Seldom does a title describe its movie as well as "Girl Dorm". Knowing the title, and that it is a horror movie, you can already kind of guess half of the story.
Immediately in the first scene, it is established as low-budget and low-effort. Two people are having a discussions on the phone, with the dubbed dialogue badly synchronized with the movements of the lips, and we are also shown an obviously computer-generated clip of an airplane. The synching seems to became better later though, or you just get used to it.
The sound design may be the weakest point of the production. The worst example is a scene when the main character Zhenxin is seen alone in a library, but the added sound is generic cafe noise from many people talking in the background.
The visuals are not much to speak of, with hardly any view standing out as beautiful. At least they look clean and not too cluttered.
In a way, the supposedly low budget might be an advantage in that it goes well along with the setting of a poor university for low-achieving students, and the elements of depressing social realism depicting an education system in slow decay.
The low tempo, lack of interesting action, and sparing use of special effects actually reinforces a creepy atmosphere befitting a horror movie. The small number of actors further increases the desolation and the sense of danger.
Surprisingly, the first major scare is absolutely terrifying. Although it contains nothing original, it is well constructed and timed. Probably the impact is amplified many times by the build-up and established atmosphere.
Zhenxin reacts pretty well to the scares, but what makes her original as a heroine is that she is quite stubborn and aggressive, even yelling at older people sometimes, even if they don't fully deserve it. This small part of her personality that is unsympathetic makes her more funny, and is good for driving the story forward, which is the role of a protagonist in the first place.
While it is obviously meant as a pure horror movie, the number of deaths is lower than average, and there are also other aspects that might disappoint some horror fans. Still, it is relatively logical, and there are also aspects that can be interesting from a horror point of view.
One thing is that the story, while containing some common tropes, is not wholly derivative and in part has its own unique elements. Also, the real threat is different than usual in a way that can feel disappointing, but on the other hand can feel dark and depressing in another way.
It is hard to recommend this low-quality movie, but somehow its atmosphere and uniqueness makes me come back and like it more every time I watch it.
