Overrated and overhyped

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Admirable film.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's all too rare to find a fright film (or a "supernatural drama") that offers up anything new. That's okay: it's like watching a western (or any other genre film); certain conventions are a given. It's often what's done within those parameters that makes a movie interesting. THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE was built according to specs, but managed nonetheless to surprise pleasantly; as did DON'T LOOK NOW; as does DORM. The loneliness of the lead character and his acceptance of his ectoplasmic pal is just one of the pleasant surprises here. That the little dead boy is afraid of ghosts himself is just icing on the ectoplasmic cake. A funny and moving (and spooky) little movie, DORM rates a look.

Thailand. Ton Chatree is a twelve year old boy who has family problems and is sent by his father to a boarding school to study more and have some discipline. The boy feels bad about his father idea, and things don't stay easier for him once he arrives the school: he doesn't have friends there and the school itself is very creepy. Every night his schoolmates tell ghost stories,specially about a boy that died in the school's swimming pool and a young pregnant woman that committed suicide. Feeling scared and out-casted, Chatree starts a friendship with another lonely boy called Vichien, who has many similar problems like he has. Very soon, Chatree will discover a secret about why his teach Ms. Pranee is so strange, and that Vichien is in fact the boy that drowned in the school's swimming pool.When I watched ''Dek hor'', I was expecting it to be a horror movie, so I stayed very surprised when I verified that it actually is a drama who tells a tale of friendship. Even not being what I expected to be, the story worked pretty well, and the sacrifice that Ton does to help Vichien is very touching and deserves to be not only recognized, but also appreciated.

If I had to see this movie over and over again I will possibly like to see this movie over and over again. Ton(Charlie Trairat)'s acting looks so real in this movie and the part which is very realistic was the part when he cried when he remembered about his family when he's eating. Although we see it's not as scary or gory like shutter, Dorm can make children watch it. Not all Asian people are liking those scary and gory movies. It also makes people in Malaysia(what i'd seen) touched when the ghost(Wichien)(Sirarath Jianthaworn) looks like he really exist and when he crashed his legs and wishing for help but no one helped him. I admit that this movie is not scary but somehow it really makes people like to see it. Another thing is this movie makes people want to solve all mysteries that happened in the movie. Some examples of the mysteries are what's Pranee(Jintara Sukaphat)'s commitment with Wichien and why Ton hates his father.

It was quite uncanny, a group of us were discussing making a movie about ghost stories told in schools. Sure, every school has its fair share of ghouls and goblins, and we'd thought it was interesting to have it done on film. Heck, we were actually in the premises of a school when we started to talk about it at night too. So imagine our surprise that Thailand actually made it first, and screened in local theatres no more than a month after we discussed.Dorm refers to the dormitory of an all boys boarding school. Chatree (Charlie Trairattana) gets sent to the school by his parents, against his wishes. I believe almost everyone would be familiar with the feeling of being uprooted from one school to go to another (be it upon graduation or otherwise), where there's a sense of loss somewhat, especially with friends.As with all new schools, the new kid on the block gets treated with suspicion, and he finds it extremely difficult to integrate into the school. It doesn't help that his initial gang of friends harbours thoughts of going all out to scare Chatree with many ghosts stories about the school (I could've sworn the toilet one was familiar territory, because I encountered something similar before), and making matters worst, the teacher (Jintara Sukphat) also becomes a key character in one of these stories, hence making Chatree wary.Despite being the social outcast, and a recluse, Chatree befriends another pupil, Wichien (Sirarath Jianthaworn). They become fast friends, but Wichien has a deep dark secret come 6pm everyday, when he disappears. By now, you would've guessed what would happen.Along the way, this movie somehow forgotten that it was supposed to be a horror movie. That, or the marketing folks have gotten it all wrong in promoting this flick. The horror genre is undoubtedly an extremely popular genre in Asia, one that will put folks into cinema seats, and riding on the wave of Shutter's success, it's easy to get caught up in what essential are the few and far between sense of fright that's packed into the trailer. Be warned, halfway through the movie, the horrifying moments get thrown out the window, and Dorm becomes more of a standard fare mystery. Quite a plain one actually, as the narrative gets stuck in cruise control throughout. You'll be able to guess the ending, and plot devices are thrown in only to help the movie proceed to the following scene.But there's a fun element thrown in, which I thought was quite neat. Fans of Hong Kong horror cinema would clearly identify the "Mr Vampire" remake in Dorm, where the students congregate for one of their night movie screenings. It's a deliberate cheesy remake, but I felt this was one of the more powerful scenes that snuck up on you, incorporating the twist revelation so well, I give it the thumbs up. And yes, the twist is revealed midway through the movie in this scene, and thereafter, "horror" gets forgotten.How's the horrifying content earlier in the movie you ask? It's not all that frightening, again relying on cheap tricks like musical crescendos to make you jump. You don't get to see much, except for shadows, sudden movements and closeups (hey, if I can survive this, so can you!). If I had a gripe, it would be with Chatree's hair continuity problem. Unless there's a barber in the school who cuts hair as good as he restores them, you'll probably get perturbed by the changes in Chatree's hair length. In the same scene. Talking to the same person. You get the drift. It's rather sloppy film-making, and the continuity person ought to get shot. The special effects department though, gets my thumbs up for its imaginary swimming pool effects. Really cool stuff there.Horror aside, this film essentially similar to like M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, though it doesn't dwell as deep into the psyche of Chatree and the spirit. It works on another level, along the themes of friendship, sacrifice, forgiveness and closure. I'd recommend it, not as a horror movie, but a coming of age one.P.S. the version shown here rated PG, is the censored version. Not because of anything frightening, but for a sex scene, which I thought was quite pivotal to identify who it was Chatree's father was humping. Edited away, it comes across as "so what's the big deal?"