Primbon

Indonesian horror movies have gotten so much better over the last 10 years. In fact, some of my favorite in the genre have come out of Indonesia. This movie, however, was either incorrectly billed as one or something went really wrong in the horror department, because what we are left with is a family drama with a few (and I stress FEW) scary elements that make it more like a Lifetime Channel mystery than something that will potentially scare you.

The story is simple enough; girl goes into jungle to get something for her mothers birthday, girl gets lost, girl comes back and isn't the same. We've seen it before, and this movie breaks no new ground. But it didn't need to be as mundane as it ended up being. I mean, there are large parts of the movie that were a straight up drama, and I don't know about anyone else, but the last thing I want to see in any scary movie is a bunch of people crying about regret. It seems like someone wrote a script about a family as a drama, and someone else came in and said "Let's add some scary things to it!". It's really disjointed as many of the elements that are supposed to invoke fear just end up falling flat.

While the movie fails in the terror department, the acting is extremely well done and you really come to care for some of the characters, in particular the Father and mother of the young girl. They showed real emotion and it can be felt through the screen, which is a testament to their acting ability. (I watched this film subtitled, not dubbed.)

Lastly, the cinematography and camera work made for a visually aesthetic film that was clean, clear and didn't hide anything that was transpiring. In fact, the cinematography was the best thing about this movie, as it yielded a very visually pleasing end result. I truly enjoyed seeing the Indonesian village and market, the jungle that surrounds it, and the interiors of the many homes.

Overall, while this film is by no means a true horror movie, if you watch is as a family drama about a missing girl, it might be entertaining for you. It's a sweet story about the love that parents have for their children, and the pain they feel when that child is no longer with them. The ending was also emotionally affecting, and made me glad I stuck with the movie to the end.

If you're looking to be scared, this is not the film to do it. But if you can find the story as emotionally engaging as I did, you might not be totally disappointed.

What is the overarching moral lesson derived from the narrative? Are we to place our trust in Primbon? Favoring superstition over medical consultation? Should we abstain from venturing into the mountains on purportedly "cursed days"?

Despite the inclusion of renowned famous actors and visually stunning locations, the film is hampered by bad and deficiency of a compelling storyline. The narrative, intended to elicit a sense of trepidation, stumbles in its execution, rendering the purported fright factor ineffectual and contributing to an overall experience that is marked by an unanticipated awkwardness and lackluster quality. While it endeavors to instill a sense of fear, the execution ultimately falls short, resulting in a rather lackluster and awkward ending scenes.

For your information, Primbon is something that kinda like Fengshui in China. It is a Javanese system of astrology and divination that uses "weton" calculations (based on the day of birth and the market day) to predict and anticipate events in a person's life.

The story revolved around the conflict from elderly who still believe in it and the one who doesn't wanna believe in it but can't believe what just happened.

This movie doesn't have the jumpscare, nor the "sexy-looking girls" that usually exist in casual Indonesian horrors.

The cast were also good, the accent is kinda perfect (not like that the one that "forced" to read Javanese language).

But if you're looking for usual horror with lots of jumpscare, this is not for you.

The movie's start was like any other horror movie I have watched so I wasn't expecting to be as bad as it was. The movie stayed pretty chill and horror at the start but I was already think at this point that there should have been a horror scene but I didn't think much of it. Then after a long wait, Finally the music started to get tense so I was fully expecting a very horror scene but then it was just a Jumpscare and it wasn't horror at all as the girl had a normal face with no blood or scratches and stuff. I stared to get mad at this point as nothing too horror had happened yet. The whole movie went like this with absolutely almost any horror scenes and I think that it should not be put In a horror category but rather an emotional category as it that would suit it much better. So overall it is like a 0.1/10 but I can't rate that low, I would recommend not to waste 1 hour 30 minutes of your life on this movie, your time is much more precious.

We all have legends of going into the woods, and bring replaced by something not human... I would have loved to have more details about the myths about that added to this film, being not familiar with the culture. Like what kind of spirits troubled this family?

I did like the fact the family drama did bring out the characters really well.

Appart from that I thought it was beautifully shot, the location was gorgeous, and the acting was really good, with some really nice creepy moments. I enjoyed the overall storyline and had a lot of fun watching it.

Supernatural horror is my favourite kind of horror.