Joko Anwar's Nightmares and Daydreams

Plot

Ordinary people encountering strange phenomenons that may be keys to the answer about the origin of our world and the imminent threat we will soon face.

Cast

Not really familiar with anybody involved, not even Anwar surprisingly.

Verdict

Me and Indonesian horror so far have actually done pretty well, there have been some great films come out of the country so that plus my love of anthology horror series made me very excited for Nightmares and Daydreams (Not to be confused with Nightmares & Dreamscapes which I keep accidentally referring to it as). But did it deliver? Well yes, and in equal measure no.

So the first couple of episodes reeled me in perfectly, this was good stuff! Nothing ground breaking but original well constructed tales, but single only complaint was that they both had a single scene tacked onto the end that felt totally unnecessary. The quality began to wane and varied from average to really quite poor and that insistence on confusing final scenes continued, it had finished there was already a resolution and yet it still hit you with something it really didn't need to!

And then we reached our swan song when they decided to do something unusual, something breaking the mould of horror anthologies, something that I won't mention as I don't do spoilers here but I'll commend them on the effort but slam them for how badly they did it.

You'll see consistent themes throughout the tales, poverty, employment, desperation and the reach for a better life. Some work, some don't, but the inconsistent quality, confusing writing choices and very eyebrow raising final episode leave it all a bit of a mess.

Rants

The trend at the moment is that the vast majority of shows are being cancelled on cliff hangers, rendering them pointless watches and incomplete stories. Nightmares and Dreamscapes I went into confident that this wouldn't matter, independent stories after all so cancellation would be sad but not leaving the show in the same sorry state as most. How wrong I was, will it be cancelled? Very likely. Will we get a proper finale and a culmination, I just don't see it.

The Good

Some great stories Wonderfully constructed A few very strong performances Very ambitious finale

The Bad

Some weak stories A few hokey visual effects Finale could have been handled a lot better.

As an Indonesian, I'm surprised we actually got this kind of quality.

I haven't watched a lot of Indonesian movie lately (or ever actually) because I really can't get into them. Usually the acting is really bad and the dialogues are cringe as well. The production is also usually pretty bad and low budget...

And so, I was surprised how delightful this series was. The production was definitely a step up from usual. Hell, the cgi was actually pretty good too and wow, the story is not bad at all.

It is far from perfect, like some episodes are stronger than the other (for me personally I like ep 3 the most, then 2), and there were some wtf moments that are not that great and dragged out (and don't get me started on the last episode and that girl who only has 1 emotion and can barely act...)

But overall, it was a pleasant watch. I love the horror stories and the Lovecraftian vibe. I won't mind having another s2 but will need some tighter story and scenes.

The story is nothing original. Joko Anwar created this story, from an existing plot: Silence of the Lamb, Kimi no Nawa, Saw, Love, Death and Robot: Jibaro. Episodes one to 6, can be enjoyed. Until it was finally ruined by episode 7. Where this film became an ordinary superhero film. Episode 7 also has the worst plot and the worst acting quality. No longer special. I think Joko Anwar is an overrated director. His fans also said that his bad films were good. Joko Anwar should be able to develop more original stories, not trapped by global trends. He should know that the superhero genre is starting to be abandoned. Changing this series from the horror, mystery, sci-fi genre to the superhero genre is a bad choice. Moreover, this series feels very rushed to finish.

Having spent 20 years in Indonesia much of that in Jakarta, this show gives an accurate representation of the poor and rich, demons told as stories in the evening to scare children. I am only a couple of shows in but it is story telling at its finest. The translations could be better. They are using the Jakarta dialect of Indonesia which gives the show a more realistic. I hope NETFLIX continues to find more Asian horror shows like this one. These are shows we can all relate too, nightmares we can all watch together. Get some popcorn turn down the lights watch and enjoy. It may not be the Twilight Zone but it's close.

I dont usually leave review for a series but I feel I have to for this one.

This is a departure from the highly polished western series. It has unique dingy aesthetics that is special to Indonesian movies like the raid or satan's slave that is distinct from high budget productions. The dialogue maybe awkward at times but the story and idea is superb and the acting is decent.

The dub quality is excellent and you can see that each episodes is produced with passion. There is some aspect that western audience might not be able to relate to because its uniquely Indonesian but give it a whirl, it wont disappoint you.