"Tam Cam" is an oral folk tale with many different versions, and is the most controversial fairy tale, revolving around the characters Tam and Cam.
The movie “Cam” is also a different version of the story “Tam Cam”. The movie retains some classic details of the story, but adds spiritual elements to the script related to ghosts, sacrifices, and possession.
Undeniably, “Cam” invested heavily in costumes, scene reconstruction, and fairy tale colors for the story. The script blends anecdotes, fairy tales, and horror elements, with some well-invested “jump scares.”
However, the script of “Cam” is somewhat spread out. The “jump scare” horror scenes are quite familiar, the audience has seen a lot of horror movies in many Korean and Japanese movies. The music used in the movie is not refined and refined. Even in many important scenes, the soundtrack is redundant and wasteful.
After 3 days of release, “Cam” has now earned 50 billion VND in revenue (according to Box Office data as of the morning of September 23). This is a positive revenue compared to many Vietnamese film projects released in 2024.
If we don't discuss the special effects, investment or costumes, "Cam" as well as many other versions of "Tam Cam", all try to explain the cruelty of the character Cam and put the character Tam in controversy.
According to research records, the oldest version of "Tam Cam" is "The Tale of Tam Cam" collected by G. Jeanneau in My Tho, published in 1886.
Since then, “Tam Cam” has gone through many different versions. Of these, the three most widely printed and distributed versions are by G. Jeanneau, Vu Ngoc Phan and Nguyen Dong Chi.
In 2011, "Tam Cam" caused fierce controversy with its printing in 10th grade literature textbooks.
Accordingly, the story "Tam Cam" ends with the scene where Tam pours boiling water on Cam, causing her to die. Tam takes Cam's body to make fish sauce and sends it to her stepmother. When she eats the fish sauce, her stepmother praises it as delicious, until the jar is empty, and she sees her daughter's skull in the jar, then she rolls over in pain and dies.
This ending has caused endless controversy for many years. Many opinions say that Tam is too cruel with her brutal revenge on Cam and her mother. Researchers are also divided in their debate about Tam's cruelty. Some opinions say that, along with the shift of time, changing social views, fairy tales with too gruesome and cruel details like "Tam Cam" need to be changed and edited appropriately.
However, on the opposing side of the debate, opinions say that folk tales are like “relics” that leave a strong mark on the era, culture, and community ideology in a historical period, and should be preserved, kept intact, and avoid editing that distorts the nature of the existing folk tale. If edited, the story should not have the original name “Tam Cam”.
The fate and life of Tam and Cam over hundreds of years have caused endless debate. In the end, is Tam or Cam more evil? Is Tam the “final boss”? Is Cam just a victim of her evil mother and in the end, must she suffer Tam’s revenge?
After all, it is these endless controversies that are making "Tam Cam" so attractive despite all these years of history.
The movie "Cam" is also gaining great attraction thanks to its folk tale.
Thanks to the controversy, the audience cannot know how the director and screenwriter will tell the story of Tam and Cam's fate and life. Will Tam or Cam be more evil? How will the filmmaker explain evil?
The narrator's creativity brings a new story on the basis of an old anecdote. In the end, it is a story about the battle between good and evil, always fierce, intense, and long-lasting.
