Badarawuhi di Desa Penari

I found this movie to be mostly decent for the most part. The story feels complicated, and i didn't know what was going on in this movie. So, the actual plot is this girl going to the village to find answers to her mother mysterious illness and learn about this traditional dance. It's interesting to learn about what the dance is about and how it's important to the village. She also encounters a supernatural called Badarawuhi, who gives an eerie vibe when she shows up and what she's doing here in the first place. The movie itself is pretty slow, with scenes that feel like it is dragging on too long and strange stuff happening throughout. Also, the movie isn't scary at all because nothing too extreme happens in the movie and is easily predictable when it shows up. The climax itself is something different, but it isn't that suspenseful at all. And the movie has a rushed ending.

Main character was so Beautiful but so cruel also, the story line was very detail in this prequel. Makes the audience more familiar with its origins. The timeline is different from the Dancer Village KKN. This time it is set in the 1980s. Where a dancer outwits Badarawuhi, making Nyai very angry.

With different actors and characters from the sequel, this film is fresh and interesting, although some scenes are somewhat similar to the sequel, they don't make you bored and are still fun to watch even with a duration of 122 minutes. At first glance it looks like a repetition but is described in more detail. Moreover, it is supported by the acting of the players, all of whom are good and really get into their characters. A little funny touch from Iqbal Sulaiman creates an ice breaker amidst the horrors of the Badarawuhi terror.

Some of the jumscares are quite surprising. Not only does it show many tense scenes. The emotional drama between mother and child was very touching

Be careful if you have a phobia of snakes, prepare yourself mentally to watch this film.

A group of teenager visit to remote village, desperately need help to recover their mother from mysterious disease, but they never know the danger and threat await.

Ok, then. The village folklore is going on, and I knew it from the start that this movie is not meant to be so fearsome, like have a bunch of jumspcare and terror, because this movie is just showing and approaching to realistically enough exactly in threads or real life. Even though I hoping more dreadful story to adapt in the movie, and this story was, sorry to say isn't intens enough for me, because it's not about a ghost or monsters, it's about my sympathy for the victim, and yes this movie is not so horror, but more like drama or folklore and urban legend. And I belive so many of those poor viewer got disappointed from promising horror genre.

The aesthetic view of nature, village and the mountain, absolutely eye catching and stunning. Not to mention the big name producers handle the cinematography so well done, covers up the lack of the horror action, and yeah thats all I get, such the scary side of the dense forest in the beauty of the scenery, thats it and nothing more. For me it's just okay, but need more punch. Yet this still better story to adapt for me, and all those spectacular actors they were absolutely killing it. Once again a better quality, advance from many years before.

It's been a while I have written a review on here, since I do that on my own website. But this time I had to.

People have been calling this gripping and spine-chilling. There isn't a single event in this film that even came close to this. Director Kimo Stamboel is capable of building up tension and dread. Only in this film, this replaced with empty symbolism and boredom. Badarawuhi, a snake demon, clearly is intended to be scary and intimidating. She might be the latter because of her portrayal by Aulia Sarah. She tries her hardest. If only this was backed up by terror.

There is hardly any terror. The few events that are supposed to signify this are laughable at best. Sure, there are some gross and gory scenes, but they hardly have any effect. Then the finale is like one big joke. I think I was supposed to be creeped out by the menacing dancers. I mean, it could have been done, had these dances been backed up elements that actually made these dances unique and terrifying. But this is not the case one bit. It felt like a rip-off from Suspiria (2018) which also was a joke.

But the absolute part that made me lose interest quite fast is the pacing. There is very little story and substance in the first place. Maybe enough for a 5-minute short. But this is stretched out over 2 hours. You can imagine how slow this feels.

Overall, this is far from the opposite what the majority of the reviewers have been claiming. And don't get me wrong. I wished what they said was true. But to have me sit through this and make me waste my time in this fashion I find criminal. So yeah, don't believe the high rating, this is terrible!

Dancing Village: The Curse Begins is an interesting tale of a forest Demon trying once again to gain power. The story starts without much understanding of the dynamic, but Mila is seeking a particular village to return a trinket to save her mother of an unknown disease that has hit quickly.

While there are tropes galore of they genre of horror films, Dancing Village has enough to keep above the completely obvious downfalls. (Do we have to have the one character that seems greedy, uncouth, and selfishly idiotic?) There are moment of gentle chills and suspense. The story unfolds easily, and at times it's too predictable if you've ever seen an Asian horror.

Dancing Village appears to be a prequel, and I feel it is worth a watch. Overall, a decent film. One element that made it less enjoyable for me was the huge express of distress around a failing family member. The excessive outpouring was at times difficult for me to take seriously, but that could be from cultural issues or my own personal family dysfunction.