Primbon

Horror Indonesian movies in these past years have become significantly better with its new releases. Although the quality of each movie varies from the generic jumpscare-filled movies to actual neatly-executed movies, the general improvement of the quality is quite impressive. But this movie, is something else.

Initially, the storyline had some sort of structure. But over time, the movie just progressed to the worse. All of the characters have no prominent personality which failed the audience, not even the main characters have that. They also have nearly no character development, so for the most part, the dialogues felt a bit forced. Even those who can actually act were not saved in this movie.

The story itself which was initially promising was all over the place. By the lack of the character developments and the lack of characters' chemistry towards each other, it just made the storyline didn't go as smooth as other movies. The detaiIs of the movie were also not given out nicely. It really did start off promising, but the execution was done poorly.

At least, the background of the movie was quite spot-on especially for those who were brought up from Javanese culture. But other than that, there was really nothing good about this movie.

To be honest, I don't remember the last time I watched a movie this bad. I don't even remember the last time I rated a movie 1/10 stars. But it really is that bad. Please don't waste your time watching this.

After going missing in the woods, a young woman returns to her home a week later where everyone tries to make sense of what happened and try to get on like normal, but when more superstitious members of the family question the situation her mother is forced to confront her daughter's darkest past.

For the most part, this one is pretty solid for what it is. Among the films' better features is the involved and complex storyline that provides a wholly intriguing attempt at localizing local folklore into a more traditional genre effort. The majority of the work here revolves around the titular book and interpreting the work inside, drawing connections to a person's fate based on the sayings found within the book. Since it requires specific instructions to carry out properly and the family is trying to go against these rituals, it becomes no surprise that the sisters are so convinced something is wrong with her once she returns. This type of familial conflict where they're so sure that she's not who left them earlier which is seen as superstitious nonsense to be written off by others even if the signs might be proven right creates a wholly intriguing setup. In addition to this setup, the film is rather fun when dealing with the supernatural hauntings based on this setup. Since the aunts are so convinced that something's wrong, the series of hauntings and encounters here initially are focused on them as they're the ones who know the truth as the first scenarios are focused on them seeing or believing that something off is happening involving worms crawling over objects, maggots erupting from the skin, or other unnatural activity where she tends to appear out of nowhere scaring someone with a knowing smirk. As the superstitions in the village spread and more start to believe the stories about her true state, the build-up to the specific ritual that takes up the finale has some merit and comes off quite nicely as a result where the series of interactions with the family who are trying to put everything right according to their beliefs even if they don't go with her conviction that the daughter is fine this whole time. Once the ceremony starts, the big twist about what's going on makes for a great reveal and makes for a touching statement on the nature of what the ghost is returning for. This adds a somewhat touching core to what it's doing and all makes or a solid enough feature. There are a few factors here holding it back. The main issue is the use of a rather banal mother-daughter relationship that tries to be the emotional core of the film but feels incredibly flat. Even though there are numerous instances of the fiery nature she has trying to protect her daughter from others and get their relationship back to normal, it feels way too forced as to why she's so reluctant to do anything to ensure nothing's wrong with the daughter. Regardless of the nature of their protests, the aunts do have valid points about something not being right since the return and to outright ignore it all simply because she's got her daughter back makes the protests feel hollow as if it all could've been avoided had something been done from the start. Also, the whole point of the book is so important to determine what's going on with her that it's all but ignored throughout here in favor of just being expected to know what it is. Rather than take a look through one to compare what's going on, the assumption of what is going on and how it all connects is glossed over which is somewhat unfortunate as it's such a big part of the film. As a whole, these are the main issues with the film.

Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence and Language.

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.

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.

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.