Danur: I Can See Ghosts

I always look forward foreign horror flicks and when I saw this came on Netflix I thought this must be good since it was commercially successful in Indonesia. Sadly I was wrong. There was nothing remotely scary in this film and there's no background to the story, we're simply expected to watch and get scared. There are plenty of jump scares and boy are they loud. I'm not sure I understood anything other than ghosts running around. I suppose for Indonesian audiences this is a good horror attempt. But for us horror enthusiasts, this is a total waste of time. Thank me later.

As I stumbled upon the 2017 Indonesian horror movie "Danur" by random chance here in 2023, I opted to sit down and watch it on account of it being an Asian horror movie that I hadn't already seen. Sure, I hadn't even heard about this movie, so I virtually didn't know what I was in for, nor did I have any expectations. So writers Lele Laila, Ferry Lesmana and Risa Saraswati had every opportunity to entertain me.

"Danur" was a semi-watchable movie. I mean, it wasn't a particularly thrilling or scary story, and much of the things that the characters in the movie did made little or no sense from a logical viewpoint, so it was somewhat of an awkward movie to sit through. I managed to endure the 74 minutes that director Awi Suryadi delivered, but I wasn't overly entertained.

The acting performances in "Danur" were okay. I wasn't impressed with what I witnessed, because the actors and actresses didn't have all that much of solid material to work with. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie.

Visually then "Danur" was mediocre. There were a couple of special effects throughout the course of the 74 minutes, so don't get your hopes up. The effects were fair enough, taking into consideration the production value of the movie.

For a horror movie then "Danur" came and went without leaving a lasting impression on me. It is not a movie that I will recommend for fans of the horror genre to rush out and get to watch.

My rating of "Danur" lands on a very generous four out of ten stars.

Hackneyed, clumsily put together and without a single original element. I spent most of the film boredly deciding whether the girls' mother was hot or not. Save yourself the bother and watch a bad '80s slasher - it's bound to be more bearable. Awful.

"Danur" is a film that lacks consistency and inspiration, but it might appeal to those who appreciate its unique elements.

The movie focuses on three main aspects: its loud sound design, its reliance on jump scares, and Shareefa Daanish's performance as Asih, Indonesia's "Lady of Horror." The film heavily depends on sound to create tension, and once Asih appears, it turns into a scare-fest.

Shareefa Daanish, who appears in about half of the film, is the standout performer and the driving force behind its scares. The rest of the cast is generally average, with some uneven performances.

The film takes its time to build up, with a slow start focusing on Risa's "friends" before jumping forward in time to introduce an older Risa and her younger sister, Riri.

Despite some nice camera work and editing that enhance the scares, the movie's ending falls flat and feels poorly executed. However, the post-credit scene is worth watching.

As a lifelong horror geek, this movie didn't do much for me, cos it's pretty mainstream, but this doesn't mean it's a bad flick. The story is well executed, there are a few creepy scenes, and the performances are solid. It's a good watch, especially if you enjoy non-American horror.