Dorm (2006)

It was 25 years ago and Adrian Cronauer had a thing for Trinh. The movie was, of course, Good Morning Vietnam. Here she is, much older. Who would have guessed they cast a Thai in the role of a Vietnamese woman. At least Chintara Sukapatana has the opportunity to be more than eye candy this time.Some may have grabbed this film expecting a horror film or, at the very least a ghost story. You will be disappointed, as it is more of a coming- of-age tale.The young cast is very good, and Chintara Sukapatana is brilliant as the teacher.

OK 9 stars may be a little high for this movie but I did like it a lot. one that makes you very glad to have it accessible by streaming as who would really bother to rent it "genuinely chilling" at the beginning I did get a genuine chill, I can report, at the first spooky scene.As everybody is saying it's not scary much thereafter, instead it's a tender depiction of a loving relationship between 2 preteens one living the other dead, chaste of course.It was kind of a relief that certain clichés were not used. You get the idea that certain of the peripheral characters will fulfill classic subsidiary roles but they don't in fact. Another plus! Nicely shot, edited, written, acted, cast, costumed and made up. Lovely!

I am a Chinese, living in Malaysia. Why do I start my review with that? Simple. I am not a racist, and I believe that a movie transcends race, religion, and culture. It is a work that brings together the elements of human nature and human ingenuity, both the best and the worst, into film, to weave a story that has a meaning and a reason, that gives us clues to how to live a better life. This is what a movie means to me.With that said, I must state here that the recent movies that I have seen these few years were, to say the least, disappointing. Dorm, is better than them. Period. The best movie I have seen still remains to be Donnie Darko, but Dorm comes very close. Very close. You can put it up there with Stand By Me and The Sixth Sense. The movie touched me in so many levels that after the movie, I started talking to myself about life and beyond. I know what you are thinking by now. I bet you are thinking that this reviewer is crazy. Maybe I am. But do read on. The first thing that I want to state is that, this is not a horror movie. It doesn't scare you. It doesn't make you jump. It doesn't make your hair stand on ends. No, this is not that kind of movies. As some reviewers already stated, this is a coming of age movie, one where the character learns about himself and grows. This is a supernatural movie about ghosts and friendships, about sacrifice and childhood, about a father's sin and a son's journey into becoming a man, a better man. I gave this movie ten points, so the first two points go to the story. This is a tried and tested method. A linear and chronological story that has no branches, no what-ifs, and no shocking endings. Hence, no screw-ups. The story was coherent, and the plots were all properly placed (albeit a bit flat), and the characters well-developed. The climax was justified, and the story was properly wrapped up before closing. This movie doesn't give you nonsense like a kid transferring to a new school and then bumps into a ghost for no good reasons. No, the father had an affair with the maid, the son saw it, and was shipped to a boarding school to keep the secret safe. The son suffers for the father's sin. As we later found out, this was not the case. The father in fact did it for the good of his son, but being a child, it wasn't easy for him to come to terms with the fact that the father was doing what was best for him. Dealing with domestic issues in a supernatural thriller is uncommon, but effective here as the father later deals with his adultery with his son. I used to be a school teacher myself, and the scene that grips me most was the headmistress seeing one of her own child drown at the bottom of the pool. I believe one could go crazy from a tragic accident like that. The Boy Who Cries Wolf was illustrated perfectly here in the movie, so kids, take heed. The best thing that I like the most, is that in this movie, the ghost is not a vicious, nasty, ugly, blood-thirsty, flesh-hungry, brain-dead, decomposing slab of meat that goes around haunting people for no good reasons. Why did Sadako do it? Why don't we ask how she did it with a tape? In this movie, the ghost is a little boy who had an unfortunate accident, who lives on to suffer the consequences of his own actions. Although his character was not very well developed, and you can practically tell he is the ghost 30-minutes into the movie, you won't actually mind at all. You will sympathize for him. You will feel for him. You will love him as if he is your son. And it was this friendship, a kid making his first friend in a new school (who happens to be a ghost), is what struck me the most. We remember all too well that first day in that new school, and that first person who came to talk to you who eventually became your best friend. Their friendship goes to such a level that a mere child was willing to risk his life to save the soul of not one, but two persons. One of the dead and one of the living. The story did not do the smart thing (like the ghost took over the boy's body as with we have seen in The Skeleton Key) or leaving the story wide open for a sequel. No, the boy saved the ghost, but therein lies the dilemma. Not only did he has to put his own life on the line, he also had to let the ghost leave. And then he told the headmistress the truth, and thanked her. The story didn't do the smart thing, but the right thing. And why did the ghost haunt the kid? Who asks the new kid to go to the toilet in the dead of the night? He was asking for it! Unfortunately, my lamenting has caused me to run out of words, so I'll be brief on the rest. The directing was good, except for the oversight on Ton's hair length. The music was superb, especially the ending song. The special effect was good, and the cinematography is brilliant on the use of colors and lighting. Lastly, the acting. One word: superb. Charlie is even better than Haley, hands down. The scene where he had his first meal with tears in his eyes, my heart bleed. I wish IMDb would give me more words, cause there are so much more I want to talk about this movie!

Boarding school life has never been an enjoyable experience as you have to be far away from your home, be separated from your beloved parents and be surrounded by an unfamiliar environment. In this movie, there is no exception for a main character, a boy who was sent to boarding school in a middle of an academic year. Felling misery and abandoned, he befriended with a mysterious boy who stayed in the same dormitory with him.In Thailand, the movie had been promoted as a scary movie. All promotional materials including movie teasers and trailers led everyone to think that way even though there had never been any exact clue from the director. There was only the speculation from an on-line community of what the movie will be like before it was released.*** The following part of the comment contains spoiler. Please do not read further, if you want to be surprised.*** The movie-goers walked into the theater expecting to fear and scream from numerous scary scenes as shown in the trailers. The director didn't fail them in the first half of the movie, as there were enough scary elements that played with emotion of the audiences through a skillful cinematography. However, once the main plot was revealed in the second half of the movie, "Dek Hor" transformed itself from a scary movie into a coming-of-age drama which emphasized on a friendship between the main character and a lonely spirit that was doomed to haunt in the dorm. Yes, there was actually a "ghost" in this movie but not a scary type. In fact, the spirit was a former student whom was left to die in the pool because of friends' misunderstanding. The main character and the spirit shared the same feeling of loneliness and ignorance from the world around them. This might be the reason why the main character is the only person who could see the spirit. In the end, this estranged friendship teaches both the main character and the audiences how a person could go beyond one's limit to help the one he cared of.Charlie "Nak" Trairat, a young actor who starred a leading role in an critically acclaimed nostalgia Thai movie called "Fan Chan" ("My Girl") two years ago, made his comeback as a main character in this movie to work with his familiar director, Songyos "Yong" Sugmakanan – one of six co-directors from "Fan Chan." The director told a story from his own childhood experience of years in boarding school and added up some spices of horror to create this drama/thriller movie. Moreover, former superstar Jintara "Mam" Sukkhaphat (or Chintara Sukapatana, depending on how you spell her Thai name, who used to star with Robin Williams in the 1987 movie called "Good Morning, Vietnam") also joined the cast in the role of a dormitory mentor. In fact, this is a reunion of Jintara with Charlie who both stared in a Thai movie called "Karnlakrung Nueng Muea Chao Nee" ("Once Upon a Time ... This Morning") a decade ago when Charlie was only one year old. There is also a noticeable new-comer in this movie. Another young actor, Sirachuch "Michael" Chienthaworn who is not a new face for Thais as he used to star in a number of local TV soap operas, made his debut in the role of a lonely spirit. He did a great job in this challenging supporting role.All in all, I enjoyed the movie, even though the ending is too predictable. The change of genres of the movie, intentional or not, is an element of surprise in this movie. At least, it's unexpected to feel good after you realized that you came to the theater for a horror movie but ended up watching a drama.