Rumah Dinas Bapak

Given my love of Asian cinema and horror cinema in general, then of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch the 2024 Indonesian horror movie "Rumah Dinas Bapak" (aka "Father's Haunted House") here in 2025. Sure, I had never heard about the movie, so I didn't know what to expect from writers Evelyn Afnilia and Dodit Mulyanto and director Bobby Prasetyo.

I was under the impression that "Rumah Dinas Bapak" was a horror comedy, but the comedy elements were few and far in between. The movie was more of a light-hearted horror, if there is such a thing. It wasn't a scary movie, but it still was a watchable enough movie for what it was. Writers Evelyn Afnilia and Dodit Mulyanto put together a fair enough script and storyline for the movie, though the movie did stumble a bit over itself, given its somewhat slow narrative.

The acting performances in the movie were good. I was only familiar with a single actress on the cast list, and that was Yasamin Jasem.

It should be noted that the special effects, though there weren't much of them, in the movie were actually fair.

Watchable, sure, but hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.

If you enjoy horror movies, you might not get much of a kick out of watching director Bobby Prasetyo's 2024 movie "Rumah Dinas Bapak". There are far better and way more scary Indonesian horror movies out there.

My rating of "Rumah Dinas Bapak" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Don't take this movie too seriously. It's meant to be entertaining, so we shouldn't expect too much from it. Especially since the story is based on a true event, where the original material doesn't offer much to work with. The real-life story is simply about a haunted house, where eerie sightings and strange occurrences happen every Friday night "Kliwon" (Javanese calendar).

The movie is a horror-comedy, so its focus is on delivering humor rather than diving deep into the storyline. What stands out is how the comedy is executed-not with slapstick antics but through witty dialogue reminiscent of stand-up comedy. This makes sense, as the writer is a stand-up comedian. The jokes land well and are entertaining, even if they don't leave you rolling on the floor with laughter. They're still funny and enjoyable.

The ghostly apparitions are also convincingly scary, meeting the standard expectations of a horror movie. While the story itself is shallow and could have easily wrapped up in 30 minutes, the film still manages to entertain. It's clear that the filmmakers put effort into the production, unlike a movie like "Sekawan Lima", which feels like a haphazard attempt at a horror film.

Although "Agak Laen" movie offers a stronger story for horror comedy genre. Overall, this movie is still a fun watch. It delivers both chills and laughs, making it a decent choice for light entertainment.

Interesting cast.

Typical and stereotype of horor movie but somehow it's good to watch together with family for fun.

The visual of the evil is good, so indonesian.

The jumpscare is in the right time.

The comedy and the horror blendid so well.

The background story is not too surprising but i enjoy it.

This horor comedy is worth to watch.

At least we don't see the evil that fight with human use martial art or gun. Because this is evil. We must fight them with pray or black magic But what made this movie is 6 is because they use the javanese language without subtitle. Not all indonesia understand javanese.