The Redemption of Sin

Redemption of Sin tracks Wening, a mother haunted by guilt after losing her mother and her daughter in a tragic accident in a rural Indonesian setting. She embarks on a quest filled with spiritual rituals and dark mysteries. The premise holds significant emotional and cultural weight.

I rate it 6/10 because while the film excels in certain areas-strong central performance, intriguing theme, unique local flavour-it falls short in execution and narrative coherence.

What works:

Strong emotional core: A mother's guilt, the missing child, rural mysticism-these offer more than typical horror-trope material. Some reviews note impressive scenery and haunting ambiance.

Commendable performances: The lead actors carry their roles with gravity and contribute to the film's dramatic impact.

Cultural and visual distinctiveness: The rural Indonesian setting, ritual scenes, and Japanese-Indonesian collaboration make the film stand out among domestic horror.

Where it falls short:

Inconsistent pacing: The film sometimes drags, or conversely rushes key moments, which dilutes tension.

Horror elements under-delivered: Despite an eerie setup, some scare moments feel tacked on rather than integrated, weakening impact.

Narrative clarity issues: Several plot threads aren't fully resolved or explained, which may unsettle viewers who prefer more structured storytelling.

In summary, Redemption of Sin is a commendable effort in the Indonesian horror genre-it's emotionally rich and culturally distinct-but it doesn't completely fulfill its promise. Thus, 6/10 reflects both its aspiration and its limitations.

Tebusan Dosa is a horror film full of mystery. By raising several themes such as redemption, guilt, loss, and a mother's struggle. This film has a promising premise, unfortunately there are things that are less solid in execution. This film opens very uninterestingly and is very cliche, in the middle the feeling of horror and mystery begins to be felt, and at the end of the film it feels okay. The horror portion of this film is inferior to the mystery element, but some of the jump scares are quite unexpected. When it comes to the characterization, for some reason there seems to be something that doesn't make us feel-in with Wening. This film also feels really slow and the duration is too long, not everyone will be able to stand this kind of pacing. The cinematography is mediocre, with a dark tone, that even bright scenes feel dark. Some of the editing is a bit less smooth. The scoring is enough to create an eerie and mysterious atmosphere. Happy Salma's acting here is extraordinary, Putri Marino here deserves appreciation. Overall, this film is cliche but still okay.

Now, I was under the impression that the 2024 Indonesian movie "Tebusan Dosa", aka "The Redemption of Sin", was a horror movie. And given my love of all things horror and Asian cinema, then of course it was a given that I would find the time to check out what writer and director Yosep Anggi Noen had to offer.

I had, in fact, never even heard about this movie prior to getting the chance to watch it here in 2025. Not that it mattered, as it being an Asian movie, was in itself more than sufficient to make me check it out.

Well, "Tebusan Dosa" is actually more of a mystery thriller laced with a few horror elements, than it as actually a horror movie. So I was a bit disappointed with what the movie turned out to be.

While the storyline was well enough written, I have to say that the narrative suffered from the slow pacing. There simply was too long in between the interesting aspects of the movie, and the filler in between was just way too prolonged and dragged out.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but the acting performances were good. I was especially impressed with leading actress Happy Salma, because she carried the movie quite well.

Visually then there were a few good effects in the movie, but it was not as if the movie was using an abundance of special effects.

"Tebusan Dosa" certainly had potential to be a lot more than what it turned out to be. And I have to say that the pacing of the narrative was holding back the movie quite a bit.

Watchable, but hardly a movie that will grace my screen a second time. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend to fans of the Asian horror cinema.

My rating of writer and director Yosep Anggi Noen's 2024 movie "Tebusan Dosa" lands on a five out of ten stars.