Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

marymorrissey 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!

poe426 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.

chongchuanmun 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!

DICK STEEL 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?"