Harum Malam

I am a fan of Malaysian horror and this was right on brand with what I'm familiar with. Many of them tend to lean towards folk horror and this one was in that same vain.

The story was spooky and intriguing but I don't think it needed to be quite as long as it was... although it didn't really drag much surprisingly. It did have a light sense of maybe being geared towards a younger audience but also had some pretty dark and gruesome subject matter.

The special effects and gore were actually pretty cool and gnarly, while the actual monster looked a bit silly most of the time and the flowers looked like play-doh. The acting also appeared to come across quite well to an English speaker at least.

All in all this was a good bit better than I was expecting it to be, while still delivering what I have come to expect from Malaysian horror. Would recommend.

I recently watched the Malaysian film 🇲🇾 Blood Flower (2023) on Shudder. The plot centers on a young man with supernatural abilities and visions, which is dismissed by others as madness. However, when gruesome murders plague his community, he becomes their unlikely savior, tasked with uncovering the truth and protecting them.

Directed by Dain Said (Interchange), the film features performances by Brent Palarae (Nova), Idan Aedan (Zombitopia), Remy Ishak (Pulang), and Nadiya Nissa (Nova).

This is a movie where you have to shut your brain off, forget there's a story, and just go for the gore; because that's all this film was, an excuse to cram as much gore into a film as possible. There are times where the horror elements rely too much on CGI, like the ghost and spirit scenes. However, there are some amazing kills that were really impressive and there's a ton of blood splatter, appendages flying and creative mutilation. WARNING: there are some eating scenes that's a bit much. The ending with the machete was absolutely wild.

In conclusion, Blood Flower caters to gore enthusiasts, offering little beyond its visceral spectacle. I'd give it a 4/10 and recommend it only to those prepared for its graphic content.

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.

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.

The film started with high expectation with the visuals and score, however, it went downhill really fast. No clear plot, a lot of the scenes have loop holes. Even the conclusion of the movie doesn't make sense. Just make you awe at something that is so terrible. The characters are mostly unlikeable and no good development or growth, quite bland. Really dislike them, and their relationship with others is no where to be found. Iqbal and Norman look like they're not in character. The supporting characters are more interesting. The props and CGs overall is okay, but some parts of the film are quite bad.