Colic: The Movie (2006) User Reviews

Reincarnation and Past Lives

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 12 April 2009]

When Prae (Pimpan Chalaikupp) gets pregnant, her boyfriend Pong (Vittaya Wasukraipaisan) decides to marry her and they move to the house of Pong's mother. When their slow next door neighbor Benn gives old newspaper to Prae, her house catches fire and Benn dies totally burnt. Prae has a nervous breakdown and delivers her baby, the healthy Pan. When Pan is brought home, he uninterruptedly cries. Pong and Prae go to the doctor and he believes that baby has colic and will be better after six months old. However the baby never stops crying and Pong, his mother, Prae and her sister Jean (Kulthida Sattabongkoch) go with the baby to a monk in the temple and to an institute seeking an answer. On the eve of Pan's first anniversary, they discover that the baby is the reincarnation of an evil spirit and the souls of people that he had hurt in his past life want to wound him.

"Colic: Dek Hen Pee" is an Asian horror movie with an interesting premise, the counterpoint of the pain of colic and reincarnation. The viewers that believe in reincarnation certainly will appreciate this movie much more than me since I found the conclusion disappointing. The creepy atmosphere is scary, especially the scene with the autistic interns in the institute; but there is a poor development of Benn and the accident with Pong's mother is too forced. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Vidas Passadas" ("Past Lives")

An average horror

[chrichtonsworld · 4/10 · 6 April 2007]

As usual the trailer for this movie was more exciting than the movie itself! There are lot of moments that are creepy! But there also are a lot of scenes that are simply annoying! This is because the plot is very thin! When there are enough scares I don't really care about the plot! And if only the lack of suspense or story would get compensated by drama or action or even comedy than it would be great! But this is not the case! "Colic" isn't very scary! There is lack of drama (and no humor at all)! Example: The mother of the main character dies very sudden! No tears,no crying except for the baby! No funeral! No real conversations between the husband and wife about what happened! There is no show of emotion like nothing is wrong! And this is the main problem! Something bad happens and things go back to normal without any change! Sure you see the parents of the baby searching for help to cure the baby,but that's it! They visit a priest but he is not really helpful! The absence of a real dialog (especially) between the husband and wife makes it difficult to care for these persons! The explanation at the end makes it all worse! At least they could have come up with something better! The only thing that really was outstanding was the sound! The sound is the major reason that this horror is worth watching! But overall it is very average!

A Nutshell Review: Colic

[DICK STEEL · 6/10 · 20 November 2006]

Colic is the latest Thai horror movie to hit our shores, and given the gimmicky promotion in local theatres, where a cradle with that nasty picture of the baby inside, you'd start to wonder if this movie will actually give you the creeps, without resorting to the usual cheap gimmicks which plagued the slew of horror movies of late.

By the look of that powerful palm imprint on the baby's body, you'd think that there are devilish (pugilistic) forces to be reckoned with in Colic. However, sorry to disappoint, things that start to go bump in the night, are as tame as a pussy cat exhibiting a hissy fit. While the movie scores in its dealing with the atmospherics, it had forgotten that an engaging story is king, nevermind how implausible (ghost stories what) the premises is. Colic actually has potential, in taking something that couldn't be very much explained in scientific terms, and adding a dash of the spiritual to it. But it turned out to be wasted potential instead.

Newlyweds Pong (Vittaya Wasukraipaisan) and Phrae (Pympan Chalayanacupt) have an infant son who suffers from cholic - that incessant crying for reasons attributed to various factors unexplained in the movie, until the end, more or less. Should there be a hidden message in the movie, it'll probably be not to smoke when you're expecting, or that karma will work against you if you have pre-marital sex and have to undergo a shotgun wedding if not adequately protected.

Anyway I digress. The happy family move to the suburbs, and there's where unexplained happenings start to occur to them. I must warn you that it takes a long time for the family to move, and for the first of such bumps in the night. In between bumps are uneventful stuff that seem to be put in as fillers, which made the entire narrative storyline very episodic, and extremely dragged out between scenes. The horror here has a familiar look and feel to it, kinda like old Hong Kong horror flicks.

What the movie couldn't decide, and it shows in the film, is what to do with the inexplicable stuff. Do we want to deal with spirits, or ghouls, maybe poltergeists, or gore like Saw or Hostel. There are some truly intense moments though which will leave you at the edge of your seat, but when looking back at hindsight, they're pretty much a mixed bag and seem all over the place. It takes a long time for things to build, and during this time, it's pretty boring, as you literally observe an infant grow up, in quarterly stages.

So long as you don't expect too much, and not expect the cholic phenomenon to be explained in detail (from both the scientific and occult standpoint), you could actually enjoy this movie. Like I mentioned, the atmospherics is top notch, though the finale looked more like an action movie instead. And when the filmmakers do explain something important in the end, the reaction I'd reckon will be "Huh? That's it?" in a much ado about nothing manner.

Average Thai Horror

[dschmeding · 5/10 · 4 March 2008]

The cover of the DVD already gives away one of the creepy moments in this Thai Horror Movie although its not too important to the plot. Colic is about a couple that is expecting a baby. The woman forces her boyfriend to get married and they move to a new house. Strange things start to happen soon and when the baby is born it won't stop crying, which is explained as the condition to be a colic but turns out to be something very different. There are some nice scary moments often reminding me a lot of the Poltergeist Movies with an Asian flair of course. I liked the scene with the autistic kids in the hospital in that the movie fuses the boundaries of modern science and knowledge with the supernatural and a very Asian philosophy on it. Colic is basically a Ghostmovie trying to incorporate other elements and although it has its upsides there is also passages where the movie is dragging a lot. The final explanation left me rather disappointed and with a feeling that the story somehow didn't quite add up. There is sure a lot worse movies than colic but I don't think Colic is a movie that one needs to know since most scares have been there before and the whole movie seems a little undecided on where it wants to go.

Average

[razorblade_kiss93 · 6/10 · 30 April 2009]

This movie was quite poor to begin with. You had a cliché mysterious old women who scared you a little bit and a comical storyline. I did not like that at all. The movie then progresses to something that seemed like a 60s horror movie in a modern format. Did not work.

My favourite part of the movie was the autism scenes, sure the makeup on the 'scary autistic' was sub standard but it had a vintage like quality as i mentioned before, but this time it actually worked.

Of course you had the let down ending, clichéd, rushed and poor. Even the pathetic attempt at a 'clever' twist failed to save this movie. All I can say is this was my first time watching a Thai Horror Movie, wasn't impressed, I'm hoping the acclaimed Shutter will be better.

Geat new idea ....Very very Poor display

[acromiom · 4/10 · 19 February 2010]

well thats my first review, you can guess!! the movie was actually that bad.....Yes it is one of the worst movie ever it is non horror at all , should be a thriller of a low grade and never be made as horror at all .True that the plot start promising but i just lost all interest after 29 minute of hardly trying to keep my eyes open ....why you ask >>>well thats a Thai movie who tries to capture a phenomena that happen to turn it to supernatural base it is purely cultural which is OK an all but the movie have set Zero effort to place any fear There is suspense I give u that but overall the film could have been made into a much better film and in my own review i say the idea is great but the display is very very poor just give it try when u have time to kill and u are Bored so just by then knock yourself out lol

Interesting horror from Thailand

[misticnoa · 6/10 · 28 August 2018]

Although the story is not the greatest or the most original, the film itself is well-crafted and keep you interested until the end. Decent acting, interesting story, a couple of effective scares. What more can we ask?

Colic is a medical condition of a baby of 3-6 months crying for no apparent reason and it was also the diagnosis for the baby in this film.

[jal4eva · 9/10 · 23 December 2006]

I happened to chance upon the trailer and I thought that the premise of this story was a very fresh and interesting idea and the film seemed pretty interesting, that prompted me to catch this film without reading any prior reviews about it. It was only after watching the film and having a good impression of it that I read some pretty bad reviews about this film.

The premise of the film is very interesting, incorporating the supernatural and medical research to create a very real feel to the film. And there's a strong plot which sadly quite a number of horror films lack. The acting and emotions of the lead actors and actresses were very well executed, and their love for their child and the extent they went to protect their child was very touching. The supporting cast was very likable, which made the twists of the film very sudden and very shocking. The background music aided in the suspense of the film and provided an eerie enough atmosphere.

One thing different about this horror film that I liked is the tone down on the use of 'ghosts', in place was just the effects of the supernatural forces. I also like the use of in-your-face graphic images which was also something scary, and horror-filled on its part. The style of the film reminds me quite like The Eye.

In all, I feel that this is still a good film to recommend and a fresh change of the usual horror films palette offered.