Nang Nak (1999)

The place to start, because every film after it is in conversation with this one. Nonzee Nimibutr retells the legend of Mae Nak of Phra Khanong, the wife who waits for her soldier husband and will not let death end the marriage, and plays it as a tragedy first and a ghost story second. It was the first Thai film to earn over 100 million baht at home, and it traveled to the Rotterdam festival in 2000. Watch it for the patient village atmosphere and a final stretch that is more heartbreaking than frightening, which is exactly the point.