Welcome to Dark Corners lockdown.
Since cinemas are out of bounds for the foreseeable, we’re using this new series to look at some of the movies
you can stream in the comfort of your own quarantine,
so unlike our bad movie reviews we’re going to try to keep these spoiler free.
We’re picking them pretty randomly, so you get what you get, starting with Kuntilanak.
Available on Netflix this is an Indonesian horror directed by Rizal Mantovani in 2018,
and I think this is the remake of his own 2006 film of the same name –
also known as The Chanting – which spawned two sequels.
Now, this is very much an outsider’s perspective,
I don’t know a much about Indonesian cinema except what we’ve done for regular Dark Corners.
#Evil screechy laugh#
Which was actually more relevant than I expected.
#Evil screechy laugh#
Following a pretty creepy opening revolving around a demonic mirror,
we meet our protagonists; a group of orphans all adopted by the kindly Aunt Donna.
She has to go on a trip and leaves them in her magnificently spooky house
looked after by her niece Lydia, whose boyfriend has just acquired a new mirror as a surprise for Aunt Donna.
So this is essentially the Amityville Mirror and once it shows up the children start having terrifying nocturnal experiences,
#indoneasion singing#
which they quickly identify as the work of a Kuntilanak.
This is straight out of indonesisan mythology,
the spirit of a woman who died while pregnant and now feeds on the living
and there are a lot of Indonesian and Malaysian films involving them.
This particular one feels very American in its style,
there’s a lot of quiet, quiet, quiet, bang,
#DRAMATIC BANG#
Some very familiar motifs,
and this is one of those ghosts that seems to live in the background of shots,
#DRAMATIC BE SCARED MUSIC#
Accompanied by be scared music.
Which can be very effective,
but does become less so as the film goes on because you know it’s going to be behind them.
#DRAMATIC BE SCARED MUSIC#
The use of kids as the leads is interesting, and there are some really good performances,
particularly Sandrinna Skornicki as Dinda,
but in between them taking it turns to be terrified there’s some childish comedy
and almost Parent Trap territory as they try to keep Lydia and her boyfriend apart.
Then, despite being legitimately petrified they try to find the Kuntilanak,
which just didn’t ring true for me and undermined how scared they were.
The result is that tonally, this is pitched somewhere between Insidious and Jumanji
and that is a narrow seam to mine.
The other problem is that, once the situation is established, it doesn’t evolve,
the stakes don’t alter, it’s just a series of creepy episodes which are creepy,
but don’t really change anything.
So, wouldn’t say it was bad, I did enjoy bits of it, but it falls between two stools,
it’s too kiddie for adults and way too scary for kids.
On the plus side, for horror fans there’s some knowing and not so subtle references to other films;
Ringu, the Exorcist and most noticeably Poltergeist.
Overall, worth a look, but you’re not missing anything if you don’t bother.