Harum Malam

When 95% of the characters are annoying and unsympathetic it makes it hard to root for them to win. When people make decisions that make no sense or have any rational basis you have to provide a reason or ulterior motive for th audience to understand. Whe people die horribly and everyone around just blithely goes on like nothing has happened or like death is a daily boring thing with no explanation it makes it impossible to sympathize. Also when local customs won't be easily understood by a wide audience they need to provide dialogue or exposition that can enlighten the viewer to understand what is going on. The characters were so unlikable we cheered at their demise.

This film had potential but I can't believe they messed it up. The protagonist was so wimpy and girly that it was cringy to see him constantly curled up in fear. He also look as smart as a jar of molasses. Why do they do that to a character they're trying to endear and get the audience to relate to and sympathize with. You don't want to hate the protagonist like you do here. I just think it was poorly written and it looks like it could have been good even with the small budget. The story just looks like it was written on the Fly. So many things happen when it didn't need to, and things didn't happen when it should have. It's hard to explain where this keeps missing and it just looks like it was made by two different groups that did not communicate with one another.

Despite the limitations of using English subtitles to understand what was going on, I think this film could have been better. It seems like the main goal was a gorefest, but a more interesting (and less derivative) tale could certainly have been told -- if anyone involved cared (but they didn't). The pacing was not great; the film often dragged.

The first act is the most interesting, as we're trying to figure out what's going on. The rest of the film slowly devolves into supernatural horror (possession and murder). I didn't like many of the characters, and it's hard to feel sympathy for people who aren't behaving or communicating well (even when lives depend on following rules and sharing information).

The cultural differences were mildly interesting -- at first -- but when the film got into gory-exorcism mode the disgusting happenings dominated (but not in a good way). I also found the use of seemingly generic prayers (by exorcists) to accomplish very specific goals quite unconvincing. Not sure if this was to avoid offending certain people.

I don't recommend this unless you specifically like Malaysian horror. I give it 3.5 stars, with half-star penalties for excessive gore, missed opportunities, and poor pacing. That's two (2) stars total.

I understand the hate. Most people really hate the plot but I really think it's interesting. Let's say, if you love gore and "The Sixth Sense". But the plot is very messy, but still easy to keep on track. Next is acting. Bront Palarae did a great job at playing this role. Understandable since he got the same role in "Pengabdi Setan". But I got mixed feelings on Idan Aedan, its feels like going down a rollercoaster. Sometimes, Kayu and sometimes good and sometimes okay. But the other cast did a great job. Jumpscare are fine, I'm not complaining. Let's say, if bored and don't know what to watch on Disney+ Hotstar, watch Harum Malam. There's a 50% chance you might hate it, and there's 50% you might like it. Overall 7/10.

After years of strange visions and hallucinations, an apprentice faith healer and exorcist with a sixth sense is tormented by visions of a malicious spirit wreaking havoc in the apartment complex where he lives forcing him to confront his supernatural gifts to save his family and friends.

There's quite a lot to like with this one. One of the bigger factors going for this one is a rather intriguing storyline that grounds the supernatural action at play within a highly effective humanizing drama. The whole experience is based on his reluctance to use his paranormal powers and trying to defeat the evil spirits that emerge around him which is quite effectively contrasted with the need for a normal life. Seeing how he interacts with his friends at the apartment who are the same age and unbothered by what's going on with him and his family creates a genuinely sympathetic lead throughout the first half. The inability to get over what happened with his mother continually interrupts his attempts at making friends which eventually brings them into contact with the figure kept behind the locked greenhouse door that soon starts terrorizing everyone around the building which ends up generating the discovery of the dark secrets at play in his family's history as the need to use them grows over time. It's an overall intriguing enough story that sets everything in motion rather nicely while serving to provide the necessary grounding of the characters we're following. As a result of this, when the film goes for gruesome supernatural action it's incredibly effective. The opening confrontation with the possessed neighbor where we learn of his powers for the first time is quite enjoyable with some rather dark action at the forefront as the spirit targets the group there to confront them. The scene where he and his friends free the spirit from the greenhouse room is immensely chilling as everyone blows past frequent red flags to continually act as rebellious youths doing something they shouldn't, and the resulting scares that follow are quite effective. With the demon now free and able to torment the other residents in the apartment, the series of accidents and freak deaths that occur where the vision of a demonic figure surrounding the victim controlling them to perform the gruesome action makes for a chilling series of scenes. The series of demonic possessions that follow his friends leads into the wholly over-the-top exorcism sequences that take place in the finale. While overly familiar with the type of genre fare this turns out to be, everything here still manages to be twisted enough with its on-screen action and what it reveals to be quite a fun time as the visuals are enjoyable enough to keep this entertaining overall. There's not much this one gets wrong but there are some prominent issues. The biggest factor to be had here is the overwhelming sense of familiarity that runs rampant throughout the film with it featuring a slew of features from other genre fare. Most of this is due to the typical style of how it treats possession and demonic influence with the victim appearing as a hyper-rabid, glowing-eyed ravenous force acting out of control until put under a controlling spell. An innumerable amount of films have done this approach to the format in recent years and manages to take a lot of the impact out of the film without doing much of anything different with this type of material. Moreover, the same overall look of the possessed individuals is achieved so that the look and behavior both come across as something viewers have seen many times over without change so it's not all that original. The other issue with this one is the somewhat goofy and silly-looking CGI used for the final form of the creatures which has a lot of the hallmarks of the other films in the genre which feature this type of material. The out-of-place scenes are quite obvious with all the supernatural flair and enhancements that look completely laughable at the attempt to mix it into a more grounded affair with the goofiness of the sequences contrasting with these more natural sequences. The demons are especially bad at this, especially when they control one of his friends in an otherwise chilling sequence in the family's house where the stiff, blocky creature comes off as laughable rather than terrifying and ends up being a slight disappointment. These overall end up bringing this down in the end.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language, and themes of incest.