InCinemas SG

Opening Date

12 Jan 2017

Rating

PG13 Horror

Runtime

97 mins

Language

Thai with English subtitles

Genre

Horror

Director

Pass Patthanakumjon

Cast

Sedthawut Anusit, Panida Techasit, Ekawat Ekudchariya, Latkamon Pinrojkirati

Synopsis

Every school has its tales of horror and mystery… the marching band is staying over at the school for annual camp and the members decide to “test” if some of their school’s ghostly tales are for real.

A fat, slow-witted student was constantly bullied by his classmates and the students called him “Giant”. One day, Giant was tricked into an abandoned building in the school. He panicked, ran and died in a freak accident. After the incident, students avoid going to the building and those who wander near would hear a voice asking “Where are you?”…

The library is haunted. It is told that anyone who wants a ghostly encounter should go to the library when it’s empty and disrupt the peace…
Pawadee was murdered when practicing flute in the band’s rehearsal room. Her spirit lingers in the rehearsal room and will be summon if one plays a note backward.

Reviews

By Jason Lin 14 Jan 2017

School Tales felt like a horror story twisted from its original qualities in an attempt to impress. Towards the last third, the overarching story was trying too hard with an attempt at pulling the rug out from under the audience and thus overstayed its welcome.

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Whether one stays back for Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) or overnight at the annual school camp, late nights in schools have always been a different affair as compared to classes during the day.

This was clearly felt in Thai filmmaker Pass Patthanakumjon’s School Tales that sends a group of schoolmates to explore the dark mysteries of their school compound late at night. Staying back to clean up the music room and their musical instruments, the group of band members (with names pronounced like single vowels that may be easy to call but difficult to register) began sharing horror tales that were visually narrated on the silver screen by 2D animated sketches.

School Tales spends little effort towards proper exposition and dives straight into the group of friends that requires some time before they warm up to the audience. Beyond what’s depicted on screen by the respective actors, there isn’t much screenplay effort towards establishing these characters. With novice teenagers largely playing themselves with weak directing, there isn’t much to savour.

The film’s team of four screenwriters is evidently focused on developing the four school tales and their respective horror antagonist. One of the critical elements of a successful horror story is the setting and premise. Each of the tales haunts a different classic location within the school – library, music room, stairwell, and of course the classroom.

Adding unpopular alumni students who were victimised into the recipe only made it more viral to spread. It is interesting how the film mentions that the actual sad truths of the victims’ actual fate are artificially twisted into the eventual horror tales for better outreach to entice. This is also true for screenwriting in films.

Technical production values are well noted through the visual effects implemented to shock viewers. A particular scene in the film saw vicious boils on a character’s face in a close-up shot that should disgust quite a few.

While School Tales could have been an omnibus of four horror tales, Patthanakumjon may have attempted to integrate these four stories to enable the element of mystery in the film. Driven by the need to survive the supernatural ordeal, the students also put on thinking caps to investigate the root cause of the hauntings. This is, however, no Kindaichi but mere strokes of luck instilled upon the characters by the screenwriters.

Adding in a jarring romantic scene between two of its central characters right smack in the middle of a developing horror chapter not only felt coerced but also disrupts the genre tempo desired.

Despite running at 98 minutes that is recommended for genre films, School Tales felt like a horror story twisted from its original qualities in an attempt to impress. Towards the last third, the overarching story was trying too hard with an attempt at pulling the rug out from under the audience and thus overstayed its welcome.

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School Tales
尸厉学校

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Get Showtimes

School Tales尸厉学校

Opening Date

Rating

Runtime

Language

Genre

Director

Cast

Synopsis

Reviews

Trailers / Videos

Everything Else

School Tales
尸厉学校