Monty Tiwa is one of the minds behind SinemArt's Pocong movie series (where is this PH right now?). I love Pocong 2 so much for its story and ambiance, and Pocong 3 for its color tone and jumpscares. Even though Pocong The Origin doesn't share similar universe (probably, because this movie produced by different PH), is it safe to say that this movie will be decent as his "predecessor"?
Well, consider from the synopsis, this movie sounds original due to many elements that are not often seen in the Indonesian film. Prison and capital punishment, horror road movie concept, and Pocong ... because it's the ghost that not showed much in the recent Indonesian horror movie. The 90 minutes, after the prison scenes, leaves me bored and confused due to the tame jumpscares and weird characters. At least, Samuel Rizal steals the show.
Samuel Rizal, as one of the actors that aren't that popular in the big screen, capable of doing broken accent with an innocent face that keeps making comedic remarks or gesture that makes me empathize to him. Something that probably wrong because all of the writing was focusing the drama/serious part to his main partner, Sasthi (whoever played her). I don't know what's wrong with this character, but the writing is confusing to just showing her fragile and doubtful self. This character uses most of her scenes to changing her mood quickly; from moody to quirky to funny to cranky, and to be moody again.
The mood swing also follows the plot. While the plot has many strong points, in the beginning, the whole movie which only showing suitable pre-teen jumpscares, ends with a stale resolution and weak twist, a twist that can be predicted easily and can't justify the whole movie. It's a pity, because of most of Pocong series, even the weaker one like "The Real Pocong," has a sharp twist.
To conclude my review, I think the writer/director doesn't know which is the right way for this movie. And they think it's a good idea to keep all ideas even if you have to make the main character confusing. With the tame jumpscares, I thought this current direction is fit to the younger audience who wants to give a shot in horror. But, it's awful to do that with your characters are poorly written. Again, for the first time since I last saw him, Samuel Rizal deserves praise, and with excellent writing and directing, Indonesia could have a decent comedy horror.
