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Plot summary

4bia (2008) Plot Summary

4bia (2008) movie poster

4bia is a 2008 thriller and horror film directed by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon and Paween Purijitpanya, running 2 hours. This page retells the whole story in 809 words (about 4 minutes to read). Looking for the cast, ratings and where to stream it? See the movie page for 4bia.

to read the plot summary
4 min
runtime
2h
words in the plot summary
809
4bia (2008) movie poster
Released
Runtime
2h
Genres
Thriller, Horror
Original language
Thai
No spoilers

What Is 4bia About?

The premise of 4bia in 278 words, with nothing given away. The full story follows below.

This anthology film weaves together four distinct horror tales, each rooted in the unsettling territory of human vulnerability. Bound by the central theme of facing one’s deepest fears, the stories move between modern urban isolation, the cruel dynamics of youth, an isolated wilderness journey, and the quiet dread of an airliner cabin. Together they form a chilling portrait of how terror can take many forms — physical, emotional, social, and supernatural.

The first tale centers on a young woman named Pin, confined to her apartment after an accident that has left her injured and dependent on her phone for connection to the outside world. The second follows a quiet young student named Ngid, caught in the brutal hierarchies of school life. The third introduces four friends — Aey, Ter, Shin, and Phuak — whose river-rafting trip through a remote jungle takes an unsettling turn. The final story features Pim, a flight attendant whose routine assignment aboard a chartered plane leads her into an eerie and unexpected situation.

Each segment is steeped in atmosphere, using familiar settings — a lonely apartment, a schoolyard, a wild river, an aircraft cabin — to build creeping dread. The film draws on Thai cultural beliefs and folklore, lending its horror an intimate, distinctly regional texture. The tone shifts fluidly between psychological unease and overt supernatural terror, creating a layered experience where ordinary moments twist into something far more sinister.

Through these four interconnected stories, the film offers a haunting reminder that fear often arrives when we are most alone, most vulnerable, or unable to escape. The horror feels personal rather than apocalyptic, rooting itself in quiet places where dread waits patiently to surface.

Full plot

What Happens in 4bia?

The complete story of 4bia, from the first scene to the last, in 809 words (about 4 minutes). Spoilers throughout.

Spoilers ahead

Pin, a young woman stuck in her apartment due to the cast on her leg, communicates with the outside world via cell phone and text messages. She complains to her boyfriend that she feels so lonely. Every night, Pin exchanges text messages with a stranger, who asks to befriend her and seems friendly enough. The stranger says that he is in somewhere “cramped” for 100 days and is oddly only able to be contacted at night. After sending the mysterious stranger her photo, Pin asks for one in return and is sent the same photo. When she questions him, he says he is in the picture next to her. A ghostly face is slightly visible next to Pin’s smiling face. As she researches recent deaths, Pin discovers that a man died and was buried with a cellphone so he can communicate with his mother or connect to someone else whenever he feels lonely. Pin then gets a text from the stranger, saying that he will come to her place now. All of the lights begin to go out and Pin cries in fear. She is then assaulted by the ghost and is thrown out of the window to her death. A scene from the past shows him receiving a text message from his girlfriend ending the relationship which causes him to commit suicide by walking in front of a taxi cab causing an accident, the same accident that was the cause of Pin’s broken leg as she was inside the cab.

A nerdy student named Ngid sees his school friends take some drugs, and he is beaten to death. One of the gang’s member, Pink, is worried but fails to stop her friends from bullying Ngid. Unfortunately, when he is beaten, he curses his friends on a deadly charm, which requires a photo of a dead person with their eyes open. Things get worse when everything keeps moving by itself when ordered by Ngid’s soul, and one by one the drug addicts start dying. Even though Pink did not beat him, Ngid’s soul decides not to spare her too, because she had seen it all yet had not do anything to help him. In the end, a police officer comes by to warn her not to go outside, and is shocked to see Pink laughing after having gouged her own eyes; because the curse requires the victim to see the picture of a dead person, he cannot harm her anymore now that she has gotten rid of her ability to see.

Four friends, Aey, Ter, Shin, and Phuak, go river rafting in a lonely jungle in Chiang Mai. That night while camping, Aey tells his friends that if he were to die, the person who sleeps in the middle will be the next to die along with him. The next day, as the four friends negotiate the river rapids, Aey is thrown from the raft and cannot be located. After many hours of searching, the three remaining friends give up and decide to stay and camp overnight. Shaken by Aey’s death tale, the three friends fight over who has to sleep in the middle, eventually coming to an arrangement where none of them need to. Later that night, Aey arrives at the camp and enters the tent, but ongoing strange events make his friends suspicious. Ter, Shin and Phuak leave the tent for a “smoke” and Shin then finds Aey’s body. Horrified, Ter, Shin and Phuak run into the woods where they are shocked to find their own dead bodies floating in the river. It is revealed that all four had drowned when the raft tipped over in the rapids, but only Aey accepted his death, while the rest continued to ignore the fact that they had died. In the end, the four friends bond together as spirits.

Flight attendant Pim is secretly having an affair with Prince Albert of Virnistan. One day she is ordered to go aboard an airliner on a charter flight for Princess Sophia, the wife of the Prince. Her fellow stewardess, Tui, is unable to attend the flight as her brother Ter (from the previous story) had been found drowned in Chiang Mai. What was supposed to be an ordinary flight turns into something tragic when the princess suffers a deadly allergic reaction to Pim’s lunch as it contains shrimp to which the princess is allergic to. After the royal house of Virnistan requests that her corpse be sent back immediately for cremation, Pim is required to remain on the plane and escort the body - the only passenger - for the return flight. As the Princess tries to get out of her shroud, Pim’s worst nightmare begins. When the plane lands in United Kingdom, Pim’s body is found lying on the floor, under the feet of the intact enshrouded corpse of Princess Sophia.

Tone & mood

What Kind of Film Is 4bia?

Dark in tone, with variable pacing and a moderate story, going by the plot summary.

Tone
Dark
Pacing
Variable
Story
Moderate
Intensity
High
Ending
Bleak

A Thai horror anthology that delivers four unsettling tales of supernatural vengeance, each building dread through isolation and dark twists, ending in grim and disturbing fates.

  • creepy
  • supernatural
  • ominous
  • unsettling
  • claustrophobic
  • anxious
  • ghost revenge
  • bullying
  • suicide
  • supernatural punishment

Content notes: suicide, self-mutilation, bullying, graphic violence, infidelity, death by supernatural means.

Where to watch

Where to Watch 4bia

Rent or buy it from Apple TV Store. US availability and prices from JustWatch.

Streaming availability in the US, powered by JustWatch logo

Read next

Movies Like 4bia With a Plot Summary

2 films close to 4bia in story and themes that have a full plot summary here: Ghost Stories (2019) and Paranormal Activity 4 (2012). 1 of them comes with the ending explained.

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FAQ

4bia Plot Questions

2 quick answers about 4bia, taken from the plot summary on this page and the film’s credits.

What is 4bia about?

This anthology film weaves together four distinct horror tales, each rooted in the unsettling territory of human vulnerability. Bound by the central theme of facing one's deepest fears, the stories move between modern urban isolation, the cruel dynamics of youth, an isolated wilderness journey, and…

Read the full plot summary

Who directed 4bia?

4bia (2008) was directed by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, Paween Purijitpanya and Banjong Pisanthanakun and runs 2 hours.

Yongyoot Thongkongtoon’s films

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