chrnappa

This movie does a good job of following up on May the Devil Take You, but it has enough that is new to engage viewers who have never seen the original. Some elements of the plot are not surprises, but they shouldn't be--some of what scares us scares us because it raises the possibility that bad things we've seen elsewhere might enter our own lives.

As in the first movie, the actors are one of the best reasons to watch. Chelsea Islan is again superb as the lead, Alfie, and Hadijah Shahab as Nara, Widika Sidmore as Gadis, and Baskara Mahendra as Budi all deserve to be singled out, although none of the performances struck me as weak.

Like the first movie, this should be better known in the United States!

This movie is a good example of horror that uses plot and good acting as the chief generators of fear, with fairly limited amounts of blood. The plot is simple, but effective, and the performances are compelling (even with a language barrier for many of us). The lead actress stands out as do each of her step-siblings. The simplicity of the movie makes it effective, where a lot of special effects would have made the ending disappointing. Definitely worth watching.

This movie takes what has become a cliche--the abandoned asylum--and makes good use of it. The mostly male characters are a group of people linked by a variety of common experiences. They work as an asbestos abatement crew for different reasons, but each suffers from personal demons (one is a once promising law school dropout; another has lost his girlfriend to one of his work associates etc.). The question is whether the sinister atmosphere of the asylum holds dangerous of its own or merely activates the bad side of one or more of these men. The "truth" of the narrative is never revealed, but the supernatural is strongly suggested, if not dwelt on in detail. Others have mentioned the Shining, but the first season of Castle Rock, drawn from that same Stephen King universe, is probably more relevant (in similarity--Session 9 is older than Castle Rock).

Not full of shocks and gore, but well acted and effectively filmed. This movie deserves to be better known.