The painfully sorrowful NANG NAK (นางนาก, 1999), became of one the more important Thai films at the time, breaking a rare million Baht at the box office, and revitalizing the film industry that kick started a new wave of Thai horror, is based on the popular cultural ghost story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong, a loving and devoted wife and mother that refused to go on to the next life, creating a local haunting while living with her unaware husband. It's a subject of debate if this is just folklore or basis on an actual person; Asian gothic scholar and director Mattie Do on their audio commentary debate this, saying to an older generation of Thai and Laos people who believe that it was indeed a real, true story, but a modern generation just believe it's an urban legend. Regardless, Amanda Reyes writes from her blurb in the All the Haunts Be Ours, volume 2, “[Nonzee Nimibutr] faithful adaptation in both a ghost story and a tragic romance that may introduce Western audiences to an important tenets of the religion”, a symbol of Thai heritage and values. One can visit the shrine of Nak at Klong Phra Khanong, at Wat Mahabut, a soul unable to rest for their blessing requests. The legend has had a permanent place in Thai film, dating back to their silent era, this 1999 film might be slightly indebted to the J-horror cycle out of Japan at the time, but without any true supernatural terror. It is, however, richly textured in the supernatural that underlines the power of her undying love, feared by the locals for her unnatural presence that leads to a truly potent exorcism scene to end the film. “It seems Nonzee Nimibutr is keener to emphasise the romantic tragedy and primacy of Buddhist thought rather than ghostly horror while making it clear that death, along with grief and loss, is something that must be accepted so the spiritual order may be maintained and with it order in the mortal realm”, writes Hayley Scanlon.

While Mak (Winai Kraibutr) is away at the Siamese–Vietnamese War (of 1833-34), Nak (Intira Charoenpura) is giving birth to their child, but is betrayed by a hired midwife that le to her and their child’s death. Upon returning home, after staying with a monk to heal from his war wounds, Mak is overjoyed to be reunited to Nak, but the local villagers know he's being transfixed by her ghostly presence. Scanlon adds, “though the framing of the tale may seem in its way uncomfortably sexist despite its romantic overtones, it’s clear that Nak suffered largely because of the male failure around her […] But the film does not particularly blame war for Nak’s fate, seemingly accepting it as a necessary duty Mak had to further the cause of his nation which is placed above that he owes to his wife and unborn child”. The inter-cutting between the two lovers separated is intriguing, both engaged in battles. Yet when the film gets to the supernatural elements, the trick photography, the practical effects, and the usage of animals (and in one brief scene, possible real animal deaths), add to the furlong love, to creepy results. Lost in translation, is a deeply textured references in dialogue and acts, but it only adds to the curiosity of a Western viewer to research. The Severin Films release helps in that regard. “Once a story about a malicious, homicidal ghost, Nang Nak takes a far more complex and compassionate view of its main specter here and treats it as a tragic love story instead”, notes Nathaniel Thompson of Mondo-Digital. “The rural, humid setting is extremely palpable here with an emphasis on blazing green foliage and ever-present water, the perfect backdrop for a film that kicked off a wave of Thai horror films that continues to this day”. To know love to deep that it keeps you from moving on, even in death, is a powerful thing that many don't experience. Maybe NANG NAK isn't as much of a horror film that one might want, it's nonetheless potent, eerie, and captivating.