After becoming a familiar character through decades of television adaptations, Woranat is heading to international audiences in a new film based on Tri Apirum’s horror novel Thayat Asun.
A woman in her 80s who looks decades younger, a monstrous centipede demon and a dark inheritance passed down through generations are at the heart of Inherit, a new Thai horror film bringing one of the country’s best-known horror characters to international audiences.
Produced by GDH and TOFU FILMS, Inherit (Khun Yai Woranat) made its world premiere at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, where it was selected for the Centrepiece section. Director and producer Banjong Pisanthanakun and lead actress Mai Davika Hoorne attended the red-carpet event.
The film is based on Thayat Asun, a horror novel by Thai writer Tri Apirum first published in 1991. The story has since been adapted for television several times, making its central character, Woranat, familiar to generations of Thai viewers.
Now, more than three decades after the novel’s publication, the character is returning to the screen in a cinematic adaptation intended to reach audiences beyond Thailand.
A horror character with a long screen history
Woranat is no ordinary elderly woman. Although she is in her 80s, she appears to be around 40. Her unusual appearance is tied to a terrifying supernatural inheritance: the spirit of a monstrous centipede demon passed down through her family.
The story also traces a lineage connected to Woranat’s grandmother, Sap, and Phaya Chaliang of Sukhothai, placing family history and inherited secrets at the centre of its supernatural premise.
Since its publication in 1991, Thayat Asun has reached audiences through multiple television adaptations. These versions helped establish Woranat as a recognisable figure in Thai popular culture, giving the character a life beyond the original novel.
Her return in Inherit therefore carries a different meaning for domestic and international audiences. Thai viewers may already know the character and the story behind her supernatural powers, while viewers encountering her for the first time will discover a character shaped by decades of modern Thai horror fiction and screen adaptations.
Rather than drawing on an ancient folk tale, the film revisits a modern literary creation whose popularity has grown through repeated retellings across different media.
A family legacy turns sinister
In Inherit, a relative who has been absent for a long time returns, bringing an evil force that threatens the family.
The plot builds on the idea of inheritance as something more disturbing than wealth or family possessions. The past remains embedded in the family, and the return of a missing relative threatens to bring its darkest secrets to the surface.
The film stars Davika alongside Bai-Por Thitiya Jirapornsilp, Nok Sinjai Plengpanich and Jui Warattaya Nilkuha.
One of its key visual elements is an elaborate depiction of the ritual of expelling a centipede, known in Thai as phithi khay takhap. The sequence brings the story’s supernatural horror to the screen through a ritual tied to the creature at the heart of Woranat’s world.
The film’s approach gives the story a new cinematic presentation while retaining the central elements that have made the character distinctive: a seemingly ageless woman, a monstrous inheritance and the danger concealed within family ties.
Taking Thai horror to international audiences
The Toronto premiere is the first stop in a planned international festival run. Inherit is also scheduled to screen at the BFI London Film Festival, the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia and the Busan International Film Festival in 2026.
The selections will introduce the adaptation to audiences in several major international film markets, bringing a Thai horror story with a decades-long publication and television history to the festival circuit.
For GDH and TOFU FILMS, the film offers an opportunity to present a familiar Thai character in a new format. For audiences abroad, it provides an entry point into a story whose recognition in Thailand has been built over generations of readers and television viewers.
Inherit is scheduled to open in Thai cinemas on 19 November 2026.
