koddyroddy - Tumblr blog

[koddyroddy]

Goddess Bless You From Death and Khemjira The Series save me. thai horror bl. save mee thai horror bl

[koddyroddy]

massive trigger warning / TW for blood

i am genuinely so hypnotised by this

[koddyroddy]

Before the last episode airs, I have one more wildly silly prediction—

Despite all the back and forth about genre expectations, DFF will prove in the end to be a BL. All the couples will survive.

[koddyroddy]

Is DFF A Horror Or A Thriller?

It's certainly being advertised as a horror, but as it turns out, it's being billed as a thriller instead. Just check iqiyi, imdb, and mdl and you can see for yourself. Thriller.

So what's the difference between these genres, and how might that apply to our understanding of the story of DFF?

They're actually very similar genres, both relying on waves of tension and suspense to propel the narrative forward. There have been many debates over the years about where exactly the line between them lies, and it doesn't help that the genres are often combined due to their similarity and compatibility.

While horrors and thrillers typically share many elements, there's one thing that can make a clear distinction between them: their purpose.

Be it a slasher, paranormal, or psychological horror, the purpose of all of them is the same: to horrify. Horrors are meant to be scary, disgusting, creepy, or unsettling. That is their primary purpose.

Thrillers on the other hand are meant, predictably, to thrill.

Think of it like the difference between a haunted house and a roller coaster. They both share many elements, but the fundamental purpose of each is clearly different. Terror vs excitement.

From that perspective, it isn't hard to see that DFF leans much more into thriller territory than horror territory. Most of the things that have happened haven't served the purpose of scaring us, but instead keeping us on the edges of our seats wondering what's going to happen next.

So, contrary to popular belief, DFF is neither a slasher nor a psychological horror. It's just a thriller with horror elements.

What does that mean for the plot?

We're probably going to get a conclusion that's more shocking and intense than it is scary. Thrillers rely on many twists and turns to keep the audience guessing, and the tension rises and rises until it finally breaks as you're practically falling off the edge of your seat.

This could result in any number of scenarios. Maybe everyone kills each other in chaotic madness, maybe everyone who's still around lives happily ever after while rotting away in their respective jail cells and mental hospital rooms, maybe the Janta cult swoops in and does a little group sacrifice as a treat.

Maybe it was allll a dreammm...

[koddyroddy]

Okay, I wasn't planning on doing any character deep dives, but--I have to share a few thoughts.

I find Por's story rather fascinating in how much of his personal journey is not explicitly stated but shown through his and others' actions. I don't find him to be a completely static character myself, particularly when you look at the story from his perspective. I find it to be a rather subtle journey.

First of all, Por doesn't have any real, genuine friends. He has friends of convenience, and I highly doubt he ever expressed his real concerns and fears with anyone in that friend group. (In fact, I'd argue the only genuine friends in the group were Tee and Top.) Por is afraid of failure, and he's afraid of disappointing his father. His concerns are ones that would likely be mocked or dismissed by his friends in the same way they dismissed the group's success in winning the production money, assuming it was because of Por's father. They are blasé about something that I think is likely an integral part of Por's self-esteem. I'm not surprised we don't see him providing insight into his true feelings about what he's going through until he's weakened on the couch.

Getting into Por's self-esteem, I think much of Por's reaction to Non is because of Por's insecurity about his own capabilities. His father wants Por to be impressive. Por is interested in film-making and wants to impress his father in his chosen profession, which is why Por fears failure, fears not being perfect or amazing, fears being mediocre, and fears making his father and family look bad. He wants to be someone his father respects. Given that his father doesn't disapprove of his chosen creative pursuits, Por wants the film to be good. His father expects a lot of him, and he wants to live up to those expectations. He's also a teenager who doesn't want to be a failure and doesn't want to look bad in front of others.

So he has an idea for a short film, but it's only half an idea. He's brainstorming the project with his friends when some loser (from Por's perspective) interjects with a decent idea that fills out his own partial one. When Por's too afraid to put in the hard work to write the script himself (which is a natural tendency for many people who fear not being perfect), he forces the work onto Non. If the script sucks, it won't be Por's fault, it will be Non's fault. There's much "creative back-and-forth" about the script, and Por is constantly asking Non to rewrite it and make it better. He is there through the entire process (minus the times when Non is actually putting in the work), and he knows how much rewriting Non does. My assumption: Por recognizes how much work Non is putting into the script. More work that Por put into it. I think this is when Por starts to really feel a difference between himself and Non as creative individuals and storytellers, though he may not yet recognize it.

It is at this point that the group wins the production money. Por doesn't want to acknowledge Non's contribution to their success and doesn't want Non there at the proposal session. While Por celebrates with the group afterwards (minus Non, of course), his friends joke about their success being the results of Por's father's influence while Jin argues for Non's creative contributions. What a comparison! In a moment when Por was feeling successful, he's reminded that he himself didn't contribute that much to the success. Not in the ways that mattered.

Then the inciting camera incident occurs. Por goes from a general indifference to Non as a person to outright bullying him. I find your point about Por potentially seeing the footage of Top breaking the camera and still blaming Non an interesting one. At first, I thought the idea far fetched given the camera broke and they had to buy a whole new one. How could Por have seen the footage? But then I remember SD cards exist (hahaha). He might have pulled the storage card and seen the video Top had shot, if Top had indeed pressed record before the camera broke.

Over the course of filming, the Por-Non dynamic continues to change. He tolerates Non's presence for a while and even pushes off editing the film to Non (again, classic behavior of someone who questions their own abilities and are afraid of doing a bad job), but keeps the camera work and the directing for himself. I assume Por is more confident in his abilities in these areas.

Then the next incident occurs--Non and the horse accounts. At this point, I bet Por can barely stand the thought of Non. Everything about Non is just intolerable, bringing shame and disappointment, particularly Por's father's disappointment. Now the Por-Non negative dynamic escalates again. Por wants Non out but still needs his script. Non is starting to push back, and Por outright says he won't allow Non to take his script back. He'll use it with or without Non's permission. Things only continue to escalate. Non produces a whole new script that's even better than the last one. Por agrees that it's a better script! Yeah, Non straight up pulled another creative work out of no where (from Por's perspective).

Filming continues, and Non ultimately attacks the group with a knife while filming and accuses the group outright of bullying, stealing (that's you, Por), etc. This I think is another turning point for Por. He reacts so strongly to Non as a threat and was willing to continue beating Non after he fell unconscious. At the same time, he seemed so shocked by what Non said almost as if he'd never really considered what Non had been feeling this whole time.

At this point, they pull the film together. I have to wonder what the editing sessions would have been like. Was it Por or Fluke who did it (I don't remember)? Did they take the footage from the original shoots (based on the original script) plus the more recent footage from the new script to make the film? Or did they just not bother with the new footage? The ending of the film is not the same as Non's new script, so I assume they may have stuck with the original and worked with whatever footage they had.

[Side note--I've been writing this for a couple hour, and that was never my plan. How did I end of writing so much about Por of all people?]

Now the coverup really begins. Standing on that stage with his parents, presenting a film with his name on it, Por knows he wasn't the one who wrote that script. The story wasn't his own. He knows the situation is a bit of a farce. I believe others have done deep dives on this scene alone, but alas I'm too far deep into this meta to go find them.

Then the time jump.

This is where the true speculation comes in. I have to wonder at what Por's been thinking about these past three years. He doesn't talk about the film three years later. It's not something that he brags about, and he doesn't seem comfortable when it is brought up. He keeps up the front that he wrote the script when Tan/New first asked him about it in 12th grade, but it seemed painful for him to say it.

And then we get to Phee. I have to wonder at Por letting Phee rope everyone into reshooting the film. Where once he called the shots (at least as far as the film goes), he's now handing it over without much protest to someone else. Por seems like he's lost his self confidence and his drive to be in control. (I might argue that Por was never really the leader in the same way that no one was actually his friend, but that might be a moot point.)

Perhaps the combination of Phee and Tan/New joining the group, both of which are not pushovers, and Por losing his confidence (plus any changes Tee went through) led to a change in the group dynamics. Phee definitely has that type of personality to not easily follow others, and it would take someone who has more dominate qualities to lead this group when Phee, Tan, and Tee are around. Definitely more than what Por has by the time they arrive at the murder house.

What was my point in sharing all of this? I've forgotten TBH. I just had to get these thoughts out about Por after hearing @dribs-and-drabbles own thougths. Thank you for sharing! I always enjoy people's perspectives on interesting shows and characters.

One more point about DFF—

I really, really, really wish Por had found out before he died that Top was the one to break the camera.

[koddyroddy]

@shannankle

Regarding Lord of the Flies and DFF--

Caveat: I'll start by saying it's been years since I read the Lord of the Flies book or watched the movie, so this will not be an in-depth analysis. Just a few thoughts.

A common theme in dystopian stories is the exploration of human nature's worst aspects. How do humans behave when they are at their worst? After spending four episodes building up the horror in the woods and then four+ episodes building up the "horror" in the backstory, we return to the chaos at the murder house where the friend group is in the midst of turning on each other. The social fabric/friendship that held the group together is quickly disintegrating. Each group members' inherent self-interest and self-centeredness is on full display, and any affectation of friendship is basically gone. Queue the Real World intro: "When people stop being polite and start getting real."

By the end of episode 9, the show felt very dystopian to me. Dystopian but still horror. I couldn't help wondering if we would get a Lord of the Flies ending or a variation of one. For those who are not familiar with Lord of the Flies:

A group of well-breed boys are stranded alone on an island after a plane crash. Over the course of the story, all societal niceties are abandoned, might equals right, and the group ultimately turns on a select group of boys as targets, resulting in one boy killed and another (the protagonist) chased through the woods. The book ends with all the boys coming to the beach to discover that the authorities (the adults!) had arrived to rescue them. (Sorry, I know this is an oversimplification of a fascinating book, but it's been too long since I've read it!)

By a potential Lord of the Flies ending, I'm referring to the possibility that:

The group will turn on one person to hunt them down and kill them. With the episode 9 reveal that Tan is New and that Phee might tell Jin the truth about New's plans, I couldn't help but wonder if New would be the one targeted. When Phee then revealed New's identity to the group in episode 10, I was waiting to see how the group might react. It appears they are not yet at a point of banding together to take down whomever they think the killer is. New better be careful. The group could turn on him now that they know he's there to reveal the truth behind Non's disappearance.

The authorities arrive and bring some semblance of normalcy and decency (and accountability) with their presence a shocking contrast to the remaining members of the group still live at the end (likely in the midst of trying to kill one another).

There are plenty of other potential endings within the dystopian genre, so who knows how things will actually turn out. That said, I can't help but see DFF as a mix of horror and dystopian themes with a clear transition between the first four episodes and the next four/five episodes. The "horror" to be feared changes. Instead of a killer in the house/bogeyman to run from, the horror we find is humanity at its worst, self-centered and cruel.

Both horror and dystopian stories can be very moralistic, and we won't really know what DFF's moral will be until the end.

Fingers crossed the last two episodes will be epic!

DFF Episode 9 Thoughts

I had to take a few days to process episode 9 of Dead Friends Forever because I found my reaction to the show transitioning along with the show's move into the final third.

With confirmation that Tan is New and that New is drugging everyone at the house, I had one prominent thought--It's now time to sit back and watch the story play out. I'm done with speculating on what will happen. The time for theories is over (for me).

Time for honesty--

Do I find Tan being New and New being vengeful a really obvious choice story-wise? Yes. Does that lessen my appreciation of the story? Not really. We've gotten such a great build up to the current situation at the murder house that the Tan/New revelation feels earned.

I care more about the characters revealing the truth to each other in the coming episodes than I do about getting additional background as an audience member. The "truth" is so rich, and I want the drama of the revelations to play out amongst the characters. I want it to be intense and thought-provoking. That would make me very happy. Can you tell I'm glad we're back at the murder house?

The show is starting to feel more dystopian than horror, but I'm okay with the blend of the two genres. Will we get a Lord of the Flies ending instead of a Blair Witch ending? This could be a whole post until itself. Hmm....

I don't know who--if anyone--is going to die in the next three episodes (see #3 above as the potential endings vary greatly based on genre), and I honestly don't care who does die. I find myself not rooting for any character in particular as we head into the final third. I certainly find some characters more interesting than others, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be heart broken over any of the them dying.

Please note--I see these characters as exactly that--characters. I would not in real life be so cold-hearted if these were real people.

Also, I obviously am still speculating a little bit. *hahahaha* This show, man. What can I say?

[koddyroddy]

DFF Episode 10 Thoughts

Satisfaction. Pure satisfaction.

I can’t even say how happy I am right now with the show.

See my episode 9 thoughts for context.

[koddyroddy]

I read Uzumaki because it was referenced in Dead Friend Forever. I won't spoil what happens in case anyone else still wants to read it. But! I will say that if DFF ends in a similar way, or ends with similar themes to Uzumaki, I can already tell people are gonna be so mad. I, however, will think it would be so fucking brilliant!

At this point, I think Uzumaki is a required companion read to DFF. After all, nothing in this series is by accident. And on the surface it might not seem like these two stories have anything in common because Uzumaki really is such a bizarre book, but by the time I got to the end I was like, "oh! 💡".

I recommend reading the Uzumaki bind up, which collects all volumes together. It's a large book, but it's a manga and can totally be read in one day. If you do read it, here's your tw for every type of body horror imaginable.

[koddyroddy]

The Role of Regret and Guilt in DFF

Breaking my hiatus temporarily to word vomit about DFF! 

I think one of the most interesting thesis Dr. Sammon brings up with the story of DFF is navigating the utter complexities of what it means to harbor regret and guilt, as well as the moral dilemma of moving on that usually comes with trying to overcome such thorny emotions. 

We see this explicitly w/ both Phee and New/Tan in this episode. 

With Phee, this premise is somewhat on the nose. When Non initially tries to contact him after their falling out, he blocks Non’s number and resolves to forget him. Even speaking with his father on what he should do doesn’t break that resolve, and it really isn’t until Phee watches the news of Non’s disappearance that he realizes his mistake in letting his emotions get the better of him. This is all the more painful, considering Phee had known that Non was keeping his troubles from him, and at the very least, had deserved a chance to explain himself.

For New, it’s a bit more complicated. From what we see of New and Non’s relationship as brothers, they’re somewhat emotionally distant from one another, as a result of New often ignoring Non.

Non even points this out to New, as we see in the line he states below:

New doesn’t deny it, hence his promise of bringing back souvenirs for Non the next time he visits. He makes the resolve to be a better brother to Non, yet by the time he’s more than ready to make this happen, his brother has disappeared. 

For Phee and New, it’s the regret of what they hadn’t given to Non when they had the chance that eats away at them, in the same way Por, Tee, etc. harbor the guilt of their actions towards Non during the The Hidden Character movie arc and making his life a living hell. 

By the time any one of them even thinks of the very concept of making amends to Non (and this comes to them individually at various times, as we see), our boy has long disappeared and with it, any proper chance of resolving the regret and guilt they all hold within themselves. 

The way I see it, the figure of the masked killer—whether we the audience ever find out who the killer is or not—at this point, I don’t really think it matters in the long run (although it doesn’t change the fact that I’m hella curious as hell as to who it is, if indeed there is an actually killer lurking around). Only that the masked killer symbolizes not only Non’s justifiable rage, but also the regrets and the guilt of all those who’d ever harmed him.

DFF is a revenge story, yes. But this story also begs a few questions: what exactly does revenge accomplish? Would killing the rest of that horrendous friend group bring back New and Non's parents, as well as the deaths that have already occurred (and what’s yet to come)? 

Would it take back all the pain and suffering Non has experienced? Would New’s revenge change the fact that at the time Non needed him to be the best brother he could be to Non, he wasn’t?

Revenge can bring about an emotional catharsis like no other, but more often than not, revenge just brings with it even more regret, guilt, and pain.

[koddyroddy]

DFF Episode 9 Thoughts

I had to take a few days to process episode 9 of Dead Friends Forever because I found my reaction to the show transitioning along with the show's move into the final third.

With confirmation that Tan is New and that New is drugging everyone at the house, I had one prominent thought--It's now time to sit back and watch the story play out. I'm done with speculating on what will happen. The time for theories is over (for me).

Time for honesty--

Do I find Tan being New and New being vengeful a really obvious choice story-wise? Yes. Does that lessen my appreciation of the story? Not really. We've gotten such a great build up to the current situation at the murder house that the Tan/New revelation feels earned.

I care more about the characters revealing the truth to each other in the coming episodes than I do about getting additional background as an audience member. The "truth" is so rich, and I want the drama of the revelations to play out amongst the characters. I want it to be intense and thought-provoking. That would make me very happy. Can you tell I'm glad we're back at the murder house?

The show is starting to feel more dystopian than horror, but I'm okay with the blend of the two genres. Will we get a Lord of the Flies ending instead of a Blair Witch ending? This could be a whole post until itself. Hmm....

I don't know who--if anyone--is going to die in the next three episodes (see #3 above as the potential endings vary greatly based on genre), and I honestly don't care who does die. I find myself not rooting for any character in particular as we head into the final third. I certainly find some characters more interesting than others, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be heart broken over any of the them dying.

Please note--I see these characters as exactly that--characters. I would not in real life be so cold-hearted if these were real people.

Also, I obviously am still speculating a little bit. *hahahaha* This show, man. What can I say?

[koddyroddy]

Reblogging for the sake of an interesting counter argument. I neither agree nor disagree myself, just enjoying the discourse.

After rewatching episode 8 with cool mind and without the emotions that accompanied me the first time, I already know what triggered me so much that I have such a problem accepting the fact that they lied to the police:

it's actually not even about the fact that they lied to the police that Non didn't go with them

it's about how actively they worked to mislead the police, and therefore Non's parents, into Non's elopement with Keng, which btw, only Tee AND JIN did

and although this is understandable when it comes to Tee, who is now, without realizing it, a member of the mafia literally covering up their crimes...

...Jin didn't have to do it. When the cop says that Jin is said to be the closest to Non, Jin could have said "um, not really". And what he ABSOLUTELY DID NOT HAVE TO DO was answer the next question: "what is the possibility that Non ran away with Mr. Keng?" Jin might have said "I don't know, I didn't know him that well, I didn't know they were close until this video came out". What does Jin do? He not only lies, he creates an additional alternative reality, something that has no use for HIM, so he absolutely, absolutely NEVER had to do it

even taking into account the fear of corrupt police, which I doubt (I'll get back to it later), THERE IS STILL NON'S FAMILY, left without Non and without answers as to where he is

What triggers me so much is not that they lied to the police, but HOW they lied, especially Tee and Jin. The potential fear of the police (and the real fear of the consequences) could only be limited to "he wasn't with us, we don't know where he is." But Tee AND JIN did something extra, something specifically misleading and ruining Non's reputation, his life and his future, especially if they live in the illusion that nothing bad happened and Non is alive.

THAT'S WHY I'M WAITING FOR THE SCENE WHEN THEY AGREE HOW TO TESTIFY TOGETHER. Why? Because I'm pretty sure that Tee made them all believe that Non was taken by Keng and they ran away together and it will look bad FOR THEM that Non was with them at that time and used them as a cover for his parents (we can only guess how Por and Fluke will be the first to jump in and lie so as not to ruin their already damaged reputation with another scandal and new problems with their parents and a precious future in medicine). This would also explain Jin's behaviour, who has a very romantic view of love and who first recorded Non "as a punishment because he cheated on his boyfriend", and now thinks that maybe, since Non actually ran away with Keng, maybe THIS was a real love. And what he says may even be an attempt to excuse Non that he is not a bad boy, but that he ran away with his beloved. Tee telling them this would also explain the boys' behavior at the beginning of the series, why Por, Fluke and especially Jin think that Non is alive but doesn't want anything to do with them and why Tee and Top were the first ones to think that Non was dead and is the ghost because they were the last who saw Non and know perfectly well, that he wasn't taken by Keng at all.

But at this point, knowing what we know, Tee and Jin's behavior is indefensible, and while yes, ACAB, let's not forget about Non's family. That's why I have such a big problem with it. Because their testimony wasn't "I don't know, I don't remember, he wasn't with us, thank you, goodbye", but to turn Non into a whore running away with his teacher in a nationwide sex scandal. And then jointly parasitizing his work. That's why I'm counting on more information about it, why they did it 🙂

And I am 99.99% convinced that they did not lie to the police because they are afraid of them, I don't believe that a bunch of 17-year-old more or less morons and bullies are cynical, jaded citizens fully aware of the socio-economic status and sociological nuances of living in a society. After all, even Phee, who is a son of a cop, is actually surprised that his father can't do anything for Non. No, I'm convinced they lied to the police to protect their own asses. There is no fear of corrupt police here, there is fear of CONSEQUENCES and a desperate attempt to move away from the "Non problem".

Of course, I could be completely wrong 🤭😄

[koddyroddy]

Yeah bingeing shows once they are finished is great and all but there’s something really cathartic about being apart of the collective suffering of the fandom while you wait for a new episode every week.

[koddyroddy]

How much is hallucination and how much is real?

I almost touched on this in my post where I posit that Non is the killer but I didn't wanna go off on a tangent and make that post even longer than it ended up being.

Now that it has been canonically and explicitly established that what's scaring these boys isn't something supernatural, I wanted to go through and determine how much of what they see/hear is them hallucinating and how much could potentially be real.

Spoiler: it's not as cut and dry as you'd think.

Jin hears chanting when he's up on the balcony with Phi that Phi does not hear. I feel confident saying this is just an auditory hallucination.

The next two people to have hallucinations are Tee and Top when they're riding through the woods to get help for Por.

Tee sees a figure wielding what looks like an axe.

And Top sees the now infamous figure on crutches.

Once again, I'm fairly confident that what Tee saw was a hallucination but with Top, I'm not sure. And this is where it starts getting harder to draw a line between hallucination and reality.

We see the figure on crutches a second time when Top is in the bathroom. He starts having his hallucination and a candle beside the sink falls off the counter and shatters, spreading broken glass all over the floor.

But, when Tee and the boys break into the bathroom a short while later?

There's no broken glass on the floor. However, note that there also isn't a candle beside the sink anymore. There's three options here. One, it's just a continuity error. Two, there never was a candle beside the sink. Three, the candle on the sink was part of the hallucination, as was it falling and shattering.

Line's getting blurred isn't it? Stay with me here, because the sequence of these next three events is important.

In the first of these events, White is in the bathroom doing his skincare routine and hallucinates plague on his skin.

At the same moment, he looks into the mirror and sees a masked figure reflected in the mirror behind him.

He turns to look out the window and the figure is gone. Then he turns back to the mirror and the plague is gone, so we know the plague was definitely a hallucination.

In the second event, Fluke is with Por and the door behind the couch opens.

He gets up to close it and when he turns back to the couch, he sees Por with blood pouring out of his eyes and hallucinates that Por strangles him.

While he's being "strangled" we see the masked figure standing behind the couch.

It's unclear if Fluke saw the figure since his eyes were squinting and started to close as he struggled with Por. Regardless, we know for a fact that the strangling was a hallucination.

In the third event, which happens in the very next scene, we see New searching for the hard drive.

And this is where I thank @respectthepetty for reminding me they watch shows on mute and inadvertently sending me down this rabbit hole because at the very moment I captured in the screenshot above, New has an auditory hallucination.

He hears chanting and screaming just like Jin did on the balcony and as this hallucination is happening?

A masked figure walks past the stairs. These two things happen almost simultaneously so it's very hard to tell whether New looked up from the box he was searching because of the chanting or because he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

And again, we know it was an auditory hallucination because when he rejoins the group, he asks this:

These three events happening one after the other--the figure White saw, the figure just inside the door while Fluke was being strangled, and the figure walking past the stairs--lead me to believe that the figure was not a hallucination.

I think Non (or whoever) was skulking around outside, was seen by White, and then made his way around to where Fluke was. He opened the door and when he realized Fluke was hallucinating, he slipped inside the house and he was seen by New.

The plague, the strangling, and the chanting were hallucinations, but they happened to coincide with a masked figure actually entering the house.

There are two more instances which I am fairly certain are NOT hallucinations.

After Uncle Dang gets decapitated by the wire and Tee and Top take his bike, Tee sees a masked figure in the woods. (Also worth noting that this time, they ride off in the opposite direction because of the wire, away from potential escape)

I couldn't quite manage to capture it on the exact frame, but the figure isn't just there when the camera pans to it. They were crouched in the bushes and popped up when they saw the boys coming.

My confidence is shakier on the second instance, which is also the last time we see a masked figure before shit goes down at the temple.

When New and Top are riding through the woods, Top sees a figure wielding an axe and throwing it at them.

Although the figure is already there when the camera pans to it this time, Top sees it before it raises the axe to throw it.

Although we can't quite tell how far away the figure was from the spot where the bike fell over, we don't see it on the ground. We also don't see it later when the boys come to investigate where Top went. All we know is that there is an axe, because Top (or Non) attacks the boys with it when they're in the temple.

The only other hallucination of note after this point is Jin seeing bloody Keng in the temple but I do feel confident saying that one wasn't real, especially since he sees bloody Keng again when Phi gives him the spiked water.

If you made it this far, thank you, I love you. I know this was very long but the curiosity simply would not leave me alone. As soon as drugs were put on the table, I just had to know if all the hallucinations were real and as it turns out, it's a very mixed bag.

I hope you don't mind me tagging you for the second time in one day @slayerkitty 💜

[koddyroddy]

bitjhme on tiktok

[koddyroddy]

The DFF Experience: A Dead Friend Forever Fandom Round Up

I had the wild idea of compiling links to all the various metas, theories, and other resources for DFF for everyone to use so that links and information were kind of all in one place. I dragged @shannankle along for the ride, and we combed through the tag to find all the things we could.

We most likely have missed something even though we tried to be as thorough as possible - if you think there is something we over looked that should be added let us know in the replies or the tags; if you write meta or other resource posts in the future, please tag us and we can add it to the post.

With that, please enjoy The DFF Experience!

Media: 

Official Trailer

Pre-Release/Pilot Trailer

Behind The Scenes

No More Dream - Barcode

Without Me - Bump

Reviews: 

Dead Friend Forever is More Than Just A 90s Slasher Film Imitation by @syrena-del-mar

Dead Friend Forever is a Marvel of Mystery Writing by @lurkingshan

Theories: 

Not Jin’s Video Theory by @raelle-writing

Not Jin’s Laptop Theory by @raelle-writing

Hints at the timeline/dates things happen by @yellingaboutkp

Why Uncle Dang Was Killed by @befuddledcinnamonroll

Is Jin final girl? by @blismytherapy

Non is dead (dead men tell no tales) by @mikuni14

Why So Many Maskys? by slayerkitty

Tan is New by @tbhimnoteasyonmyself

Are The Boys Being Drugged (Are you High, Top?) by @italianpersonwithashippersheart

Non isn’t dead (alive men tell tales) by @respectthepetty

Trances are involved by @live-from-flaturn

Sacrifices are involved (dead men tell tales if they’re ghosts) by @killiru

Are the hallucinations from infrasound (What? I Can't Hear You!) by shannankle

Meta:

On Body Language 

Mr. Keng by @wen-kexing-apologist

Touch in episode 5 by shannankle

On Color

Episodes 1-4 by shannankle

Episodes 5-6 by shannankle

Episode 7 by shannankle

Episode 8 by shannankle

Background Noise

Movie Poster Meta by @syrena-del-mar

Movie Poster Meta by @lukaherehelp

Space and Framing in Episode 5 by @shannankle

Framing of Masky by shannankle

Non’s Apple Picture by @blmpff

Keng’s Phone Case by @thepetesimp with contributions by @twig-tea

Analyzing Horns by @yellingaboutkp

Stick Theory by @firstkanaphans

Catholicism by @demiromanticmickey

Phee’s Finger Tattoo by @yellingaboutkp

Non’s Manga by @scarefox

On “Greasy” by @forkaround

Character Analysis

On Jin’s cowardice and bravery by @yellingaboutkp

On Por’s moment in the spotlight by @leconcombrerit

Phee and Jin as parallels in episode 7 by @raelle-writing

Por and other characters’ roles as leaders by @leconcombrerit

On Fluke by @fracturediron

On Non’s parents by @fracturediron

On Non as a "hidden character" by @flamevbirdv

Miscellaneous 

Nine Circles of Hell: DFF Episode 7 by @syrena-del-mar

On Police Corruption by @raelle-writing

Squicks and Triggers by @wen-kexing-apologist

Language Notes by @visualtaehyun

Fandom’s Canvas:

Art by @leconcombrerit

Get Lost and Die

PheeNon Preview Post Doodle

Art by @acekimagenda

PhiJinNon

Art by @kinnbig

Final Girl

Art by @darcyisdelulu

PhiNon

I Love Them Your Honor

Fun Facts to Know and Tell: 

Non refers to his brother New as “P’New” during his argument with his parents in episode 8, confirming that New is the older of the two. 

White refers to Por as P’Por when he’s alone confirming he is younger and not lying about his age

Character Profiles by @raelle-writing

Based on screenshots, White and Phee do not go to the same school as the embroidery is different. 

Tee's Uniform Shirt Por's Uniform Shirt

Phee's Uniform Shirt White's Uniform Shirt

[koddyroddy]

DFF language notes and observations

This was originally just supposed to be a quick look at Non's meds in ep. 8 but then I finished watching the episode and felt compelled to rewatch the entire show 🫠 So might as well collect everything into one post!

Disclaimer: not a native Thai speaker, still learning 🙏

Por's mumblings (ep. 2)

กูขอโทษ อย่าเอาคืนกูเลย /guu khaaw thoht. yaa ao kheuun guu loei/ = "I'm sorry. Don't take revenge on me/Don't get back at me."

Time and ages

The present takes place in 2023, the past was three years ago, in 2020. Apart from White, the boys are all the same age according to the character overview below, which makes them all 19-20 years old in the present (while White is 18 and a freshman). In the past up to ep. 8, they would have been 16-17 years old and in 11th grade (ม. 5/3 -> Matthayom 5, class 3; ม. stands for มัธยม /mat tha yohm/ = secondary school).

Potty mouth Fluke

In the present, I swear every other word out of his mouth is a swear and the subs don't always make it obvious. An example of when he's speaking calmly in ep. 3:

เพราะคนอย่างไอ้เหี้ยท็อปอ่ะ แม่งคงไม่ปล่อยให้โอกาสแบบเนี่ยะหลุดมือไปง่ายๆละเว่ย /phraw khohn yaang ai hia Top a- maaeng khohng mai blaawy hai oh gaat baaep niia loot meuu bpai ngaai ngaai la woei/ = Because someone like that dipshit Top wouldn't fucking let an opportunity like this slip his hands so easily.

It's not like the others don't curse, they sure do lol, but Fluke does so even when not in a stressful situation, and it sticks out in contrast to White especially because the baby speaks so properly and politely to his phis.

Newspaper clipping (ep. 4)

เป็นแฟนไอ้ตี๋แต่มึงไม่รู้จักอาโจ้นะ /bpen faaen ai Tee dtaae meung mei ruu jak aa Joe na/ = You're Tee's boyfriend but don't know uncle Joe?

The headline reads: ตายปริศนา'เสี่ยโจ้'นายบ่อนใหญ่ /dtaai bprit sa naa 'siia Joe' naai baawn yai/ = Mysterious death of 'bigwig* Joe' the gambling magnate** ฟอกเงินบัญชีม้ากว่า 300 ล้าน /faawk ngern ban chee maa gwaa 300 laan/ = Laundered money with over 300 million mule accounts

* เสี่ย /siia/ = a rich guy who squanders money, a big spender in illicit businesses, mostly used for middle-aged men; it's used as a pronoun, hence why he's known as เสี่ยโจ้ /siia Joe/ and we hear his subordinates call him เสี่ย /siia/, often subbed as Boss; it's a term of Teochew origin that describes an aristocrat's son, originally ** นายบ่อนใหญ่ /naai baawn yai/ = big shot gambling den boss or the boss of a huge gambling den

The snippet on the right is another easter egg btw - 'Talking to Pond Krisda, director of "Man Suang", Thai filmmaking [...]' but I can't make out the rest in that box (the snippet above that, too, though some of it I can tell says tourists, free visa, 3 months).

Greasy

What the boys call Non is (ไอ้)เมือก /(ai) meuuak/ which is more like Slimy or Mucous, actually.

More news (ep. 6, 7, 8)

Gang of senior high teens accomplices to mule accounts

Police does 180: Senior high teens escape lawsuit for shady mule accounts

High school kid goes missing at same time as teacher in leaked clip Connected to case of shady mule account teens

Past injury?

Whoever actually leaked the clip has this pelvis x-ray saved that's labeled to be from that same year, 2563 aka 2020. The two files at the top look to be invoices.

Pronouns

When Phee goes to confront Non about the leaked clip, he's so furious that he switches from their usual เรา /rao/ (= I; informal) + calling each other by name instead of using a 2nd pers. pronoun to calling both Non and Keng มึง /meung/ (= you; impolite) and himself กู /guu/ (= I; impolite). For reference, กู/มึง /guu, meung/ are the same pronouns the entire friend group use with each other, as male friends in Thai shows often do. Non, as the new addition to the group, is the only one who uses เรา /rao/ + names, and Jin is the only who reciprocally uses these pronouns with him.

Non's meds

Lorazepam -> benzodiazepine; used for treating anxiety disorders, insomnia, seizures etc.

Sertraline -> antidepressant; used for treating clinical depression, PTSD, OCD, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder

Quetiapine -> antipsychotic; used for treating schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression etc.

THC poster, and a goof

ที่แห่งนี้...ไม่ได้มีแค่พวกเรา /thee haaeng nee...mai dai mee khaae puuak rao/ = In this place... it's not just us.

I'm sure there's more going on than just Phee and Tan infiltrating the group to get evidence and avenge Non. Like, Keng was on the phone with his contact Joy when he got hit by that white truck of doom car so I wonder if she's gonna come into play again in the present and who she really is.

And just for fun: that half-heartedly covered poster behind Tee looks suspiciously like a movie about a young chocolatier that shouldn't be out for another 3 years, according to the time line of this show lol

[koddyroddy]

The moment that made me first really intrigued with Tee was his reaction to finding out Non got the money from Keng. After Top texted Tee about it in episode 7, the very next scene Por and Top continued bullying Non, but Tee didn’t. Instead he was actually decent to Non for the first time, stopping the others from continuing and paying for Non’s ruined lunch. Tee made an excuse about his behavior, but I’m not buying it. His behavior seemed genuine.

I assume this is when Tee started to realize how far he’d pushed Non and how desperate Non must be.

It’s also because of this scene that I began to wonder if there was something about Non having to appeal to Keng for help that really got to Tee. Was it the sexual exploitation aspect? Roping Non into fraud was one thing, but this was perhaps different? I can only speculate, but I wonder what the difference was in Tee’s mind (if any).

I see Tee as conflicted, and it’s because of this conflict that I highly doubt he was the one who leaked the video. It doesn’t make sense to me that he would do it. Top seems way more likely out of the two of them to have done it (if it were one of them as some have speculated).

Hey 👋

What do you think about tee's character?! This character is so confusing he cares for white a lot and protects him but he did worse things to non. We know he also needed money for his father. What do you think about him and how white and tee met and fell in love. Tee only listens to white and also what you think about white ? Is he only related to the group because he's tee's boyfriend. Tbh I'm loving their couple,their chemistry is so good. 🫠

Thank you so much for this question!!! I actually find Tee's character entirely fascinating tbh - he's a bully but he shows these moments of complete and utter humanity that I find really sympathetic and compelling.

Like I'll never justify what he does to Non - framing him for breaking the camera and then using that debt that he manufactured to pull Non into money laundering isn't exactly excusable. But I find it so interesting that while we see Tee doing all of these insane things, we also see these little moment of humanity throughout. Like when it's made clear that Tee is mostly working with his shady uncle to help get money for his dad - we don't know what kind of medical treatment his dad is undergoing, but clearly something severe that costs a lot to treat.

Tee is in arguably just as desperate a position as Non (if not more desperate). He's stuck needing money, dragged into illegal activity by his uncle, in too deep to get out. Does that excuse him being a manipulative bully? Of course not. But it's fascinating to me because it would've been SO easy to make Tee a non-sympathetic character, and yet we see all of this depth to him.

We're also shown that he didn't want to get any of his friends involved in the money laundering, including Non. He knew it was bad and illegal, and he didn't do it until he was completely and utterly backed into a corner, until he'd exhausted literally every other alternative and his uncle gave him an ultimatum.

Which is interesting because you think he wouldn't hesitate to pull in Non even before that, since he doesn't like Non. But he does hesitate. It shows that he has some ethics, and some sense that what he's doing has the potential to ruin whoever is involved. And he doesn't want to ruin Non, despite disliking him and picking on him at school.

Of course, he reverses this action by proceeding to get Non involved. And then, when Non goes to get the rest of their friend group involved, he backs Non up. But not because he's greedy, but because his uncle is shorting him left and right and he still doesn't have the money for his father's medication OR to pay Non.

Tee's position is parallel to Non's. He needs the money. He's into illegal shit he doesn't want to be in, but is forced in deeper every day by the people pulling the strings. And he, like Non, is just a kid. He shouldn't have to be discussing money laundering with his uncle at 17 years old to help pay for his father's medical bills.

And even though Tee continues being a dick to Non throughout the past (even going so far as to help his uncle make Non disappear), he shows hesitance at every turn when his uncle demands things of him, and he tries (weakly) to defend Non when his uncle starts saying Non is a police spy.

And after he brings Non to his uncle and Non "disappears," Tee can't stop himself from asking what happened to Non. Tee doesn't even like Non, and yet he still shows clear signs of fear and upset at the thought that Non might be dead. Because he knows he'd be complicit? Maybe. But he's also a teenage kid caught up in illegal things against his will. He might genuinely feel bad about it. His expression certainly conveys more than just guilt...

Does any of this balance out the bad things he does throughout the past? Of course not. He's still a shitty person and should be in jail for the part he played in Non's disappearance. But he's also fascinatingly sympathetic in the way he's forced into all of these actions. He clearly doesn't want to be doing any of the things he's done, but feels as though he has no choice. Either because his uncle will hang him out to dry for the police, or because he still needs the money for his father's treatment.

That said, I don't find Tee's treatment of White in the present dissonant to his character in the slightest. To me, it's clear that Tee is the type of person who cares deeply about those close to him, he just doesn't let a lot of people get close because he's experienced far too much pain and manipulation at the hands of his family. Tee is soft with White, but more than that, he's devastated when he learns that Por has died.

Tee cares. He cares a lot. He cares about White, he cares about Por. He arguably cares more about himself since he often abandons White during stressful situations, and is more concerned about what White will think of what they did to Non than he is about what he actually did to Non. But I think that he knows he had no choice (or at least, in his eyes he had no choice) in what happened to Non.

Anyway, this got long ahahaha I just find Tee's characterization to be so interestingly done. He's one of the most deeply complex characters in the entire show, and shout out to JJay for conveying all of his complexities so well, he's an amazing actor.

As for White... well. White is still a question mark for me personally. I wrote a theory previously that White could be Non's brother New, and I still think that's a possibility. I've also seen a wild theory floating around that White is actually Non himself, he's just gotten plastic surgery.

It's possible that White is exactly what he appears to be, a mostly-innocent bystander. Especially since White defends Tee when the others talk about thinking Tee did something bad to Non, and shows clear horror when Tee talks about burning Dang's corpse.

I'm not sure exactly how Tee and White met, but I think they're pretty compatible. White wants someone to take care of him, and Tee likes having someone look up to him. Tee also has a lot of love and care to show, he just doesn't/can't do it easily because of his history.

Because I find Tee sympathetic, I kind of hope that White isn't using Tee as part of the revenge plan (though I know a lot of people want that) because I find the idea of the one person Tee has opened up to turning around to betray him that way completely heartbreaking. But I also know that within the narrative, Tee is the villain. He's the main catalyst to everything bad that happened to Non, so it wouldn't surprise me if the story has set up exactly some twist like that happening to him for revenge. We'll have to see where the story takes us but personally, I think they're cute together right now!