Banjong Pisanthanakun, the Thai filmmaker behind genre landmarks Shutter and Pee Mak, is returning to the director’s chair for Inherit, a horror feature produced by GDH 559, Thailand’s most creatively versatile and commercially consistent studio. Korean sales outfit Barunson E&A, the production company behind Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite, has boarded international sales on the project.
Banjong has long been regarded as one of Southeast Asia‘s premier genre directors. His 2004 debut Shutter became a defining title in the Thai horror wave of the 2000s, while the comedy-horror Pee Mak (2013) became Thailand’s highest-grossing film of all time and the first Thai title to surpass ten million domestic admissions. His most recent release The Medium (2021), a found-footage supernatural thriller co-produced with Korea’s Showbox, was well received by critics, but saw its theatrical release hampered by the pandemic. Inherit marks his first time behind the camera in five years.
The film centers on a wealthy family whose polished exterior begins to crack when an ancient centipede spirit infiltrates their bloodline. It is adapted from Tayat Asun, a landmark Thai horror novel first published in 1991 that has remained in print through multiple editions and spawned several television adaptations but has never before been brought to the big screen. The cast is led by Davika Hoorne, who recently appeared in A Useful Ghost — winner of the Grand Prize in Cannes’ Critics’ Week section — which GDH also distributed in Thailand.
GDH 559 has long been a driving force in Southeast Asian cinema. Its 2024 release How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies grossed approximately $73.8 million worldwide, became the first Thai film shortlisted for the international feature Oscar and has since been acquired by Miramax for an English-language remake. In 2025, the studio expanded its festival footprint when Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s Human Resource premiered in the Orizzonti section at the Venice Film Festival.
“There is something quite haunting about the material that draws upon a beloved work of Thai horror literature, yet strikingly fresh and unsettling in a way it unfolds,” said GDH CEO Jina Osothsilp. “It is a story that feels deeply rooted in our culture, yet speaks to something universal about family, legacy, and what we cannot escape.”
Barunson E&A will handle sales across North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. The deal extends the Korean company’s growing Southeast Asian footprint — last year it signed an exclusive sales partnership with Indonesian genre auteur Joko Anwar’s production company Come and See Pictures, whose latest directorial effort Ghost in the Cell premiered at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, with Barunson serving as co-producer and sales agent. Barunson E&A CEO Yoonhee Choi says her company is in discussion with GDH on future co-development and co-production projects beyond Inherit.
