Director: James Lee
Year: 2008
Country: Malaysia
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
After being recovered at a private school, a student recounts how she and her friends were sent to the facility as part of a special punishment in their classes and realizes they’ve inadvertently released a demon within the school, killing them one by one, forcing the group to stop the creature’s rampage.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly strong and enjoyable genre effort. Among the better factors to be had here is the wholly likable setup that uses a well-worn genre cliché as a way to make the central storyline come together rather well. The first half, especially once it starts in on the flashback sequences of the girls hanging out at school before the fateful trip and going through the series of exploits talking about the haunted nature of the school and the various stories they’ve supposedly heard from classmates about what’s happened at the school, serves to get everything going rather nicely. Not only does this give the audience a chance to get to know her friends and who they are for later on, but it provides the perfect background for a series of impressive setpieces to take place regarding what happened with their stories playing out in this manner, from the rumor about the mirrors being covered to the janitor who snapped and killed a student in gruesome fashion. These are also creepy and atmospheric enough to give the film a great sense of the kind of eeriness required here when they arrive later on as everyone is already on edge about what’s going on.
This all provides a great sense of fun so that when it comes time to keep the group inside the school and start the hauntings, this comes off incredibly well. As we’ve already gotten the supposedly innocent ritual that acts as a summoning spell for the demonic force within the school to get unleashed and take over, there’s a solid starting point to this one so that the general encounters later on that night are worthwhile. Knowing the location and sense of atmosphere present, the scenes of the group splitting off throughout the school and trying to go through their own issues with each other while falling victim to the possessed individual here in encounters in the bathroom, outside in the gardens, or a fantastic sequence where a fleeing victim is chased through the hallways as the remaining friends try to locate her based on the frantic screams echoing throughout the building. Given how brutal and gory these end up, with bodies being mutilated and torn up in bloody ways, these all come together for a fun time here.
There are some issues to be had here that bring this one down. The major glaring issue here is that the film’s structure is presented to make it hard to root for anyone here since this shows only the one girl surviving and retelling what had happened. Since the police and doctors interview the main girl about what happened and the whole film is her flashback to the situation, this loses some of the suspense about what’s going on, who’s responsible for what during which section of the night, and the general state of everything as the night continues. More to the point, this also relies on a time-honored trope of retelling stories and incidents she wouldn’t have been around to witness, making the entire time somewhat illogical and full of holes. The other issue here is the main monster itself, bringing up very little about its backstory or origin, how it operates, or why it seems to imitate others at times, and with only a few shadowy glimpses afforded to it because its presence is revealed late in the film, this all becomes a bit wonky and hard to get behind. These are what end up lowering the film.
Overview: ***.5/5
A far more enjoyable take on the genre than expected, this is a somewhat flawed yet still rather enjoyable genre effort that comes together quite well overall and holds off a few minor drawbacks here. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre fare or who are curious about it will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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