pran becomes increasingly unstable. Asanai makes things worse by suggesting that if Malee was able to leave Kim for Pran, she could eventually leave Pran for someone else. He's basically feeding Pran's insecurity.

*Kim's death*

Before going to Kim's place, Pran is shown putting something into Malee's favourite tea. The tea contains a seed from the Lady of the Night plant. Pran then goes to Kim's place. From Pran's perspective, he discovers Kim's body on the floor, with Kim's maid also present. Later, it is revealed that Kim died because of the poisonous seed from the Lady of the Night.

The police and medical team conclude that Kim died from a heart attack. This makes Pran extremely suspicious. Asanai suspects him. Namsai, however, believes in him. The movie deliberately places those two interpretations against each other.

*Asanai and Malee*

Asanai then confronts Malee. He tells her that Kim wasn't the first man Pran had beaten and warns that eventually she could become the next person Pran hurts. Malee refuses to believe Pran is capable of seriously hurting her. Asanai then asks whether she really wants to spend the rest of her life wondering whether Pran is capable of it. He even tells her that he could give her more than Pran.

Malee responds simply: She loves Pran.

This scene makes Asanai's intentions increasingly questionable. He's no longer simply protecting his friend. He's actively trying to break Pran and Malee apart. Then Asanai reveals something even more disturbing. He tells Malee that Pran was actually the one who pushed her stepfather from the bridge into the river.

*Malee's death*

Eventually, Malee is shown sitting on the balcony ledge. A large spider approaches her. Then she falls. The movie doesn't immediately explain exactly what happened. Afterward, we see Pran, Malee and the cat together as though everything is normal.

Then a monk arrives at the apartment complex to offer blessings to the residents.

*Malee is a ghost (Yup, we're halfway through the movie.)*

And that's when the movie finally reveals the supernatural. And the mystery surrounding Kim and Malee's death.

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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.