For a Thai horror movie, then "Phobia" was a lukewarm experience, because it wasn't particularly scary.

The first segment, titled "Happiness", was the best of all four stories. It was also the most interesting story of them all. The director had managed to struck a nail with this story, as it was portrayed really well.

The second segment, titled "The Deadly Charm" had a nice story as well, though the CGI generated dead people looked like something made on a Commodore 64. That was really an eyesore to behold. For a tale of revenge, then it wasn't all that shabby.

The third segment, titled "The Man in the Middle", had an interesting enough story, with sort of a "The Sixth Sense" going on. However, the story was portrayed in a way to comical way, that really brought the story down to a childish level. And the way that the young men were behaving was also helping bring the story further down.

The fourth and final segment, titled "The Last Flight" was the second-most interesting story, and it had the most scare effect of all the four stories together.

The acting in all stories, except the third one (The Man in the Middle) was good, and you could easily get into the stories. However, the stories are fairly short, and they suffer under that criteria, which is a shame. As a aficionado of Asian horror movies, then I was looking forward to sitting through this, but the end result was a somewhat less than average experience, unfortunately.

That being said, I will still make it through the sequel, but more on that later.

It's been a while since I've seen a Thai horror I really liked... or ever, maybe, since the most memorable is Shutter and I wasn't as taken with it as most people were (though I want to give it a second viewing).

4bia is an anthology of four horror stories of about a half hour each, and written/directed by four different individuals (they're all Thai names and I really can't tell their genders by their names). As such, it's an uneven - though largely fun - ride.

I liked the first story, 'Happiness' the best. It's a very simple tale about a girl resting at home alone with a broken leg who gets haunted by a ghost through text messages. What's good about it is the claustrophobic setting, and the director's superb handling of suspense, from shots of the phone waiting for it to buzz, to when the lights go out and the girl's fumbling in the dark. The big payoff is unfortunately a cheap scare, but well, it worked. I jumped.

The second story, 'Tit for Tat,' I liked the least. A bunch of bullies are menaced by ghosts created by their victim's black magic. This segment had an over-reliance of obviously cheap special effects and wasn't particularly scary.

'In the Middle,' the third story, was a humorous one about four guys out camping and trying to scare each other with ghost stories. That is, till one of them drowns in a rafting accident. There was some good suspense here and I liked the makeup on the ghost. That face stayed with me after the movie.

The last story, 'Last Fright,' was pretty good too, albeit a bit stupid: A flight attendant is requested to transport the corpse of a princess whose husband she was having an affair with. A woman alone on a plane with a vengeful corpse - nice use of claustrophobia there too, though the suspense wasn't as good as with the first story.

All-in-all, I really liked this movie because three of its directors generated pretty good suspense, which is quite hard to find in today's horrors, since they're inclined towards gore and cheap "Boo!" scares. Pity about the weak link.

I must say that 4bia is one of the good Thai horror movie. Directors from Shutter, Body 19 and Iron ladies prove that they all can come up with suspenseful tales together. There are four stories and each of them is 30 minutes. The four stories are pretty engrossing, suspenseful and interesting.

The story: First, we get 'Happiness' directed by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon who did Iron ladies. A girl has a broken leg and stays in her apartment. She sends SMS to friends and soon she received a SMS from someone mysterious. She soon chats with him and asks for his picture. It turns out...things are not always what they seem. It is creepy and thrilling. 3/5

The second story is not very thrilling nor suspenseful but still good. 'Tit for Tat' directed by Paween Purijitpanya who did Body 19. A guy use black magic to take revenge on a group of students who bully him. You will know the outcome as nowadays, this kind of plot are common. The gore and violence take over suspense and the thrills. Though without the suspense, it is still engrossing. 3.5/5

Third story is 'In the middle' by Banjong Pisanthanakun who did Shutter and Alone.Four buddies camp in a forest. They make fun of horror movies and tell ghost stories before bedtime. One of them was drowned when they went water raft. They start to search for him and soon things start to get creepy. I think this story is the most suspenseful and the ending is not what I had expected. Though there is suspense, the story is a bit slow. The suspense starts later. 3/5

The final and fourth story is' Last Fright' by Parkpoom Wongpoom who also did Shutter and Alone. An air stewardess is to escort a corpse who is a princess alone. Things start to get creepy and thrilling. As the third story has the suspense, this one has the thrills. Although like the third one, this started off a bit slow but it still manage to thrill me. 3/5

Overall: Is it worth to watch it? Yes, it is. Suspense and thrills fans should watch this. I am not afraid to say but 4bia is actually one of the best horror and Thai movie I had seen. It is recommended to watch this. It is good although I am not a horror fan. Rated NC-16 in Singapore.