Peaceful Property Series Review – Ghosts and Gags
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Home Vimarnsukmun is a carefree, wealthy young man living abroad, forced to return to Thailand after his grandfather dies, leaving several properties for Home (yes, that’s his name) to inherit. Home plans to sell off everything, however, rumours about his properties being haunted makes him team up with Peach, a chef who can see and exorcize ghosts. Sort of!
Directed by Dome Jarupat Kannula, Thai series “Peaceful Property” (original title: บ้านหลอน On Sale) is a horror-comedy spanning 12 episodes. The show stars New Thitipoom Techaapaikhun as Home, while Tay Tawan Vihokratana plays Peach, who recently gains the power of seeing ghosts and somehow manages to drive them away by cooking them food. Home and Peach’s quirky ghost-busting team is completed by Home’s grumpy lawyer/employee Kan (Mook Worranit Thawornwong), and Peach’s cheery content-creator sister Pangpang (Jan Ployshompoo Supasap). It’s kind of like the new Ghostbusters, but with a Thai comedic twist, and without any gadgets!
The biggest strength of “Peaceful Property” is its star-cast, all of whom are charming, funny, and adorable in their own ways. Jan and Tay make a cutely chaotic sibling-duo, while Tay’s Peach is a nervous, serious, soft-spoken chef who is scared of his new ghost-seeing powers, Jan is hilarious as his loud, annoying, energetic sister Pangpang, who is always going live on her channel to sell all sorts of knick-knacks. New Thitipoom (“Warp Effect”/“Cherry Magic”) is comedically likable as Home, although, for a character living in America, his English is extremely basic, on the bright side – whenever he utters a few English phrases, it’s funny. His vocabulary is largely limited to – “Oh my God!” and “What the F…?!. Mook as lawyer Kan is the only serious adult in the amateur ghost-busting crew, who reluctantly goes with the crew to different properties to chase away deadly spirits. So, most episodes feature the protagonists tackling a new ghost at a different property, and a lot of these spirits have tragic or sad back-stories.
New Poramath Samart is wacky as Home’s bodyguard/security guard, Suradech, who is almost always by his employer’s side—sometimes even in the bathroom! Actors Ong Kasab Champadib and Tui Puttachat Pongsuchat play Home’s surviving relatives, Uncle Somkid and Aunt Phon. The latter is shown to be disappointed about not receiving a significant share of the properties as inheritance and throws scary tantrums over it. But there’s also something off about the seemingly kind Uncle Somkid right from the start, hinting that family feuds over the inheritance are bound to erupt. I don’t know if it’s me, but Tui Puttachat looked like she would pass off as Mook’s mom – they look quite similar. Anyway, a bunch of other popular GMMTV actors make cameos in the many haunted tales of Peaceful Property, including Tanapon Sukhumpantanasan, who plays Tay’s friend.
From a poor young factory worker wrongly accused of theft, to a beautiful dancer abandoned unceremoniously by his lover, the ghosts come from different walks of life. A lot of the times, the make-up and CGI for the supernatural scenes and demons are hilariously bad, probably deliberately, so the show is almost never scary. And as far as the comedy aspect is concerned, it does have a quite a few ‘laugh out loud’ moments, but the series begins to lose pace by episode 5. There’s a very unnecessary and serious twist introduced in the second half of the show, which sort of changes the tone of ‘Peaceful Property’ for a bit and doesn’t feel convincing. But honestly, the on-screen chemistry between the characters and the friendships they build while fighting off spirits together feel quite authentic.
If you’re looking for a low-stakes horror-comedy show with a talented, engaging cast, “Peaceful Property” is a fun, one-time watch.
Rating: 6 on 10. You can watch ‘Peaceful Property’ on YouTube.
Also Read: Nobody Wants This Review – The RomCom We Need (Short Audio Version below)
