Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Murderer’ on Netflix, A Multicultural Mystery Full of Twists and Turns

As storm clouds circle late into the evening, a bloodied man with a shovel inside an abandoned home hears a woman cry out “help me.” So begins The Murderer, Netflix’s first original film in the Isan dialect prominent in the northeastern region of Thailand. But if “it was a dark and stormy night” might sound like the most predictable beginning to a story ever, where the film goes from there is quite surprising.

THE MURDERER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: A Pepe Silvia-style red string map reveals that seven people have been killed by a “farang,” a term referring to a foreigner of Western descent. It’s on a police inspector to piece together just what went down at a family gathering turned massacre in the middle of the countryside. The Murderer introduces a wild cast of characters, ranging from the normal Thai woman Sai bringing home her British boyfriend Earl to her sister Tukta who’s married to the pot-bellied, MAGA-loving Charlie. Earl emerges as the obvious suspect as an outsider, but the more information comes out, the less clear-cut anyone’s motivations or actions become.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The model very clearly seems to be The Usual Suspects as an investigator tries to piece together the perpetrator of a crime from some very conflicting – and potentially unreliable – witnesses.

Performance Worth Watching: As Nawat, the so-called “hot-headed crime buster” assigned to the case, Phetthai Vongkhamlao is the standout performer. Watching him put on different guises of interrogation style to get what he needs out of various survivors of the wild evening proves entertaining to observe. His differing stories about the origin of a big scar on his face recall Heath Ledger’s Joker (but mostly benevolently).

Memorable Dialogue: “Pay no attention to the noise out there,” Earl tells Sai. “Make up your own mind.” Easier said than done for her and for the audience!

Sex and Skin: There’s a little bit of slow, sweet foreplay between Earl and Sai, but it never progresses beyond anything racier than Earl’s shirtlessness.

Our Take: Director Wisit Sasanatieng knows how to entertain. The Murderer moves confidently forward, blending courtroom drama and wry humor in an unexpected but intriguing fashion. The macabre sense of humor will absolutely keep viewers on their toes through a pretty gruesome plot. There’s also some intriguing political commentary around cross-cultural relationships and who gets what in the value exchange.

It’s clearly an ambitious effort to orchestrate such a huge ensemble, but the second hour gets quickly convoluted in a pile-up of competing motivations and versions of events. You’ll figure it out by the end, but there’s a good chunk of the film where it’s easy to feel a bit discombobulated.  

Our Call: SKIP IT. There’s a lot to admire in this increasingly antic series of encounters involving misunderstanding and misfortune. But The Murderer loses the thread somewhere along the way, making all of its selling points feel like minor redemptions. Confusion, not comedy or chills, ultimately becomes the predominant feeling.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.