The horror film Cam is sweeping the Vietnamese box office when in the first week of its release, the film earned 50 billion VND and took the number 1 position, far surpassing other competitors. 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.
The power of the chicken head chain
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 into handing 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 had Tam in his hands (especially before Tam wore the necklace), but then perhaps because “the director said so”, Bach Lao couldn’t do it.
White Elder, gender unknown
One of the most curious characters in Cam is Bach Lao, inspired by the Buddha with the familiar line “Why are you crying?”. As 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.
The Power of the White Elder
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 was a devil who was “red but not smart”.
Take a bath, climb trees at night
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?
Goby plays a faint supporting role
It is easy to see that in the movie Cam, there are quite a few characters appearing to complete the lineup but not many roles. Besides the prince, the goby is also such a character, when completely different from the original story, the goby in the movie Cam does not appear, does not have magical powers, does not help Tam in anything and is even “beautifully dealt with” by Cam.
Where is the bran to make fish sauce?
The final confrontation between Tam and Cam in the film leads to a bitter ending: both sisters succumb to the devil. Tam is seduced by the White Elder in Cam's body, takes off her protective chicken head necklace and is subdued by him. Tam is skinned by the White Elder, then transformed into him to enter the palace disguised as the crown prince's wife. At this point, a series of unreasonable points are formed.
So how did Bach Lao transform into Tam? There are two possible scenarios. One, Bach Lao transformed himself into Tam. Both Cam and Tam were dead, and somehow he was able to transform into a new flesh-and-blood version of Tam to enter the palace. This would not make sense when the crown prince later destroyed the fake Tam. If this fake Tam was 100% transformed by Bach Lao, then there was no way this corpse could have given birth to a fig tree later.
Second, Bach Lao only wore Tam's skin on the outside, inside it was still him in Cam's body. That is, Cam's body was still used by him, only the outer skin was Tam's. So whose body was taken to make fish sauce? That is the biggest “hole” in this second hypothesis.
Third, Bach Lao completely entered Tam's body. If so, why did he have to skin Tam and cause harm to her body? After peeling off the skin, he then put the skin back on Tam's body, a very cumbersome move from the villain. Hopefully, in the upcoming part 2, this detail will be explained more thoroughly and logically by the crew.
The evil one hates the smell of star apple.
The fact that the details of Tam – Cam – Bach Lao at the end of the film become confusing makes the detail that Tam hates the smell of star apples unconvincing. At this stage, Tam is considered dead, and in the body of the fake Tam is Bach Lao. However, at the beginning of the film, the audience only knows that Cam hates the smell of star apples, but that the other devil is not certain. The inclusion of Bach Lao also hating the smell of star apples is somewhat forced, only having the effect of making the prince realize the wrong point and destroy the fake Tam later, but not really fitting into the overall flow of the film.
Quick ending scene
With Tam being the embodiment of evil, viewers cannot help but expect a grand clash between him and the prince. However, the final scene of Cam ends with the prince coming to where Tam is dancing, drawing his sword and… that’s it. The rest of the scene is explained through animation and narration, without any expected battle breaking out.
This caused disappointment for viewers, especially how the prince killed the fake Tam. Granted, he had the chicken head necklace in his hand, but it was only for protection, not to repel the evil. However, this quick, “non-climax” ending actually allowed the crew to focus on part 2 in the near future, when Strange Tales of Tam and Cam 2: Strange Tales of the Royal Palace will most likely bring about the battle between the prince and the crown princess that everyone is looking forward to.
Cam is showing in theaters nationwide.