Right, well no beating around the bush that I was lured into watching the 2024 Malaysian movie "Roxana" given its cover. I stumbled upon the movie by random luck here in 2025, and with it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen, much less actually knew existed, of course I had to check out the movie, given my love and fascination of horror movies and Asian movies in general.
Now, I really wanted to like this movie, but I just couldn't. Writer and director Saiful Reza Shukor penned down a script that made zero meaning to me, and 40 minutes into the 98 minute runtime, I still didn't know what was going on, nor did I know anything about the characters. Each character could easily have been replaced by an inanimate cardboard cutout and the result would have been the same. And as for the storyline and narrative, well it just never latched unto me, and I virtually had no idea what I was supposed to be watching.
Given my rather limited exposure to the Malaysian cinema, then I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. Despite the fact that the script was an absolute dumpster fire, then the acting performances were fair. Nothing outstanding or memorable, mind you, but adequate enough for what they were.
This movie was a swing and a miss, and I have to admit that I gave up 40 minutes into the ordeal. I just simply had no interest in the movie whatsoever. And trust me when I say that this is not a movie that I will be returning to a second time to attempt finish watching. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend to fans of the Asian horror genre. The only horror here was how pointless the movie really was.
The best part about this movie was it's cover. Sadly so.
My rating of writer and director Saiful Reza Shukor's 2024 movie "Roxana" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.
