New York Asian 2025 Review: ATTACK 13 Finds Ghostly Horrors in Thailand

School-set horror is something of a staple when it comes to Asian horror films with titles like Whispering Corridors, Death Bell, Memento Mori, and more dominating the subgenre.

They tend to focus on themes involving bullying, cliques, and mad teachers, with the end result often involving some manner of ghostly vengeance. Attack 13 is the latest feature to dip its toes into high school horrors, and it's a solid enough ride through those haunted hallways.

Jindahra (Korranid Laosubinprasoet) is a transfer student who left her previous school behind after a bullying incident got out of control. She's hoping for a fresh start, but instead she's immediately targeted by her new school's head female student, Bussaba (Nichapalak Thongkham). She stands up to the bully, but their ceasefire is shattered by a betrayal leading to the discovery of Bussaba's dead body hanging in the gym. Don't start singing "Ding dong, the witch is dead" just yet, though, as soon the big, bad bully is back from the grave to haunt the bullied once more.

Attack 13 is the latest genre effort from Thai director Taweewat Wantha, who's found varying levels of success with films like Sars Wars: Bangkok Zombie Crisis and the Death Whisperer franchise. His filmmaking chops remain evident as he finds a handful of fun scares and creepy images here to bolster a bullying horror movie striving to stand apart from the crowd.

While the setup is familiar enough, the film's script (by Thammanan Chulaborirak) takes more than a few left turns before reaching its conclusion. Most horror movies about bully revenge tend to kick off with a victim returning for vengeance, but Bussaba's ghostly tirade raises more questions that add to the film's twisty, ever evolving plot. Does all of it work? Maybe not, but Wantha keeps things moving between the mystery, thrills, and terrified teens, meaning it's rarely less than entertaining.

The cast is fine in general, but the two leads -- it's really an ensemble, but Laosubinprasoet and Thongkham have the richer characters to play around with -- do good work exploring the dynamic between the bully and the bullied. Neither Jindahra nor Bussaba are entirely one thing, and while that doesn't mean their perceived roles are necessarily reversed as some kind of twist, it serves as an engaging reminder that the world is rarely as black and white as we often believe it to be.

Supernatural horrors are the focus in Attack 13, but in addition to bullying, the film finds time to comment on additional issues like parental neglect and (highly) inappropriate teacher behaviors. These teens don't do themselves any favors, but they're also failed by adults who should be doing far better.

Makeup and visual effects are well crafted giving Bussaba an effectively creepy look, and Wantha stages some fun set pieces throughout the school. We even get a little volleyball action, and while it's not nearly enough to qualify Attack 13 as "volleyball horror," it's a start for a sub-subgenre that's currently lacking in the too-small world of sports-related horror films.

2017's Mon Mon Mon Monsters handles a central theme far better, but Attack 13 still works as a fun enough chiller about misbehaving teens and violent vengeance. Bullied, bullies, bystanders... we're ultimately all victims in this haunted world of ours.