There’s a saying about blood running thick, but Thai gang films know loyalty runs thicker and the bill always comes due. 

Here are Thailand’s tales of brotherhood that turn bloody through bad choices.

Dang Bireley’s and Young Gangsters (1997)

Let’s start in the 1950s, because apparently that’s when Bangkok’s gangster aesthetic peaked. This one tells the true story of a kid who watched too many American movies and decided to become James Dean with a switchblade. It tracks Dang’s rise from hoodlum to exile after a military coup, complete with friend-turned-rival drama and the kind of tragic ending that makes you wonder if he ever stood a chance. The film captures that specific delusion of youth: that you can import cool from another culture and somehow avoid importing the consequences.

The Gangster (2012)

Jod gets out of prison with big plans to go straight. Spoiler: he doesn’t. Because when your entire skill set involves knife fights and your social circle is exclusively criminals, “legitimate employment” isn’t exactly a growth industry. Jod returns to his gang with his buddy Daeng, and things spiral exactly how you’d expect when your role models are American rebels who died young and pretty. The film doesn’t romanticize it but just shows you what happens when you’re stuck in a life because it’s genuinely all you know.

4 Kings (2021)

If you thought your high school had drama, Thai cinema would like a word. This one dives into the 1990s conflict between vocational students and university kids: a real phenomenon in Thailand that turned educational rivalry into something resembling tribal warfare. Director Phuttipong Nakthong crafts a neo-noir that asks uncomfortable questions about class, pride, and why teenagers are willing to die over which school they attend. It’s bleak, stylish, and doesn’t offer easy answers.

Dangerous Boys (2014)

Two gang leaders, Peng and Ting, fight over the usual suspects: pride, a girl, and apparently rock music supremacy. When Ting’s crew crashes the concert of Peng’s musician little brother Pongpang, Peng faces the classic dilemma: keep the promise he made to mom about staying out of trouble, or defend his brother’s dream. You can guess which way that goes. The film understands that gang loyalty and family loyalty aren’t always compatible, and sometimes you have to choose which bond you break.

The Rascals (2005)

A romance between students from rival colleges sparks such massive violence that authorities quite literally say “fuck it” and ship everyone to a remote military camp for attitude adjustment. Because nothing says rehabilitation like forced proximity with your enemies. Naturally, they plot an escape. Naturally, it goes sideways. The film has a darkly comic edge about it: institutional solutions to tribal problems rarely work out.

My True Friend (2012)

Song moves from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and immediately becomes bullying target practice until Gun’s gang adopts him. Everyone calls them thugs, but Song discovers they’re more loyal than the “good kids” ever were. The catch is: there’s always a catch because loyalty comes with a price tag measured in broken bones and constant brawling. It’s a more sympathetic take on gang life, showing these kids as less purely destructive and more desperately seeking belonging in the only place that’ll have them.

Tee Yai: Born to Be Bad (2025)

Jump to contemporary Thailand and the genre’s still got teeth. This one goes back to the 1980s for a cat-and-mouse thriller about a clever thief making authorities look stupid until one determined cop decides to actually do something about it. It’s more heist than gang film, but it shares that same DNA of glamorizing the outlaw while acknowledging that glamour has an expiration date.

In Youth We Trust (2024)

This might be the grimmest of the bunch. A poor kid with a nightmare childhood gets sent to prison after a shooting, and the film becomes a survival story about fighting for status among prison gangs. No redemption arc here: just the brutal calculus of institutional violence and what you have to become to survive it. It’s not fun to watch, but it’s probably the most honest about what happens when society gives up on someone early.

Dangerous Years (1996)

A boy adopted after his parents die in a standoff between villagers and soldiers eventually gets pulled into the underworld. The film draws a straight line from early loss to later choices, suggesting that violence witnessed becomes violence perpetuated. It’s less flashy than some of the school-set films but more interested in the long-term psychological damage.