Set in the northeastern part of Thailand’s Isan region, “The Medium” is a Thai horror film which begins with a filming crew following a shaman and her family to prove that shaman inheritance in this family is true. When her niece begins to exhibit signs of possession, the shaman realizes that what is taking over her body is something far more sinister.
The film is classified M18 with the consumer advice of “Sexual Scenes and Violence”.
There is a scene of a black and white CCTV footage which depicts sexual activity between a woman with different men on three separate occasions. The scenes depict sexual positioning and movements shown but without details of nudity. This can be contained under a M18 rating for “depictions of sexual activity without strong details.”
The film also contains scenes of violence, horror, nudity and some disturbing scenes. There is an atmosphere of sustained threat throughout the film that intensifies in the second half, depicting the protagonist’s possession by evil spirits as well as several shamanistic rituals to exorcise her. There are several jump-scare scenes with the impact heightened by the sound effects and the dark and spooky setting. Some of the stronger scenes include a scene of the protagonist stabbing a woman’s throat with a piece of glass; a possessed man hitting his head hard against that wall several times with bloodletting visible; and possessed individuals tearing flesh off their victims briefly, leaving one of them with innards flowing out of his abdomen as shown in the aftermath of the attack. In another scene, it is implied that a character feasts on dog’s meat after placing the dog in a pot of hot water to cook. There is also a scene where female upper body nudity is seen in a non-sexual context. Expletives such as “f**k” and “pu**y” are also used infrequently in the film.