Impetigore - Herança Maldita

It is good enough, a bad movie, production value is surprisingly great for an Indonesian movie. I liked it, but it is not that scary, it is more of a mistery than a horror movie

From the writer-director of Satan's Slaves comes another dark, direful & disturbing nightmare that's drenched in dread & reeks of death from start to finish. Impetigore (Perempuan Tanah Jahanam) opens on a very promising note, sustains its sinister atmosphere for a good portion of its runtime but just like the aforementioned chiller, it loses its grasp in the final act.

Written & directed by Joko Anwar, the film exudes an unnerving sense of mystery & history with its opening scene and then silently envelops the story with a foreboding mood that only magnifies as our characters step into the remote village where most of the plot unravels. Anwar's grip on horror elements is firm, and though he indulges in violence & gore, he doesn't overdo it.

The small, secluded village bears marks of death, loss, suffering & plague-like aura. The steady camerawork & low-light photography add to its ominous tone. But there are also false alarms in here that seem forced while the lame exposition feels like a shortcut. Performances are good, ambience is threatening, and it does many things right yet it falls short of delivering on the expected terror & chills.

Overall, Impetigore is a skilfully crafted folk horror that comes steeped in curses & black magic, utilises its eerie setting to good effect, and finds Joko Anwar in better control of his craft, thus serving as another solid addition to his filmography. There are several impressive bits in the final print, scattered here n there, but as a whole, this Indonesian horror still leaves behind an underwhelming feeling due to its weak third act.

This movie exceeds my expectation from the usual indonesian horror movie genre. I've watched Pengabdi Setan and wasnt really impressed by it. So my expectation when watching this movie was not very high, but all that was gone just after seeing the opening scene. It was good, it was thrilling and full of tension, the scene captures my attention immediately. But as good as the opening scene were, the story especially the motives behind it all seems a little bit convoluted and forced. I do gave props for mr.anwar for setting up some takes as if it was gonna be a jumpscare but ended up didnt do it and then show us the take that completely took us by surprise. He reversed our expectation of jumpscare. The pacing is great, the lead actress and actors are great with the exception of the old lady and some extras, she overdone it a bit in my opinion. Also the use of language is rather odd, mixing jawa language and formal indonesian accent was kind of created an imbalance of the whole atmospheric feeling. It threw me off every time I hear it. It would've been better if they used full jawa accent, the lead with full jakarta's accent and didn't mix the two.

All and all this is a solid cinema work. Mr anwar managed to capture the eerieness of a small village, the horror of black magic and what the mob mentality of an isolated villagers can do.

I found this to be a disappointment as my expectations were high cos of Joko Anwar. His Satan's Slaves is a solid horror film n his Gundala is an amazing action thriller. This one started off very well, a young woman working in a toll booth during the wee hours, a man passes the booth regularly n stares at her giving her the creepy vibes. Her fear comes alive when the man tells her everything about her, from her name, her father's name n her village wher she was born, all these info creeps her out even more. After this suspenseful start, the film lost the pace but the atmosphere kept it going when the woman unearths that she has inherited a big, old dilapidated house n visits her village so that she can sell off the house. The old woman's mumbo jumbo dancing is hilarious. In most of the horror/thriller films things get messy due to the cell fone or its ringing but why the need to throw away the phone when it can b put on silence or vibration. The end came very rushing n the twist isn't that shocking. Generous with a 7 cos of some fine direction and as a fan of Joko Anwar.

The set up of this film feels very convincing. The dialogue is pretty good. The interaction between characters in this film feels natural and believable.The setting and tone of this film is no doubt one of the best in Indonesian film history. One of my favorite aspect of this film is the depiction of a culture that feels sacred and real. This really helps bring up the feeling of uneasiness from the audiences.

After a convincing build up, the film feels like it ended in a hurry. The mysteries that have been built slowly from the start are forced to be answered in some flashbacks that are annoying and feel too long.The motivation of the villain feel poorly developed. At the end of this film, I feel there is a scene that can be compared to the "save Martha" scene which I think is quite stupid.

Maybe the problem with this film is rooted in the film's duration which is not long enough. This film can be a real masterpiece, but sadly this film did not reach its full potential. I really hope that Joko Anwar fix these problems in his next films.