As the All the Haunts Be Ours Volume 2 set takes us throughout not just the world of folk horror but our world itself, it lands in Thailand with Nang Nak, which is based on the legend of Mae Nak Phra Khanong.

A gorgeous woman named Nak once lived on the banks of the Phra Khanong canal with her husband Mak. As he went to battle in the Kengtung Wars, she died giving birth to their child. When he returned from the battles that he barely survived, he found her waiting for him as a ghost. Despite the warnings of others, he lived with her until learning the truth, running in fear as she attacked the villagers who she felt drove him away.

In some versions of this story, the monk Somdet Phra Phutthachan defeats Nak by confining her spirit in the bone of her forehead, which he keeps on his waistband. The Thai royal family was said to still own this magical relic and Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse, Prince of Chumphon and the father of the Thai navy, also claimed that he had this occult object in his possession.

Directed by Nonzee Nimibutr, this is the thirteenth and by no means the final adaption of this legend. It moves the story forward in time, as Mak (Winai Kraibutr) fights in the Siamese-Vietnamese War, so it takes place in the 1830s. When he returns, he lives with Nak (Intira Jaroenpura) and their child, as the villagers never told him that she died.

Anyone that tries to tell Mak the truth dies at the spectral hands of her ghost. Mak discovers the truth as she drops a comb and her ghostly arm extends longer than it should (the legend often claims this happens when she drops a piece of fruit). Even after her home is exorcised and burnt, Nak still rages.

Buddhist monk Somdej Toh — the most sainted monk in Thailand’s history — finally convinces her to stop and that she will be reunited in the afterlife with her husband and child. He then cuts the center of the forehead of her corpse open, allowing her spirit to leave, and creates a talisman from it that ends up being in the possession of Prince Chumbhorn Ketudomsak, just as the royal man claimed.

As I have gone from spirit land to spirit land through this set, I have seen how many civilizations have tried to make sense of the unknown, which would be love and death. This story sets forth the notion that one of these does not always stop the other.

Nang Nak is part of the new Severin box set, All the Haunts Be Ours Volume 2. It has extras including an audio commentary by Mattie Do, director Of The Long Walk, and Asian gothic scholar Katarzyna Ancuta, an interview with director Nonzee Nimibutr and a trailer.

You can order this set from Severin.