Tam Cam is one of the familiar fairy tales to many generations of Vietnamese people. The story of the beautiful and talented Tam being harmed by Cam and her stepmother 5 times 7 times has been deeply imprinted in the minds of readers. Therefore, when recreating the work on the big screen from a horror perspective, director Tran Huu Tan added many new details, aiming to create countless unexpected twists. The teaser of Cam also revealed a series of creepy mysteries in the film.
Teaser trailer of the movie Cam
Cam is the one who raises Goby fish and is being bullied?
The teaser of Cam opens with a familiar detail of two sisters Tam (Rima Thanh Vy) and Cam (Lam Thanh My) feeding goby fish. However, the change comes from the person who actually raises the goby fish, Cam. The girl has a deformed appearance, causing the whole family to be considered a witch by the villagers. That's why Cam is the child who is treated badly, forced to choose rice, not Tam. Is this change related to other dark secrets?
Is Tam and Cam's father still alive?
One important difference in the Cam teaser is that Tam and Cam's father is still alive. The character named Hai Hoang is played by Quoc Cuong. However, the role of this father seems to be much bigger than that. In one scene, we see Hai Hoang as the leader of a spooky peace ceremony, sacrificing a virgin girl to the devil.
Could this be the beginning of the terrible tragedies in Cam? Who is this devil and what are his abilities and relationships with the villagers? Is Cam's deformed appearance retribution for Hai Hoang's crimes?
Mysterious shoe found on the road?
In the story of Tam and Cam, Tam was instructed by Buddha to open four jars containing goby bones, inside were all kinds of luxurious dresses for her to attend a ball in the capital. However, while rushing into the capital, Tam dropped a shoe into the water. When the Prince passed by, the two elephants in the lead refused to go on. He ordered his soldiers to search and found the shoe in a puddle of water.
But in the teaser of Cam, the shoe was found by the Crown Prince (Hai Nam) on the road. Is the shoe really the one that Tam left behind or does it belong to someone else? Even whether it is the product of an evil magic to hypnotize the Crown Prince or not is still a mysterious question.
The star apple did not fall into the basket of the old lady. What does the sticky rice full of maggots mean?
The familiar image of the star fruit also appears briefly in the teaser. In the fairy tale, Tam once transformed into a star fruit and stayed at the old lady's house after being murdered by Cam. When the old lady was away, she crawled out and helped clean the house and cook. But in the teaser for Cam, the star fruit does not seem to be in the old lady's bag but is being offered to a mysterious character.
Right after the star fruit, another famous image in Vietnamese folklore also appeared, the sticky rice ball. However, it was held by a devil, bloody and full of maggots. The detail that confused many people was that the sticky rice ball was associated with the poem about Bom and the palm leaf fan. In the previous series of character posters, Cam had revealed the appearance of Bom (Tran Doan Hoang). What role does this character play and why does the sticky rice ball have such a creepy shape? Or is it implied that this is some kind of evil spell?
A nursery rhyme both familiar and strange
At the end of the teaser, the audience heard the familiar nursery rhyme for the goby fish in Tam Cam, but instead of “eating our family's golden rice and silver rice”, it was “eating our family's blood and flesh”. Along with that was a bloody scene, many people lost their lives. Perhaps, the goby fish was not the “friend” given to Tam by Buddha as we know, but was actually an evil spirit or a curse. And Cam was the one who used the goby fish to take revenge on the entire village?
Is Buddha really a fairy?
Along with the nursery rhyme about the goby, the voice of Buddha also resounds when asking: “Why are you crying?”. However, it does not have the gentle, friendly color of a fairy in Vietnamese culture but is full of ghostly, horrifying qualities. Is this really Buddha or is it the devil in disguise who has long deceived Tam and Cam to lead them into a deadly trap?
Many new characters have mysterious roles
In addition to Hai Hoang, the film version of Cam also features many new characters such as Thi Xoan (Thien Tu), Mr. Ca Huong (Mai The Hiep) and Mrs. Ba Tam (NSUT Ngoc Hiep). They all have somewhat scary appearances and mysterious roles. What role will these new characters play in the horror and bloody story of Cam?
The interesting changes in Cam promise to bring many surprises and terrifying scares to audiences who love the horror genre. The film is scheduled to be released nationwide on September 27.
