Siksa Kubur

Have you ever been in a group project where everyone had a good idea, but no one could agree on which one to use? That's exactly how this movie feels. While it does deliver some genuine scares (hence the bump to a 5), the overall direction is completely scattered. It feels like a college movie project gone off the rails.

This is not a 6/7-star horror movie like The Night House, A Dark Song, Session 9, Tigers Are Not Afraid, Huesera: The Bone Woman, or Lake Mungo (which I personally think deserve higher ratings, but are likely dragged down by non-horror fans). I suspect this film's rating may be inflated, possibly due to being more catered to a religious Indonesian audience.

It's worth a watch, but don't make it the main event for movie night. It's the kind of film you put on when you don't mind your friends talking during it. Or maybe the one you watch before diving into something really good.

Honestly, this movie would've worked better as an anthology. The number of different directions it tries to go in ends up being almost comedic at times.

Many people said, this film are like Christopher Nolan of Indonesia. But, sadly, Not!! There's too much people praising this film. "It's just like western movie" they said. "It's not about jump scare" or "It's more psychological film."

The atmosphere are great. The cinematography are good. The acting are top notch. That's the only positive things from this film.

The first half of the film is about our brave women, Sita. She try to find the truth about "Siksa Kubur" or Grave Torture. There's so much ideology battle, especially about religion through the film. Quite enjoyed it, yes, this "psychologycal" thing are so great.

Sadly, after that, when, Sita goes to the grave, it's became down hill! The ghosts are laughable. Why? Because it's literally more like alien, like Venom. And the other ghost just crawling in the wall like spiderman.

And there's literally Zombies in here! Just beat it, man!! Those old man zombies are not menancing enough!!

Many people said, the most "scary" scene are the washing machine scene. But, sorry, it's a big NO. Nothing scary, that's scene just make my eyes roll, because, it's soo dumb. They're literally in super rich nursing home, why the patient washed their clothes alone?? Yes, it's a part of "big twist" but too dumb.

And Sita suddenly became weak minded. She's a brave women like Spider-Woman or Katnis Everdreen from the get go, but why do that to her at the end?? Ugh.

They're claimed this film would make people "believe" about grave torture and repent. But at the end, i just thought, "did i watched some superhero movie"??

For the duration's worth and the marketing materials, I was expecting Joko Anwar to expand the discussion triggers on various perceptions of what would happen the moment someone was buried six feet under. Unfortunately, he spent too much time on the jumpscare build-up in the second act to fully develop his promising main characters, which made the story... kinda go nowhere.

The first act is solid, Widuri Puteri and Faradina Mufti did an immense job of making the seamless transition from young Sita to adult Sita. Her and Adil's childhood struggle is a stellar backstory, which is a shame that the follow-up in the second act felt cheap to handle their inner conflictions. Would love to see more screen time of young Sita and Adil in the pesantren because it would've given more betrayal value to add to drive Sita's motivation and also satisfactory value for what eventually happened to the villain. Personally, I wasn't invested enough in the villain to see his ass totally whipped as a payoff. The horror elements in the second act are what tickled me the most because for being something that supposedly affected Sita's state of mind, all of the events were actually meaningless and contradictory. Why bother making bad things happen to the people who don't deserve it when the point is that you'll reap what you sow before entering the afterlife?

Another thing is Adil's character journey. I feel like he had so much potential, especially with the exceptional delivery by the incomparable Reza Rahadian, that went wasted because the film didn't want to address him explicitly. For being half of the main characters, I wish we got more of his story shown.

All in all, the cast ensemble carried this film on their backs. No bad performances whatsoever. The sound design also popped off. If only the story is much stronger.

Watching films is not just entertainment, but there is value that we bring home. Joko Anwar offers psychological horror, which is the time for film lovers to move up from just bland exotic horror. The cinematography and tone are perfect, the acting of all the actors is seasoned, even though some actors are debutants, the scoring is great, and the plot twist at the ending is typical Joko Anwar. The film is only 1 hour 57 minutes long, but it would take perhaps a week to discuss it.

Watching the Joko Anwar film is like reading an interactive children's novel by R. A. Montgomery. We are stimulated to think, every scene contains a clue. In fact, the ending of the film is also up to each viewer's interpretation. Joko Anwar never forces his will in any of his films.

Probably not the best Joko has produced as some have pointed out, but it's the most enjoyable to me so far. Pacing's good, not too fast, not too slow. The story's pretty understandable too, well at least 80% of it without the help of forum and discussion. Open to different interpretations? Yep, it's not Joko if it's not. Funny thing is, the movie doesn't feel like religious to me (from one particular religion) if you think it through, as it has a universal message of humans in the face of death as they lie dying rather than it is about people finding out one particular religion is right, or in other words: More psychological than religious, more human than supernatural, a spiritual journey and reflection about the end we're all gonna face one day, even for those who don't believe.

8.5/10.