TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews
Yeah, on the whole, this is a lesser version of said recent classic in the genre. However, let's dig deeper. Please ignore the votes of 1; I don't know if it's bias or an unwillingness to judge something fairly if they didn't like it that caused them, but objectively speaking, this could be far worse. The technical aspect is, in fact, quite expertly done. Editing, cinematography, the sound, the score, all excellent. The FX are pretty convincing. This builds atmosphere rather well, getting immensely creepy and intense when it goes for such. It only goes for that, though; the plot is severely underdeveloped, essentially unoriginal(as I already mentioned) and clearly merely exists to stage the terror(which, again, is great). There are scenes that serve no purpose other than to add more fear-inducing stuff(the utterly gratuitous dream sequences, for example). In one bit, a couple of people are laughing in the sort-of background, and it gets to be excessive(no one goes on for *that* long), and it costs credibility, as does the one-note, single-trait(innocent, "evil", two-faced, etc.) characters(with what can be a seriously messed up logic). See, I would argue that the acting in this is good, and they(particularly the leads) certainly tend to be natural; they simply aren't allowed to truly explore their roles. I think all of this goes for many of our mainstream productions. Every conclusion about the ghost is reached by guesswork, yet it guides numerous of their actions. This underlines the issue that they don't reveal much about it; while mystery is not a bad thing, you can't expect it to have an impact when what the protagonist is doing lacks a solid basis. In as straightforward a story as this, the audience should never ask "why" someone we're meant to side with is doing what they're doing. There are other gaping holes. The nonexistent fleshing out keeps us from caring when anyone dies. Near the ending, it gets even worse. The very last shot is cheap, sacrificing a chunk of the value of the overall concept for a jump-scare that makes little sense. This could have been an excellent drama-thriller about closed social environments, or an effective piece of supernatural horror. All it had to do was make a choice of what to be, instead of promising both and not completely delivering on either(if you think it succeeds as the latter, try re-watching it, and pick out all the filler and the portions that don't pay off). What we get is a film of two mismatched halves, and you can easily tell where they crudely overlap. Wasted potential. Please, guys, get a better script next time. Perhaps the US remake will improve it. On the plus side, this features a couple of *hawt* chicks, including Rønholt and Mira Wanting(known from Hvide Løgne, or White Lies). There is some disturbing content, bloody and gory violence and sexuality in this. The DVD comes with an informative and interesting commentary track(by the sound guy, the photographer, Neel and director), a 23 minute well-done and fun behind the scenes production, a theatrical trailer and a teaser. I recommend this to fans of those who made it and/or the idea. 5/10
lost-in-limbo
Danish supernatural horror following the style of the recent Asian ghost story crop? Quite possibly. 'Room 205' isn't too bad, but fairly an uninspired minor effort on all fronts with the college dramas (outcast---fitting in with in-crowd) taking centre stage, as the slow-moving ghost story feels secondary. When this side of the story begins to push along it's rather straight-forward with a nasty little back-story (told in flashback later on) behind the evil entity. Even the stringy concept about souls being trapped in mirrors is an interesting touch, which was done better in the little more complex Korean horror film 'Into the Mirror' (that got an American revamp in 2008; 'Mirrors'). In all, the old-hat story is kind of flat and threadbare with clichéd build-ups and scares, but at least coherent in its progress and considerably depressing in tone. Too bad it ends on not a redundant, but lame cheap shock ending. Something a little more haunting would have worked better. In these cases it's what you call all style, little substance. The slick direction proves it with the flashed up visuals, broodingly dour illustrations and effectively instrumented atmospheric sound work caught within a cramp, gloomy dormitory. Juddering editing and camera-work seems to be used around the minimal special effects and sped up jolts which are competently pulled off. The make-up of the ghost is slender and a little bit of splatter doesn't go astray either. The performances were a lot better than expected and one of the film's main staying power. The endearingly sympathetic Neel Rønholt is strong enough in the central role and Julie Ølgaard is potently good as the spitefully, stuck-up antagonist. Moderately creepy, but systematically plotted and forgettable.
andrias88
When you walk in to see this film, you don't go to see great art. You go to get scared shitless. You go to frightened and thrilled. I went to see this movie for that reason. Mission... not... accomplished... The film starts OK. The cinematography is interesting and the slowly unfolding plot seems to be heading somewhere. But it's not! After a couple of minutes you start wondering: Is that all there is to it? Has horror really been reduced of a couple of clichés and unintelligent plots? The story doesn't hold. The "monster" isn't scary. The characters are paper thin. So thin, that you suddenly start to laugh of how stupid and unoriginal these characters are: There's the shy girl who has a hard time integrating into the campus community. There's the evil girl who's just like every female villain in teenage flicks. There's the sexy snob and the good looking oddball with a golden heart. This film is basically a Mean Girls version of The Ring. But the worst part of the film is the monster. Do you remember that spoof on Samara in Scary Movie 3. The monster in Kollegiet is just like that. And the feeble attempts to give her some back story doesn't work. You end up feeling sorry for the people behind this plain horrible horror film, which basically is a mockery to the slasher genre. Verdict: A very bad attempt to make a danish mainstream version of The Ring. Can only be recommended to teenagers who like unintelligent films.
thomas nielsen
I have just seen the danish movie Kollegiet, and if you wanna see a good movie do not watch this one. Only see it if, you want to see a cheap and bad wannabe of the ring. The script and the actors is about as poor as my English.The plot is very bad and predictable. Although the movie you know when the chocks come and you ain't really scared at any time. and thats a shame because that is the only thing they could have wanted whit this movie.The main character have a mom who is dead, moves to the apartment smashes a mirror and the ring wannabe girl comes out. That is the long version of the movie:)Sorry to be so harsh whit kollegiet but I did really not like it.
