Room 205

When you decide to watch a film like 'Kollegiet', you need to get your expectations clear. The horror genre DOES have a lot of clichés, but what differences does it make if it works? 'Kollegiet' is not a horror film with tons of blood and ripped off limbs, but a lurking and highly unpleasant horror flick, which gives you everything you need as a horror fan.

The story about the ghost in the mirror we know from such films as 'Candyman' and the ghost itself is clearly inspired by the Japanese horror style. By the first look it sounds like cheep recycling, but 'Kollegiet' ends up being one of a kind. The chocks are lurking in the dark and opposite other horror films, this Danish horror flick sends out the chocks in such unexpected moments that you'll be finding yourself screaming and jumping while shouting "F**K!!!". The blurred camera-work makes it even more spooky and atmospheric, and it all leads to some of the most unpleasant chocks I haven't seen in any horror film besides 'The Grudge' about three years ago. Comparing with the Danish so called horror film 'Midsommer', which was let down by a boring script and lousy acting, 'Kollegiet' does the job extremely well.

The actors are doing it surprisingly well, and give a trustful picturing of an ordinary day on s student hostel. Sweetheart Neel Rønholt shines in the role of Katrine, which gets another kind of stay than she expected (but of course we – the audience – knows better…). The high age of the additional cast, ex. Mira Wanting and Mikkel Arndt (29-30), is not a problem during watching the film.

Bad reviews or not. 'Kollegiet' is within no doubt one of the best and most effective Danish horror films in a long time – if not ever. It does exactly what a horror film needs to do: It scares the crap out of you!

(2008) Room 205/ Kollegiet (In Danish with English subtitles) HORROR

Female teenage student, Katrine (Neel Rønholt) whose just moved into a University dorm and while their start to receive flashbacks that's related to an urban legend about a previous female student death that is somehow connected with the dorm of "Room 205"- hence the title! The audience is being kept in the dark about what happened until near the end! Inconsistent and conventional horror film with coincidences which lacks credibility raising a lot of questions without answering them, such as "what makes this typical normal student chosen to be the one to get flashbacks from the dead girl without affecting any of the others whose stayed their longer than she has?", "What became of the other people who were their when this death occurred to the dead girl who was once alive?" and finally "How or ever were there was ever was a cover up?"

Rating based on US DVD of Room 205 (Kollegiet), not the original version. I'd rate this higher, but apparently Ghosthouse Underground doesn't trust the audience to be literate enough to read subtitles. What would have been a very good horror film was ruined by overdubbing the original dialogue with English. It's not the 70s anymore, trust the audience to be able to follow subtitles. The vocal performances are lost under new, studio polished American voices, which takes away from the quality of the film. It's a shame, because it's nice to have a film based on fear, not gore. It's not a perfect film, and I wasn't scared, but it made me want to see more from this cast and director.

But shame on Ghosthouse Underground for overdubbing! I know they've ruined Vikaren (The Substitute) based on the overdubbed trailer at the beginning of this DVD. I've seen that subtitles, and I shudder to think of how they ruined that one.

So know if you rent this, you aren't going to get the full benefit of the original film.

Originality in horror is hard to achieve. I have heard this film compared to The Ring by more than one person, but, as I liked that movie, I would give this a chance.

The incredibly beautiful Danish actress Neel Rønholt play Katrine, a girl who moves into a college dorm that is haunted by the ghost of a girl who died in Room 205. Katrine is kind of a klutz. She is always breaking things. When she breaks the mirror in the bathroom of Room 205, the ghost is released.

Suspicion is thrown on her after some deaths: Lena (Mira Wanting),Lucas (Jon Lange), and Sanne (Julie Ølgaard); and she joins with another outcast, Rolf (Mikkel Arendt) in a plan to capture the ghost.

Good FX and tension, with lots of screams. A great ending.

I just saw this and was greatly disappointed because I love horror movies, and this one sucked so bad. The acting is inept, the plot non-existent even for horror. It is just a Danish rip-off of recent brilliant Japanese horror such as The Ring and Dark Water. However, these movies keeps you guessing and being interested in what is going to happen towards the end. I simply walked out from this movie after about an hour because I didn't care anymore what would happen. The script of this movie is extremely pathetic. I have two degrees from KUA in English and it is nothing like described in this movie. I don't mean in terms of good and bad, I just mean it was an extremely odd description of KUA, and it didn't ring a bell with me at all although I have spent 8 years there. I have never tried living in a dormitory but I doubt it is anything like described in the movie. The use of a mirror in the movie was extremely effective but, all things being equal, I don't think this is a coherent movie at all. It is just random scenes cut together to try and scare (and bore) the audience. In the cinema in Lyngby (a small town) where I watched this tonight there were two women who were screaming all the time in the scary scenes. And they are indeed scary. But this is just an imitation of Japanese horror, and it is a pity that Martin Barnewitz(!?) did not either just make a movie of 90 minutes "terror" or put in a decent story.