Hutan Puaka [Movie Review]

Hutan Puaka is not on my list of movies to watch. In fact, I didn't know of the movie until I was checking out the list of the movies in the cinema

As I have some time to kill before the next appointment and I kinda intrigued by its trailer, I decided to give it a go.
SYNOPSIS Hutan Puaka Trivia

• Directed by: Jose Poernomo

• Produced by: Neal H. Moritz, Ori Marmur

• Production companies: MD Pictures, Pichouse Films

• Distributed by: MD Pictures, Antenna Entertainments

• Running time: 1 hr 23 minutes

• Classification: P13

• IMDb: 5.3/ 10

As per the other millennials, Raya, Vega, Jesi, Rendy dan Dito are a group of adrenaline-junkie video producers that are willing to go the furthest extent to get viewers for their online videos. When their latest video did not garner many views, Raya suggested for them to visit an allegedly the scariest burial ground in the forest, known to the locals as Alas Pati or Hutan Kematian (the forest of death). 

You need a little more colour to your face, man

Agreed to the experience, the group rides the boat along a river and hikes up hills to trace the burial ground. Rendy, the videographer of the group, sees a dark entity/ shadow follow the group along the trail but think nothing about it. Dito hears screams and cries via the microphone and headphone that he uses to capture the audio as they move deeper into the forest. 
When they finally reached the burial ground, they found out that the bodies are not buried in the earth, only left bare on elevated bamboo platforms. Intrigued by the scene, everyone takes pictures with the dead bodies and make funny remarks about the deads, except for Jesi who obviously think that they should pay some respect for the dead and not mock them. Raya becomes interested with a necklace on one of the dead body and decides to take it and keep it as a momento. 

No, this is not my idea of swimming. 

I hope this lighter will last the whole night - I forgotten to pay the bills

Seeing that Jesi is not into the programme, the rest urges Jesi to climb on one of the platforms and say a few words into the camera, for their video production. Unfortunately, the platform collapses and brings Jesi along leading to one of the wood pillars impales Jesi's body.

Frantic and clueless, the group runs out of Alas Pati, leaving Jesi's body impaled by the pillar. Nobody dares to talk about the death of Jesi. The group even lie when asking about Jesi's whereabouts by the school administration and the parents. Meanwhile, the foursome are being haunted by a dark entity and the shadow of Jesi. It was not until when Vega commits suicide that they start to talk to each other about the hauntings that have been happening to them. 
What is the cause of the hauntings - the unsettled ghost of Jesi or because they were not being respectful in the Alas Pati?
MY REVIEW Plot: 3.6/ 5.0 Hurm. I am a bit conflicted about the movie. I love the cinematography of the movie. The plot is not bad and not great too. The storyline is quite straight forward with some twists in it that were left unexplained until the end of the movie. Scary? To my liking, it was not scary - the ghost was just shadow or appeared as a blurry vision. 
Cast: 3.8/ 5.0 The cast was quite commendable for the performance - not good and not bad at all. Just ok. 
Will I watch it again: No, thanks.  The pictures are taken from Facebook Page and other sources on the Internet. Thank you.

Rawlins GLAM
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