The Hole 309 Days To the Bloodiest Tragedy (2026) Rotterdam 2026

In the 1960's a cop and his new bride return home to investigate a series of murders of people every 30th of the month. Victimes are left with a large whole in their back and crime scralled across their forheads. The federal authorities aren't certain what is behind and partly fear there maybe a coup in the works. They want a solution and they want their officer to get his father, an important figure out out of the village.

This is an uneasy mix of supernatural horror and a thriller like SEVEN. It's a film full of jump scares and practical effects. It's a film of great moments a bit of confusion in the plotting.

I think the confusion for me is that the plot is tied into events that happened in Indonesia in the 60's. While I have a vague idea of the history of the country, I was not fully aware of the levels of authority, the police, the military and their battles, nor was I aware of the political situation  and fears of coups and rebellion. I think not fulling understanding took some of the edge off.

At the same time this film has some truly kick ass moments. The demon in the mirrorr is freaky and some of the jump scares got me. The truth of the matter is that while I may not love it, because I didn't fully connect, I trully think this is one of the better horror films I've seen in the last few years because it has a series of great set pieces, any one of which would make this work seeing, but there are several which makes this even more a must see for the horror fan.

You'll forgive for leaving my discussion there, but I don't want to spoil the good stuff here. I do have more to say, but it would reveal somethings, such as scares, that would diminish the fun.

If you like horror films- see this film.

PABRIK GULA (Sugar Mill) (2025)

A group of young men and women who work as seasonal workers, arrive at a sugar factory and quickly run into trouble when they discover that the factory isn't on this plane of existence.

This is an uneven horror film where the story is there, the cast sells the proceedings and the sound and music crew undercut all of the terror by working every minute of the film and clueing the audience something is going to happen before it does. Seriously the music cues hit five seconds before anything spooky happens. That the score and soundtrack wound the film is a real shame because the images of the demons and the damned souls are so good that their chilling quality would have  been enhanced by some silence. Too many times we are signaled that a demon is near by the muspic well before they pop out.

 

If you can get past the music, this is a pretty good horror film. Yes, it's a bit over long, but the demons and the set pieces really kick ass and make this a film you will want to see. The horror images are chilling and are worth the price of admission.

Worth a look.

Stranger Eyes (2024) NYFF 2024

 

I may bitch about how films get into festivals, but even so STRANGER EYES has me flummoxed. This is such a mess I can't believe it was programmed anywhere.

This multi-part story begins by telling the story of a couple whose child went missing. It then shifts into the story of a neighbor who is spying on them, before swerving in a couple of other WTF directions which make you realize the kidnapping was a come on. (as is the whole thing about cameras everywhere)

While a couple of people liked that the film swerved, I could never get past plot holes and errors that riddle the film. I broke with the film when we see  events that we saw transpire as recorded from the POV of the stalker. What wrecked it for me was the fact he would have had to have been visible to us in those earlier scenes.  

Going past that, a great deal isn't explained. One character is stabbed and seems to die...and then doesn't and the police don't do anything about it? The connections of characters isn't even hinted at until it is front and center. Boat loads of details just aren't there with the result that characters suddenly appear, events just happen and motivations are in the wind. While a couple of writers I talked to after the screening said everything doesn't have to be explained, and they are right but, honestly there are only so many holes you can have in an umbrella before you get wet. This umbrella has too many holes.

"Wait what?" something I said repeatedly.

My head hurt when the film was done

This film needs another edit and another hour of material for it to just begin to make sense.

Skip this.

Women from Rote Island (2024) NYAFF 2024

WARNING: This film contains scenes, both graphic and implied, of violence, sexual and other kinds, against women

I say that up front because I know several women who would have had to leave the theater had they watched the film unaware of what it's about.

This is a look at the treatment of women in Indonesia focused on the life of a recently widowed woman and her family.

One part art house film, one part domestic, several parts a long scream for people to understand what is happening and do something. WOMEN FROM ROTE ISLAND is a very difficult film to watch. It is a film that from the first frame to the last wants to make a statement and get women to stand up and make a stand.

As powerful as the sequences are I'm not certain the film works as more that agit prop.  The problem is that the film is so intent on making it's point that the film only fleetingly feels real and more often than not feel like something where the director is moving the pieces around. To me the hopeful ending felt more like manipulation than anything.

Is it a good film? I have no clue because it's screaming in pain much too loudly.

Respati (2024) NYAFF 2024

Young man, who recently lost his parents in a car accident finds that the dream and spirit worlds are crashing in around him. He will have to look to some friends to help him put a stop to the evil that is growing and trying to cross over.

This is a great looking horror film with images that are going to stick in your head. You will be haunted by some of the things you will see. It is also a film with a great story that  might hold you in the grip of suspense...

... or maybe not  because there is a lack of urgency in this film that kills any scares. Cut together as if it was just a drama there is no real effort to build tension. The pace of every sequence is a step or two too slow. People flee from the ghosts with less urgency then people jogging to the fridge during a commercial break. No one really seems scared.

Scary? Only if you are under five.

While I bitch about the pacing, the ghostly stuff looks really cool and f you like that sort of thing, as I do, it's worth a look.

DANCING VILLAGE: THE CURSE BEGINS (2024)

DANCING VILLAGE: THE CURSE BEGINS is a prequel to KKN DI DESA PENARI​. It is also the first film shot specifically in IMAX from South East Asia.

A young woman is instructed by a shaman that she needs to return a bracelet from where it came. Traveling with a cousin and some friends, she ends up in a mysterious village where strange things are happening. It soon becomes clear that she must join the ceremony to find the next guardian who will spend the rest of their life dancing.

Full disclosure, I did not see the previous film so I was viewing this with no knowledge of the earlier film. I say that because you need to know that if you choose to see the film you'll be perfectly okay. Additionally while I know the first film is supposed to be based in part on a "true" story (a Twitter thread), I don't know if this film is entirely fictional or has any basis in the original "true" story.

This is a gorgeous looking film that is more creepy than scary. While there are some scares, the film seems more interested in creating an oppressive mood and a feeling of unease that builds through the course of the film rather than scaring us every few minutes. There is nothing wrong with that if you know it going in. I suspect that is the result of the film  having the structure of similar films about trips to isolated villages where weird things happen. As I said that I realized that I need to add that you shouldn't let that keep you away from DANCING VILLAGE simply because where it goes on this trip is what is important. The payoff is worth the trip

If there is any flaw in the film it's the two hour run time. Taking a leisurely pace,  seemingly the better to allow for IMAX images, DANCING VILLAGE can seem a little slow at times. As good as the film is it seems like more than once the film gives itself over to moments for the large screen presentation just because of IMAX. That  said understand I did not see the film in IMAX and it is entirely possible the film play better in that supersized format. (Then again the first film runs just under three hours in it's extended form)

As it stands, DANCING VILLAGE: THE CURSE begins is a solid horror film that works on it's own terms. It's good enough that I've added the original film to my watch list on Prime.

Autobiography (2022) NDNF2023

Youngman gets a job as the driver of a retired general and ends up going down a dark path as the general’s run for mayor sends him into unexpected directions.

Slow moving meditation on Indonesian society and how it has been corrupted. It’s a dark political drama that makes you think about how the evil of some men corrupts everyone around them.

A slow meditative film AUTOBIOGRAPHY is strong an mood. It’s a film that gets under your skin and makes you feel uncomfortable. There but for the grace of god this could have been any of us.

Worth a look

THE LEGEND OF GATOTKACA (2023) hits Yi-Ha! 2/17 before hitting home video March 21

Yuda is a college student who doesn't believe in the old legends. When a masked assassin begins killing people he discovers that he has superhero like powers and must use them confront an ancient evil looking to take over the world.

That's a simple retelling of the plot, but it is enough to get you started with this insane film from Indonesia.

Wild and crazy superhero action film is exactly the sort of thing that Marvel would never do, namely leaning into the darkness (they kill kids) while going big with the crazy action sequences. Basically this a balls to wall crazy ass action film that is going to delight those with a love Asian style action.  Seriously no American studio would try to do something like this, or if they did they wouldn't succeed.

Or more simply put I had an absolute blast watching this film. It pretty much goes from the first frame to the last. Sure the film is probably a bit over long at 130 minutes, but it's not because the film isn't trying. There is a lot going on here  and it takes time to spell it all out. The film also manages to mix the serious with humor in a perfect balance that manages to keep things on an even keel.

If you are tired of the same old same old superhero nonsense from places like Marvel and DC , or just need to fill time until the next Hollywood release then THE LEGEND OF GATOTKACA will keep you happy.

Actually if you just want a good action film this is for you

Recommended with a big bowl of popcorn.

Preman (2022) NYAFF 2022

A deaf gangster soldier must fight his way out of a small village with his son when the gang murders a friend. 

This is an intense and one of a kind action film. One part action film, one part suspense drama and one part character study, this is film that puts us into the head of are hero. The film moves us in and out of the the psyche by showing us what he sees and more importantly what he doesn't hear. Time and again the soundtrack drops out. It forces us to focus. Honestly I want to go back and rewatch the film and figure out how the soundtrack drives the film.

Its also a film that makes us feel the violence. There is a visceral quality. Its dirty and ugly. Yes the blood doesn't always look real, but it feels real. It feels painful in ways we don't normally experience in the movies.

This is a killer film. It gloriously doesn't behave like most film I've seen. 

Expect this film to show up at festivals over the next few months.

Preman (2022) FANTASPOA 2022

A deaf gangster soldier must fight his way out of a small village with his son when the gang murders a friend. 

This is an intense and one of a kind action film. One part action film, one part suspense drama and one part character study, this is film that puts us into the head of are hero. The film moves us in and out of the the psyche by showing us what he sees and more importantly what he doesn't hear. Time and again the soundtrack drops out. It forces us to focus. Honestly I want to go back and rewatch the film and figure out how the soundtrack drives the film.

Its also a film that makes us feel the violence. There is a visceral quality. Its dirty and ugly. Yes the blood doesn't always look real, but it feels real. It feels painful in ways we don't normally experience in the movies.

This is a killer film. It gloriously doesn't behave like most film I've seen. 

Expect this film to show up at festivals over the next few months.

This film screened as part of Fantaspoa 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.fantaspoa.com.

VENGEANCE IS MINE, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH First Look 2022

Can a wannabe gangster who fights in the hope of curing his impotence find happiness with the woman who kicked his ass in a fight?

Thoughoughly enjoyable but very meandering genre bending film is going to frustrate those who need a film to be one thing and absolutely delight those who love their boundries pushed. Its a film that you have to bolt yourself infor and just let it take you where it goes.

One part comedy, one part action film, a couple parts of romance, throw in some magical realism a healthy dose of philosophy and some other things picked up along the way and you have a one of a kind film that is kind of like some other films but it ultimately it's own thing. If you don't like yur romances neat then this film is for you because these lovers can't catch a break.

I honestly don't know how to really talk about the film. Certainly it's not easy after a single viewing because watching the film it is constantly changing before your eyes. Not only are genres changing but also the plot is constantly going in unexpected places. Serious becomes comedic and vice versa. This is a film thatkept shifting in my hands as I held it, changing every couple of minutes. I was constantly watching it think "oh so thats what this is" only to have it become smething else.

The truth is you need to experience this for yourself. You need to see the whole thing start to finish so that you too can audibly react to what happens on screen. This is a film that  will make you laugh and sigh and even talk to the screen. 

The best thing I can say about the film is this is one of the films that would have blown the roof off the New York Asian Film Fest ten or so years ago.

Highly recommended when it plays March 19 at MOMI's First Look Fest.

May The Devil Take You Too (2020) NightStream

Timo Tjahjanto is back with a sequel to his 2018 chiller. I liked the original but loved the pieces. The same holds true here, though some of the sequences are truly kick ass.

The plot of the film has Alfie, the girl who lived in the previous installment being kidnapped by a bunch of orphans who were raised in an orphanage  where a dark presence lives. They want to fight the evil but need Alphie because they know she will be able to see the evil.

Built like a thrill ride with an ever increasing level of nastiness. The sequences are tense because we genuinely don't know what is going to happen next. Trust me, there are genuine scare here that how beyond simple loud jump scares. Many of the images of the demons are downright frightening.

And that is where  the problem lies, the cast should be wetting themselves and instead they don't appear to be full invested. Perhaps its the way Tjahjanto shot them or perhaps it's because they aren't that good at pretending to be scared, but every I got a good look at one of the cast members the tension drained.

Cast aside, the sequences here are killer. More so since the CGI f the first film seems to be largely gone (yea practical effects!). Truth be told few horror films of recent vintage can boast as many chilling sequences  as this film and as such it is recommended to anyone who likes their horror films scary and doesn't mind if they are bloody.

MAY THE DEVIL TAKE YOU TOO has just played NightStream and will be available on Shudder on the 26th of October.

Queen Of Black Magic (2020) NightStream

Three friends take their families back to the orphanage where they grew up to say goodbye to the man who raised them. However something from their past is waiting for them.....

Kimo Stamboel takes the name of a legendary horror film and reimagines it as a gross out spectacular. This film is bugs and blood and gore...

Sadly there isn't much beyond that. While the tale of a past wrong is workable and the cast is game the pacing of the film  is much too slow to generate many thrills. I always felt like I was waiting for something to happen and then when it did happen things slowed down so that we could watch the bugs and blood ooze out.

I was disappointed.

A miss.

Brief thoughts on ABRACADABRA (2020) Fantasia 2020

In a world of magic a magician makes a young boy disappear and then can't bring him back...

Hands down one of the most magical movies of the year. A stunning celebration of life, stories and the movies. This is a film that is a must see for anyone who loves the movies or story telling.

I don't want to say too much but I have to say that this is kind of like if Fellini made Tarsem Singh's THE FALL. Its a magical mix of reality and fiction that simply delights as it moves us deeply.(Some people have compared it to Wes Anderson as well, and I can happily throw that into the mix too- though truthfully ABRACADABRA is ultimately it's own wonderful dish)

And that dear friends is all I will say other than this is a must see.

Think of this as exactly the sort of wondrous films that made long time NYAFF attendees fall in love with the festival all those years ago.

Impetigore (2019) aka Perempuan Tanah Jahanam (Woman of the Cursed Land) Sundance 2020

IMPETIGORE begins with a creepy, and in some ways funny sequence as a Maya, a young woman who works a toll taker complaining to a friend about a creepy man in a creepy car who keeps going by her. As they talk he comes by again- then he notices that he stopped just down the road and is walking back carrying a huge machete. She runs. He chases, saying he has to stop the curse her family left his village with. It is an attention grabber of the right sort and makes you want to follow the film wherever it goes. No long after Maya and her friend go back to her home, the village the man spoke of, in order to sell her family home. The locals are not at all happy.

A moody dark horror film IMPETIGORE is one of the best looking horror films in years. Once things get going almost every shot chills. Director Joko Anwar and cinematographer Ical Tanjung have crafted a place of absolute dread. We may not know what is going on for a good part of the film but where ever it is happening I sure as hell don’t want to go there. To put it plainly almost every shot could be in the running for best image in a horror film. More importantly they have pretty much dropped the idea of jump scares, they simply use the situations and the glorious images to create an unending sense of dread and fear that never really goes away. (try sleeping after this one)

One of the really cool things about the film is that director Anwar has filled the film with little visual blips that set up the suspense. On a bus ride to the village there are a couple of times when there seem to be ghostly figures just standing in the distance. There are portents of evil off in the corners of shots. Anwar realizes that the right way to scare an audience is not to just be up front but to work subliminally or in ways that catch the corner of our eyes. Add it to some stunningly filmed horror sequences and you have a really good thriller that isn’t your run of the mill ghost fest.

One of the things that I like the film a great deal is that there is more than just a straight forward horror film going on. --- is meditating on the evils that we inherit from our leaders- think climate change or soul crushing debt. He also ponders what happens when that evil exists for so long that we take it on ourselves. It’s heady stuff that results in some unexpected turns.

After it’s record breaking run in Indonesia IMPETIGORE has just premiered at the Sundance film Festival. It is very recommended whether you see it in its remain screening there or on what will be it’s long run afterward.

Dreadout (2019) Fantasia 2019

Based on a popular Indonesian video game DREADOUT has a group of teens going to an abandoned block of apartments where a cult once tried to raise the dead. The idea is to raise their social media status by steaming their adventures. Of course things go horribly wrong and a portal to the next life opens up releasing demons and the evil girl in red.

Beginning with a gangbusters opening where a rite goes leaves a room of carnage and then speeding along at a breakneck pace DREADOUT is a film that just grabs you and drags you along never giving you any time to breath. I would be lying to say that we haven't been here before, but at the same time director Kimo Stamboel fills the film with sights and sounds that are guaranteed to put chills into you. Worse he is well aware that we've seen similar films and in a couple of places he uses that information against us.

Normally I would groan at a film such as this which on the face of it seems to be nothing special  however when the film turns out as well made and fun as this I really don't care. Give me black blood and needle teeth and I'm a happy man.

One of the great finds at Fantasia DREADOUT is highly recommended.

NateHood on GRIT(2018) DOC NYC 2018

The title of Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander’s new documentary Grit is a pun. One the one hand, it refers to literal grit, as the film centers on the aftermath of the Sidoarjo mud flow. Thanks to unsafe drilling practices, Indonesian oil and gas extraction company PT Lapindo Brantas accidentally triggered the eruption of the world’s biggest mud volcano in an impoverished area of East Java in May 2006, resulting in an environmental cataclysm which, even a decade later, spews up to 180,000 m³ of mud daily. Scientists estimate the mud flow will continue for another 25-30 years, all the while poisoning ecosystems and displacing nearby communities. The initial explosion swallowed 16 villages near the doomed drill site, leaving over 60,000 people homeless. It took a decade for the survivors to get full compensation for their lost property, as Lapindo tied up the legal process with claims that a) despite being a multi-billion dollar company they didn’t have the funds for compensation, and b) the eruption was caused by an earthquake some 180 miles away from Sidoarjo, so they weren’t actually culpable.

Here is where the second meaning of the title Grit comes in: the indomitable spirit of the survivors fighting against the corrupt Indonesian government and the smirking, sneering Lapindo executives. Though it focuses on a panoply of survivors—artists, activists, teachers, laborers—the main figure it keeps returning to is a fourteen year old girl named Dian whose father worked for Lapindo and died of cancer complications a year after the eruption. It charts her awakening as a political activist, organizing protests with her fellow school students, attending rallies, and finally going off to college for a degree to help her community.

Shot over six years, the film captures numerous set-backs and indignities thrust upon Dian and her fellow villagers—the most heartbreaking being a presidential candidate who runs a platform guaranteeing the Lapindo survivors full compensation only to immediately renege upon being elected. But Dian keeps moving forward, tirelessly, ceaselessly.

There have been several documentaries at this year’s DOC NYC festival grappling with environmental and economic injustice, but none have captured the earnest spirit of optimism better than Grit. It has no illusions that these problems will one day vanish; it will require lifetimes of work and sacrifice. But justice will come, even if it takes one step back for every two steps forward.

Rating: 7/10

GRIT (2018) DOC NYC 2108

When a natural gas company was drilling they unintentionally unleashed a volcano of boiling mud which rushed to the surface and spread out like a tsunami. Devouring 16 villages the mud continues to flow (it isn't expected to stop for at least another 12 years)  despite the best efforts of the private and public forces to stop it. The survivors were left to dangle in the wind as they took no responsibility and under cut all efforts to help the affected people. The film follows one activist as she fights to get the company to pay for hat they did.

Containing what is probably the most visually arresting opening of any film at this year's DOC NYC, GRIT is a truly stunning look at a man made disaster that is still going on in Indonesia. It is a David and Goliath story centered on a tragedy of unimaginable scale. I completely understand what happened and why but I still am shocked that all they can do to stem the tide is build dykes and redirect the mud.

This is a fillm that will get your brain going. Clearly it shows that activis can help if you stick to it, but it also makes clear the total inhumanity of corporations and the rich who simply don't care they screw over and hurt. As the film makes clear the company was at fault, despite the legal finding they were not and their insistence that the victims produce proof of financial damage when their homes are buried under several feet of mud is ludicrous.

This film will piss you off with the story it tells as it stuns you with the visual of the roiling mud.

One of the must sees at DOC NYC

Invisible Hands (2018) AAIFF 2018

God bless the Asian American International Film Festival for bringing some of the most vital documentaries to New York. The programmers this year have had the good luck to find and the good sense to program some truly important films. Among them is INVISIBLE HANDS about child labor abuses across the globe.

Spanning the globe INVISIBLE HANDS shows us the cost of employing children as workers. Many are essentially slaves having been trafficked into becoming abused and poorly paid worker. Others have been sent by their parents who need the money they can earn. No matter how they end up in the work place the kid’s lives are altered almost always for the worse, thanks to the abuse hurled at them and the dangerous conditions they work in.

What most people don’t realize is just how many products either do or potentially do employ child workers in their manufacture. One of the examples they use is the listing of items with palm oil. It’s used in everything. So many products are named that you’ll be shocked that something you use could be the result of child labor. We see the products.

One of the strengths of the film is that it doesn’t shy away from naming names. Dow Chemicals is mentioned as a source of danger since often the insecticides and herbicides it manufactures but can’t sell in developed countries which  are used in places with no regulation thus posing a poisoning danger to the kids who use them. Apple’s checkered history is mentioned, as it their change in corporate policy which now requires those companies caught using child labor to pay their salary until they are old enough to legally work. And Nike is singled out as being one of the good companies, taking steps to assure no children are used and safe work places.

While there are times the film can seem by the book in its telling, the sheer weight of the facts overwhelms any concerns and leaves one rocked at the end.

A vital and important film and a must see at AAIFF.

INVISIBLE HANDS plays July 27th. For more information and tickets go here.

Satan's Slaves Fantasia 2018

It could be the Indonesian Hereditary—and it’s a remake, so there really isn’t much new under the sun. That doesn’t mean it isn’t scary as Hell though. After three years of bedridden decline, Rini Suwono’s mother is finally gone. Or is she? She was always difficult, but she takes it to all new heights (or lows) when she starts haunting her family. It seems to be all part of her satanic death cult’s plan in Joko Anwar’s Satan’s Slaves  which screens during this year’s Fantasia.

Mawarni Suwono was once a popular local folk singer, whose eerie ballads had a vibe not unlike the string-heavy Judy Collins’ rendition of “Both Sides Now” that happens to play over Hereditary’s closing credits. Of course, her old records label just throws crumbs to her family, so they are in rather desperate financial straits. In fact, the nameless father will leave looking for work shortly after the funeral.

As a result, Rini will have to face the initial rounds of terror and tragedy on her own, including the death of her paternal grandmother. That just leaves her and her younger brothers: the surprisingly helpful sixteen-year-old Tony, the bratty ten-year-old Bondi, and the mute nearly seven-year-old Ian, who will become the primary focus of most of the supernatural and sinister attention. Rather tellingly, none of the siblings look alike, presumably because they were each the product of unions with different cult members.

So yes, things are bad, but they will get steadily worse. Hereditary really is a fitting comparison film for Satan’s Slaves, which incorporates elements of James Wan haunted house movies, demonic horror, and killer cults. The milieu of isolated rural poverty and Islamic traditionalism heightens the atmosphere of hopeless dread (it might be politically incorrect to say it, but the truth is Catholics and Buddhists have the best exorcists). The early 1980s period details are all spot-on and the music, most particularly Suwono’s old records, burrows under your skin like a tick.

Tara Basro solidly anchors the film as Rini, but some of the best work comes from her younger co-stars, especially Nasar Annuz and M. Adhiyat, who are completely believable as Bondi and Ian, even when placed in some wildly freaky circumstances. As a bonus, Egy Fedly cranks up the attitude and eccentricity as Budiman, who was once a close friend of Rini’s grandmother, before becoming a paranoid Fortean researcher.

Frankly, Anwar is probably the most under-appreciated genre master working in cinema today. He has a masterful command of mood, pacing, and fear that builds over time. Despite, or maybe because of its thematic similarities with Hereditary, Satan’s Slaves could very well be the film that will take him to higher levels of international awareness and distribution. Very highly recommended.