From the beginning this movie grabs you with suspense and intrigue. It never lost me for one moment. The atmosphere and doom of the village as the setting in this movie has my attention. Once the story comes along I only get more invested. It does a great job of making you feel scared but also wanting to see what happens next. This isn't really a slow burn. It reminded me a lot of Lucio Fulci's The Beyond where every 5-10 minutes there is something unexpected that happens, instead of a slow burn leading to the ending. Since most people know that that The Beyond my favorite film ever made that is putting this in good company. At a certain point in the movie becomes just as much of a ghost story as folk but it never loses any bit of my investment on it. I loved this movie. I loved every minute of it. Not only is some of the suspense great in this but it will satisfy gore hounds and the folklore in this is incredibly horrific. This is one of the meanest curses in any of these movies which makes you invest in wanting it end and why it happened even more. This is right up there with movies like Audition and The House with the Laughing Windows as far as movies that scared me, kept me intrigued and had the most satisfying reveals to a mystery.
Best friends Maya (Tara Basro) and Dini (Marissa Anita) work in toll booths in different parts of Jakarta, Indonesia. Maya and Dini talk for a few minutes which sets up a natural friendship. Maya mentions there has been one man there to see her a few times that day and because of his look is concerned. She then sees that same car coming. The man gets out of his car and knocks on the window. She opens it and he asks her if she is Rahayu from a village called Harjosari. She declines and he seems to leave. They had showed him park his car far away and walk up to the window. That was suspenseful enough. Now we see him getting a machete like weapon out of his car and start walking toward the booth again, upping the tension. This movie does this throughout with fake outs but also different outcomes than you would expect. It never seems predictable. Dini is on the phone while all this is happening providing us with a cipher. Maya leaves the booth and runs away but falls at one point. As he is about to stab her he says "We don't want what your family left behind, make it go away," before the cops that were called shoot and kill him.
Soon after this Maya finds a picture of her with her parents in her Aunt's possessions. On the back of the picture it says "Rahayu," and, "Harjosari." She decides to go the village to secure the house in the background of the picture and see if it could get her any money. They travel by train to the village. This starts something I love which is the natural lighting of this film. This film has lighting by car lights, lanterns, and fire. I love the lantern lights specifically because lantern lights are dim. You can see but it doesn't illuminate anything the way a big florescent light would. I enjoy how all of it looks. It contrasts with the way the scenes of the forest look in the daytime. Some of the greens in the daytime are beautiful. While on this bus ride Maya at one point sees three children near the woods off the road. She then sees them again in the exact same way a minute or so later. Again relieving the tension and then upping it even more.
They get to the village via a horse ride and no one wants to tell them anything about the house. Villagers look at them suspiciously. They pose as University students doing a thesis on wayang. After they go through the house Maya finds pictures of her parents but none of them with her. That scene is great because you see a long shot of someone approaching her from two rooms away. It turns out to be Dini who had put on some garment over her other clothes making her look different. The soundscape music adds to these moments throughout the film. That night a child is born skinless and the child is forcibly drowned. Maya and Dini wander through the graveyard to see many graves for such a local village and find her parents graves. This movie had all ready setup something supernatural as Maya had asked a man on the bus to read a note left for her that was in Javanese. The man says it is something about a spell and the carrier not being haunted. The next day Maya goes out to get food. Two men come to the house to tell Dini to leave, no one goes in the house because it doesn't belong to them. Their faces change when she says she is Rahayu. They say that Saptadi (Ario Bayu) the local puppeteer has the papers that prove the house is hers. She leaves with them...
Spoiler Section
There is some great suspense as it is obvious the men lied to Dini and they go into the woods as they say that is where Saptadi is. As she tries to run away after they prevent her from leaving she trips on a branch and they knock her out. There is some great upside down camera angles here as she is hanging upside down. Saptadi, the two men and Saptadi's mother Misni (Christine Hakim) kill her and flay her body. Maya starts to wonder where she is and goes to see Saptadi who feigns not knowing. That night at a wayang show a pregnant couple believes their baby will be safe. Their is some great percussion music during that sequence. That night a small child wakes up Maya and says to go see the birth. The birth happens but the child is again skinless. A woman sneaks up on Maya but when they see the woman outside she doesn't say anything. A good moment where this movie does the unexpected numerous times.
The woman says she is named Ratih (Asmara Abigail). She leads Maya back to her place and she tells her about Donowongso (Zidni Hakim), Maya's father making a pact with the devil and killing three girls to heal his daughter Rahayu as she was born skinless. From that point forward all children in the village were born skinless. Misni and Saptadi gather a mob as they confirm they killed the wrong girl. Two come to Ratih's house. After getting them to away Ratih and Maya leave through the woods and wait for a cop they called there. While in the woods Maya admits she got Ratih's husband killed as she saw a picture of him in her house. He was the man from the beginning of the movie. I like how that comes back around.
The mob comes and kills the cop. Maya runs away. While hiding in the forest the three ghosts of the girls gather around her and one forces her to remember her past. They show her that her dad married a woman every man in the village wanted named Shinta (Faradina Mufti). Unfortunately Shinta couldn't have kids so she had an affair with Saptadi. This angers Minsi who curses the child and makes Saptadi forget. After Rahayu is born they hide her because she is skinless. It is around this time that her father started killing girls to heal her. Minsi and her father were both shamans practicing black magic. It shows how that power can corrupt. Her father turned the girl's skin into puppets and the only way to stop the curse is to bury the bones with the puppets. Ratih and Maya do so. Shortly after Maya is abducted by the mob. She is hung upside down just like Dini was earlier. Saptadi and others prepare to flay her as they believe making her skin into puppets is the only way to stop the curse. It is at this point Minsi admits that Maya's grandfather had an affair with her, making Saptadi and Donowongso half brothers. This might be why she wanted revenge after Saptadi's affair. Maya pleads with Saptadi telling him she is his daughter and his mother made him forget about the affair. Feeling ashamed Saptadi kills himself after a baby is born with skin from the other expecting couple. Minsi follows and kills herself as well. Maya runs away and hitches a ride in the back of a truck. One year later an expecting woman has her baby taken from her womb and eaten and we see Minsi in the mirror eating it. A new curse.
If this movie had not had a reveal the middle and then kept following it up I don't think I would've been as interested. While this movie takes its time it always feels like it keeps giving you appetizers before a big meal at the end with the climax. I do think the very end is a bit of a sequel grab and not necessarily a good way to end it. That being said they could make a sequel which would be awesome. The lighting and atmosphere throughout are perfect. I loved the story. What blood we get with skinless bodies and slit throats is great. It never shies away from it is just scarcely used. The idea of cursing the babies is cruel and something deserving of a horror film. The themes focus on interesting themes. Maya and Dini don't deserve this. If they just left the possible inheritance alone they would be fine. I do like that this movie doesn't go full doomed scenario like The Wicker Man but it still feels the main character won't get out of that situation.
It does show that evil is always around though, especially with that ending. What her father does compared to Minsi is still evil. Lives are not supposed to be traded but all humans will try to save their family over many lives of others. Both of them do it in evil ways though rather than possibly appreciating what they do have. Donowongso doesn't love his daughter seemingly until she is healed. Minsi puts her own personal motives ahead of being honest to her son. That doesn't excuse what the grandfather did which is basically exploitation of his workers. Evil comes in many forms but it only stops when someone like Ratih wants to help. She chooses love and the life of one over hate and rejection in more than one way. She is shown taking care of the only skinless child who the village let live. It is these people that make a difference over the mobs of many. There were also things in this movie that reminded me of other horror movies in good ways. The lingering shots of the bathtub toward the beginning reminded me of The Beyond which has a big scene involving a bathtub. The ending and even the beginning with a character traveling somewhere they are unfamiliar with for a house reminded me of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Rating: 10/10
Trivia: The title of the film is a combo of the word "impetigo" which is a skin infection more commonly seen in children and "gore." Checks out.
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