An abandoned water park is already a pretty creepy place once the sun goes down I would think, so throw a group of friends into it, add a missing person and whatever supernatural business is apparently still going on inside, and you’ve got the basic setup for Kijsada Paradise.
The location is easily the film’s biggest selling point for me, because water parks are normally all noise, crowds, ridiculous inflatable things and children screaming because they’ve swallowed half a swimming pool – seeing one completely deserted and decaying gives the film a very different visual identity from the usual Thai haunted house.
One Night in a Water Park Goes Very Wrong
The trouble begins when a group of friends sneak into the abandoned park at night and turn the place into their own private game of hide-and-seek, and then Jod disappears, so what should have been a stupid bit of late-night fun suddenly becomes a search through a huge, deteriorating complex, with strange encounters making it increasingly obvious that the group isn’t dealing with an ordinary disappearance.
The friends have to go further into the park to find Jod, even as the place becomes increasingly dangerous and whatever is hiding there starts making itself known.
Trailer
Phontharis Chotkijsadarsopon Behind the Camera
Kijsada Paradise is directed by Phontharis Chotkijsadarsopon and produced by 13 Thirteen Studio – the cast includes Fourth Nattawat Jirochtikul, Yorch Yongsin Wongpanitnont, Yasaka Chaisorn, Sorathon Chaloemlapsombut, Pannawit Phattanasiri and Euro Waratthip Kittisiripaisan.
The film was shot in Chiang Mai, Thailand, released in Thailand on 11 June 2026, and runs for approximately 113 minutes, and the Chiang Mai production location is another nice detail here, particularly because the film isn’t relying on a familiar Bangkok setting, so it gets to use a more isolated environment for a story where the location itself is such an important part of the horror.
The Water Park Is the Star
There is a very obvious reason why the water park works – everything about the place is supposed to suggest fun – slides, pools, changing rooms, colourful attractions, artificial landscapes – they’re all designed to make people feel relaxed and entertained, but remove the people, drain the life out of the place and leave it sitting in darkness, and suddenly those same features become incredibly creepy.
That’s also why I think the setting gives Kijsada Paradise more personality than another film about friends entering an abandoned building, as there’s something inherently strange about seeing somewhere designed for hundreds of people completely empty, and once the characters start searching through it at night, every empty space becomes a potential hiding place.
I also like the simplicity of the initial setup, because nobody here is travelling to some supposedly cursed location because they’ve been hired to investigate paranormal activity, they’re friends messing around in a place they shouldn’t be.
Thai Ghost Stories Meet an Abandoned Attraction
There is also something very Thai about the basic supernatural idea behind the film – the belief that places can retain connections to disturbing events, tragedy and the dead is a recurring element in Thai ghost storytelling – Kijsada Paradise takes that familiar supernatural territory and puts it somewhere considerably less traditional.
Instead of an old family home, temple or isolated rural house, the setting is a modern recreational space that has been left to rot, and that contrast is another interesting aspect about the film – it’s taking a location associated with childhood entertainment and turning it into somewhere the characters desperately want to escape.
The biggest question though I have with Kijsada Paradise is whether the film can make the water park feel genuinely threatening for the full runtime, because 113 minutes is a long time to keep one location interesting, but the premise gives it plenty to work with – you’ve got the missing Jod, a group of friends who don’t understand what they’ve stumbled into, a huge abandoned complex and a supernatural presence that appears to be connected to the place.
And visually, an empty water park at night is difficult to argue with.
Check out some more Thai horror movies.
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