Cam: haunting script, top box office, confusing ending, disappointing?

The horror film Cam is "sweeping" the Vietnamese box office when in the first week of release, the film earned 50 billion VND and took the number 1 position, far surpassing other competitors, but there are still shortcomings when it comes to the ending.

The latest project of the director duo Tran Huu Tan - producer Hoang Quan brings a new perspective on the fairy tale Tam Cam, when the relationship between Tam (Rima Thanh Vy) and Cam (Lam Thanh My) has many scary hidden corners.

Interestingly enough, Cam is not a perfect movie in terms of logic. The plot of the movie still has many unsatisfactory points, making viewers wonder and confused.

From the beginning of the movie Cam, the chicken head necklace was introduced as a "talisman" that protected whoever wore it from Bach Lao. Bach Lao could not touch the person wearing the necklace, but could still manipulate that person's mind. Thus, Bach Lao actually still had many ways to deal with the necklace's power, such as forcing the owner to take it off, or even controlling another person to do it for him.

Thus, with the power of a terrifying demon, Bach Lao could easily "manipulate" Hai Hoang to hand Tam over to him, instead of having to work hard to plot and plan like in the movie. There were many moments when Bach Lao could have Tam in his hands (especially before Tam wore the necklace), but then perhaps because "the director said so", Bach Lao couldn't do it.

One of the most curious characters in Cam is Bach Lao, inspired by the Buddha with the familiar line "Why are you crying?". Scary as it is, this character confuses viewers in terms of gender, with his appearance and depiction having a feminine tendency (partly due to the performance of Meritorious Artist Hanh Thuy), but is referred to by some characters with the pronoun "he".

This makes the origin of the character Bach Lao a big question for viewers. In a scene with Tam in the dark forest, Bach Lao transformed into an old woman quite similar to the way the witch in Snow White transformed to seduce the female lead. That is the reason why, as time goes on, Bach Lao's gender becomes more and more ambiguous and difficult to determine.

Bach Lao is inherently a terrifying evil force in Cam. He has only one weakness, his "kryptonite" is the chicken head necklace of Hai Hoang's family. Other than that, Bach Lao is afraid of nothing, and no one can harm him. In the film, the audience also understands that Bach Lao aims to take over Tam, which will make him immortal.

So why didn't Bach Lao quickly carry out this plot right from when Tam was born or when Tam was still young? While still performing the sacrifice every 10 years, he had more than enough ability to lure little Tam to him, successfully carrying out this plot. When the chicken head necklace had not yet been given to Tam, Bach Lao could have had her more easily than waiting for her to grow up. Perhaps, after all, Bach Lao is a devil who is "red but not smart".

The 2024 version of Cam has many classic details in the original story, all of which are fully integrated by director Tran Huu Tan. However, there are some details that do not fit the overall picture, and are added as if to "meet KPI" and make the film longer. For example, the detail of Tam climbing the areca tree was highly anticipated but was shown quite blandly. Tam was asked by Cam to climb the tree when it was still light, but Tam only climbed it at night. After that, nothing special happened except for a brief, unfocused gratitude scene.

In addition to climbing trees, Cam also made an appointment with Tam to go bathing. It was also an appointment when the sun was still rising, but it was not until evening that the two sisters went to the lake together. It is understandable that the crew wanted to arrange the scenes in a spooky, creepy way, but logically, Tam's choice was still not very reasonable. Not to mention, Cam and Tam both bathed in the same river, but why did Tam always appear clean and neat while Cam was covered in mud and dirt?

With Tam being the embodiment of evil, viewers couldn't help but expect a grand clash between him and the prince. However, the final scene of Cam ended with the prince coming to where Tam was dancing, drawing his sword and... that's it. The rest of the scene was explained by animation and narration, without any expected battle breaking out. This caused disappointment for viewers, especially how the prince harmed the fake Tam.

The movie Cam was scrutinized by a series of horror philosophies, sales dropped seriously after 2 weeks in theaters T.P17:30:33 04/10/2024The audience is too familiar with the philosophy of good and evil, but the swap of human identities in the fairy tale of Tam Cam is important. I think everyone has a desire to overcome fate, to become a better version, especially those who are unlucky.