Banjong Pisanthanakun, the Thai director of horror hits “Shutter” and “Pee Mak,” tells Variety his new psychological horror film “Inherit” will get a sequel, with star Davika Hoorne set to return.
“Inherit,” a Centrepiece selection at the Toronto Film Festival, where it world premiered in September, is closing the Jakarta World Cinema festival.
Pisanthanakun and Hoorne first worked together on 2013 horror-comedy “Pee Mak,” Thailand’s biggest local box office hit of all time.
Hoorne plays Woranart, a youthful-looking grandmother who moves in with her granddaughter’s wealthy family. The family soon discovers she harbors a centuries-old centipede spirit with sinister designs on the youngest in the household, Oui (Baipor Thitiya Jirapornsilp).
Hoorne was Pisanthanakun’s first choice for the immortal grandmother.
“The character has to be sexy, beautiful, and funny at the same time. I think of her as a fashion icon, too,” Pisanthanakun tells Variety. “The first image that I have was her wearing a bikini and sunbathing beside the pool, which is very modern. She talks like this [era’s] woman, talking to ChatGPT. She’s a very adaptable girl.”
On set, Pisanthanakun advised Hoorne to study Catherine Tramell, Sharon Stone’s character in “Basic Instinct,” and Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Hoorne also starred in “A Useful Ghost,” the satirical Thai comedy-thriller that took Cannes’ Critics’ Week Grand Prix in 2025. She regards that film and “Inherit” as her return to cinema.
“For movie, I carefully choose the project that I want to do,” Hoorne says. “One project takes around one year of working, so I really have to choose the one I’m gonna live with for such a long time to bring up my soul as an actress. So, trust me, watch it, I pick for you guys already.”
Pisanthanakun says that 20 years ago, horror was all about the concept – ghosts in photos or on videotapes – with filmmakers competing over where to make the ghost appear.
“Actually, after ‘Shutter’ and ‘Alone,’ there came a time when I really got bored of making horror films; even going to the cinema to watch horror films made me fall asleep right away,” the director says. “After films like ‘Hereditary’ and ‘It Follows’ came out, I felt like there were still other new, refreshing ways to make horror films. The modern horror, especially from the Hollywood side, is now very creative. I think it’s the only genre that still has something creative coming up.”
His film “The Medium” was produced by Korean director Na Hong-Jin.
“When I made this project with him, he shared his opinion on how the international market would react all the time. I just made this film [the way I normally do]. But he’s gonna give his opinion on how the international audience would perceive it,” Pisanthanakun says.
“I want the concepts and the story to be as solid as possible, and I want the atmosphere to be everything. It has to be very unique, and everything has to be like authentic,” he adds.
On AI, he says: “I think it’s inevitable in the system, but I think people can use it as long as it’s not violating other people’s rights.”
“The Thai film industry right now is not so good – that’s the real pressure because I want this movie to bring Thai audiences back to the cinema,” Pisanthanakun says. “Inherit” opens across Thailand Nov. 19.
He adds that public funding for Thai film production is neither robust nor consistent, and only goes to horror.
Hoorne has moved into producing girls’ love (GL) titles, a genre of romance stories between women that is popular in Thailand.
“It’s gonna be better if we have funding from the other help of the government; that help is the independent themes that can go internationally,” Hoorne says. “When I’m producing a movie or series, it is very hard to find the funding, and it is really hard for Thai films to recruit people for different genres. Because you have to draw people into the cinema, drama or comedy, something that looks small, people tend to wait.”
Hoorne has also directed a family short film, “Soap Opera,” which recently wrapped, and will focus on TV series in 2027. Pisanthanakun is leading a Thai-Korean horror co-production.