Jelangkung

Other girls are screaming and keep on going to the toilets (with their boyfriends), but I almost cry when watching this movie. It's been such a long time that there's (almost) no (great) movies in Indonesia, but this movie is outstanding in it's own way.

The story is about a bunch of (Jakarta) college guys who loves to find (and witnessing) ghosts - but they can't find the 'real' one... until the go to Angkerbatu village , a small village that has a horror history : in '30's an innocent boy who's wrongly accused of causing disease being killed by the local people, and not long after that, people of the doomed village lost mysteriously one by one.

So...one of the guys who thinks he has the gut put a jelangkung (an ancient local Javanese way to call the ghost) on the cemetery (of that boy). He says the pray,"Jelangkung...comes without invitation, go home without accompanied"... No one knows that his 'pray' comes true, the dead boy comes alive for them , and follow them to Jakarta. And the horror starts here....

Okay, the woods scenes are pretty close to the Blair Witch ones. But - once again this movie still has a touch. The ghosts are so local and so believable which is very scarry, like they can meet you after watching the movie. Also the camera works of Jose is very good and alive which is add the spookiness. The duo directors also can build the (scary) scenes intensely and edit this movie well. One thing that give a lesser point is the main actor, firstly he's not expressive enough, second he's always looking neat all the time, like we can see he's been put some powder in every scene on his face. But the rest of the casts are great especially the fat guy who's so natural. Other thing that bother me is the ending...I don't know why, just don't feel right - like the duo made it in a rush.

But as an Indonesian, I'm very proud, this movie definitely a new breeze not only in Indonesian movie, but for the new generation of movie makers and audiences.

This is a breakthrough for Indonesia movie industry. Though it is not a very good movie in general standard, but for what it worth compare to all others Indonesia movie Jelangkung was able to breath a new life into movie making in indonesia. Looks like somebody finally realise that it take more than a knowledge of how to operate a camera to make a movie. But i have to say that the acting is trully awful,its just no excuse for casting such a unexperience (and untalented if i can say)young actors. plenty of boring and lame line. great cinematography and set design though. some of the shoot looks like it have been rip off (or inspire maybe?)from Blair witch project. It is a movie make by a combination of really talented people with people who clearly dont belong to the industry.

Four college students, apparently that's what they are, share the same hobby of looking for urban ghosts, the purpose of which is never made clear throughout the film. During one of their quests, they tampers with a really mean evil spirit which in turn terrorises them. They spend the remaining length of the movie trying to get the p***ed-off demon off their back.

I had the misfortune of watching this movie on a vcd, sometime around midnight and alone..big mistake. the directors have the knack at reliving local ghosts and spooky legends, i.e. the murdered child, the handicapped nurse and they were portrayed so real that i found myself glancing to the window of my room several times, half expecting those frightening apparitions to appear. Spooky.

However, i'd have to say that's just about it. Despite some cool MTVish camerawork (the scene in which they walk into the dark abandoned building with their flashlight on and the music that goes with it), the storyline is pretty lame and the acting is even worse. the actors cannot really convey emotion and the lines were badly written..and delivered. i cant identify, let alone, root for the supposed antagonists.

There's a strong smell of 'Blair Witch Project' (the scariest horror film of all time)..especially the scenes on the wood. unfortunately the woods and the tomb in 'Jelangkung' lack the horror credibility. the tomb looks as if it was made a couple days before the shooting begin.

Nonetheless, it's scary allright. but nothing more...

Ok, this piece is not really really terrible ,it is just Bad, and such a shame too, since as the film makers have the guts to scavenge the urban legends of Indonesian ghost myths ....yep, Indonesian Ghost myths, the dragging nurse, the jungle infant,headless priest etc.. im telling you, if youre an indonesian or even a foreigner who have a knack for exotic folklore,urban ghost occurrences, this stuff are extremely creepy, not only because the fact that so many sighthings have occured , but also because these subject are extremely supernatural AND also Murderous in nature, hence its not just the ghost who seeks a tag team human buddy to get lifted so that they may R.I.P. These are ghosts who hangs around in darkest corners and toying with your sanity , that is if they're in a good mood, alas being a ghost was never about dying in a state of bliss,so they're just being themself and drag you in to hell and out and so on.

I realize that this supposed to be a semi guerilla low budget work, however based on my knowledge what makes a low budget film good is the effort that was squeezed on it.Try , El Mariachi, that one film inspires me to endure eating instant noodles so i can buy my digital video cam. This film lacks the torture, it looks as if all the scenes of each location are done in one day, and since the actors are buncha green unknowns a multiple rehearsal might be done, but ironically the worst acting came from the only recognizable name in this picture, yep, you guessed it, the lead actor, who is supposedly a known radio Jockey, this dude could probably set a record of being the most calm human being to ever encounter Evil ghosts, ok maybe he did some body movement yet his face remains the same, heck, try imagine the Facial expression of R2D2 if he is about to be light sabered to scrap pieces, yep, we got a commander Data here. The female role was given nothing more than to be the main guy's girl, and when his disturbing fetish of visiting creepy places in order to see Ghosts becomes too much , it is only normal for her to began her whinning and muttering, of course in a cute way, also there's your usual rambo tough guy, been done, this dude carries a sickle and a tiny knife , he probably thinks them ghost aren't that skillful to catch his throwing knife, thus might be defeated in such way.... One acting of a cliche chubby eating-machine-cowardly type of guy is particularly effortful, he supposed to be the loser in this film and i ended up rooting for this character so that he might live to see the credits roll.

Another thing i couldnt help noticing that the use of lime green colored water in a jar to represent something of a mad scientist left overs, was shown multiple times, and also that annoying.."oh-look-this-place-has-been-abandoned-for-years-yet-theres-a-liza rd-in-an-aquarium-still-alive" shots..yes shots, that same amphibian actor was used twice in a same type of scene. ok enough criticizing for now, the location use was good, i give them that, its not like hollywood teen horror genre where obvious use of sound studio is unashamingly shown, old hospitals,abandoned mansions, and crummy corners...then again in Indonesia , theres heaps of those places which are usually left overs from the Dutch invasion, i leave the forest scene out since the lighting in the night scenes are so amateur, this supposed to be an isolated far away bush areas like those in Blair witch project , yet it looks as if theres a walking street lamp behind the shiny head bald head of one tough guy actor, this supposed to be where the creepiness are highlighted but that ghost in form of one walking street light..is one spoiling happy ghost which brings to much hope in the word terror. Editing; choppy as hell, one is so embarrasingly flawed is where the kissing scene appears,again i mentioned in my other review that kissing scene in teen films are such a black pearl in ocean in Indonesian film industry, you just have to watch it to believe how bad it is. I think the two directors put an adequate effort on bringing this project to its shone, however their intimidation to make this film in less than two weeks (?)ruins the whole potential that lies within. one particular interesting scene is actually where the commander data lead man was discussing the theories and psychological reactions of ghost stories within a circle of society, this scene accumulates around 7 minutes and pure well written dialogue, now that was probably harder to make than most of the special effects in this film, since the friend of Commander Data did a good job,so the scene should be intriguing and thought provoking right? yes.. if its not for Commander Data whom i can only assume has a malfunction on his topographic cyberchip and decided to read out the script pages on his lap below the frame *(prior to this scene, commander Data also shows a supposedly shocking image from the Net, well bad job from the film maker not to try at least make their own photo manipulation, since this the only people who hasnt seen this image from their email accounts are certainly people who doesn't have e-mail account, hell its like telling that Princess Leia is Luke's sister to any current Star wars fan and expecting them to be surprised) * My conclusion; a scary film lacking depth of scare, greatly burdened by bad acting, rushed development and repetitive special effects that at most would probably scare you for its shock value if not for the cheesy music video shakey shots, after that.. its all snore and unintentional laughs, yep the word is Neo-shlock.

What ever happened if we mess with the dead? Death! That's what happening with this four young people which have a bizarre hobby to hunt these urban legend ghost . They still never met with the ghosts that they looking for, until they went to a remote village to unlock the dark secret of that village, with playing Jelangkung, a traditional ghost calling game with a medium. They think they not succeed to raised the dead, so they decided to went back home. They should do the "think again"! The evil manage to catch them up, and the terror begins!

If Japan has `Ringu' and Hong Kong has `The Eye', Indonesia has `Jelangkung'. Jelangkung is the most successful horror movies ever made in Indonesia and haunting the theaters for months.

In my point of view, `Jelangkung' is a so-so horror film. Even it manage to scare the peoples who's watched it, but technically I think the directors (Rizal Mantovani & Jose Purnomo) should need to return the movie to editing room once again. They often trapped in unneeded situations and boring conversation (that looks hard to looks scientific!). The movie even can be shorter! The audio department needs to re-record. But I must raise my hat for the cinematography by Jose Purnomo, because it looks so slick and hip and spoiling our eyes. The acting is not award worthy, but considering this is their pictorial debut, they do well to integral their self with the movie's construction.

Considering the tight budget that it had, "Jelangkung" is really a well-done film feature. Now we gain other talented directors to make the Indonesian movies more colorful. The sequel (`Tusuk Jelangkung') is going to out this year. I hope the new director (Dimas Djayadiningrat) could make it even better than this one.

5/10