Sumala

Watching at the beginning, I had a bad feeling about this movie. As I go along, my feeling was confirmed. The background of this movie is colonial Java, where people speak Javanese. Unfortunately, none of the actors speaks fluent Javanese but a very few supporting characters that seemed to be played by native Javanese speakers. Although this movie was supposedly spoken in Bahasa, but sprinkles of Javanese was poorly spoken throughout the movie. As a nativr Javanese, this is very annoying!

Special effect seemed too budget oriented. Many of the scenes using special effect failed to create a believable scene.

The only thing good about this movie is the adapted story. Hence, this movie have a good story, but ruined by poor execution.

Just caught this in the bioskop near me... BTC cinema in pasteur. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the film. I thoroughly enjoyed it very very much. Having been disappointed by recent movies like Siksa Kubur and Susanna, Sumala executive produced by Luna Maya was a breath of fresh air. I saw the trailer before hand and I didn't really want to go watch it. But my wife dragged me and I reluctantly comply. Boy was I entertained. Full marks for all acting and Maykala the little girl stole the thunder. Solid performance all around 👏.

While I would have preferred to see more of Satan, she was the devil's child by the way, I suspect some scenes was not included to keep the running time short. I am a fan of slasher gore films like Friday 13th and Elm Street and this movie lived up to my expectations.

So kudos to the director 👏 and producers I really enjoyed this one.

One final note, this film just lack cinematic artistic shot... such as drone establishing scenes, close ups of feets and faces. And too much music where silence is much preferred.

MORE please what is next??

Sumala is a drama that explores the tragic life of Kumala, a young woman who faces relentless hardship. The film effectively portrays her suffering, from being constantly bullied for her body to enduring abuse from her own parents. Her life is a downward spiral of pain, making her story deeply emotional and heartbreaking. The cinematography captures her despair well, and the performances feel raw and authentic. While the film is heavy and difficult to watch, it successfully conveys the harsh realities of Kumala's ruined life, leaving a lasting impact on the audience.

Overall, I would suggest that the movie is not that good.

Watched this while on holiday in Malaysia. I didn't have high hopes as from the start the acting is wooden at best but the premise of the film kept me watching.

I did like Makayla Rose Hilli's performance as Sumala/Kumala as she gave it her all but by the end I was watching just to complete the film rather than enjoying it. Also knowing that it is based on legend in the forests of Indonesia made it more interesting.

There were some nods to other films of this genre. The Omen, The Ring etc and a couple of nice references to The Shining.

All in all a watchable horror to fill some time but I imagine there are better Indonesian movies out there.

The movie introduces us to a group of kids playing with a ball in a small village. After the ball is kicked into a field, one of the boys runs after it, and his friend soon follows. He finds the boy being repeatedly hit on the head with a stone by some kind of entity. Chaos erupts in the village when the father of the murdered boy assumes the friend is responsible until a man arrives and begins to tell the origin story of the local legend of Sumala.

From that point on, we travel back in time and learn about a woman named Sulastri, who made a pact with the devil so she could have children. She later gives birth to female twins, but one of the children is killed by her husband because it was deformed. The surviving child grows up with physical and mental disabilities. On her 8th birthday, her deceased twin's vengeful spirit possesses her to seek revenge on those who harmed her.

What follows is carnage, plenty of gore, and numerous jump scares. The movie is much more brutal than I anticipated, and I really enjoyed that aspect. Some of the effects looked great, but the occasional poor CGI gave the film a cheap appearance. The story itself is familiar, another tale of a vengeful spirit possessing a body to exact revenge-and it didn't bring much originality to the table.

The acting was mostly fine, though a few weak performances affected the immersion and reduced the tension in certain scenes. The entity itself was terrifying, with a deformed body, sharp teeth, and pale skin.

Overall, while the narrative could have been more unique or developed in a deeper way, some great gore scenes made up for it. It's a fairly decent watch that offers an entertaining two hours, but ultimately, it's not especially memorable. [5.6/10]