“Kuntilanak” aka “The Chanting”- Indonesian Horror (2006)
Whew…….well I’ve fallen a wee bit behind in my attempts to do a review a day, but worry not…here we go again. This time it’s a truly nifty lil’ chiller from Indonesia, one of a number of excellent discs I’ve managed to score from overseas in the last week or so…and “Oh boy!!”
“Kuntilanak” was a big surprise….a truly wonderful film that I liked a whole lot. I had expected a simple genre exercise in more “Long Haired Ghosts”…..with only a modest plot and effects, but this one was a big, big scary surprise….and something truly different and uniquely Indonesian.
Firstly…the disc itself was completely subtitled into english….film, trailer, and even the half hour long “Making Of” feature. That’s something I don’t often get even from Korean or Japanese discs…..big thumbs up from this lil’ kitten!
The film itself was letterboxed, and the subs were actually understandably written, not the usual weird translations I’m used to seeing. A great thing considering this was a $9.95 US disc…….I don’t get THAT lucky with $27-$45 US discs from Korea or Japan….or anywhere for that matter.
So…..what’s this one about? Why has your favorite Catgirl Princess gone all nutty for a practically unknown Indonesian horror film? (At least in North America, anyway……and I’m guessing it’s a well kept secret most anywhere outside of Indonesia itself…)
To find out, you’ll just have to read on……silly people!
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So….lets get to it……This one is about a girl named Samantha, (played by Indonesian actress Julie Estelle), who has moved from her home to a creepy rooming house alongside a weird cemetery in Jakarta. Seems her mom died recently leaving her all alone at home with dad, who was fond of his pretty young daughter in that ever so repugnant fashion that is best left to the imagination……brrrrrr!
She’s got a boyfriend of course named Agung (played by Evan Saunders), but things are a bit frosty on that front….seems she resents him for not being there for her when things got tough at home. So where’s a young college girl to go when she’s short on cash and in need of some new digs? Why the cheap, rundown boarding house that used to be dormitory for a Batik factory once owned by a clan know to be Satanists who’s connections with evil allowed them to profit until the mysterious fire that destroyed the factory and killed them all…….and then there’s the cemetery. Creepy….deserted…. and complete with it’s own haunted tree……wherein lives the mysterios creature known to Indonesian folklore as the Kuntilanak.
Naturally, the destruction of the Cult of Satanists wasn’t complete….thier last Matriarch still lives. And she still knows the ancient mystic Chant which can call up the Albino monster of the Tree to do her bidding…..But….
Apparently the Chant is a fickle thing. It seems to pick and choose those who are truly worthy to use it. No matter if they want to or not…… and unfortunately it chooses Samantha as the new heir to it’s curse. Bummer…….
You see, the demon lives in some mystical spirit world completely unable to interact with the Mortal plane……unless there is a doorway for it to use….like four antique mirrors once owned by the secret Cult. Naturally, it starts getting all evil with those at the apartment who rub poor Samantha the wrong way…..first they tick her off….then the Chant takes control…next our heroine starts puking up worms and all hell breaks loose for the bastard who set her off.
Even the deaths are just plain different. No dismemberment…no eating people…the Kuntilanak likes to sneak up on you and twist your head around backwards. No kidding…..just like all those Nazi guards in the old war movies. The thing likes to laugh too….But the cool thing is, if it sounds like it’s right behind you you’re actually safe. For some goofy metaphysical reason, the further away it sounds, the closer it actually is. If you can’t even hear it at all, then watch out!
Naturally Samantha never means to actually hurt anyone…but the Chant doesn’t care about such things…..It wipes out the mean hooker that lives down the hall who plays loud music all night. The big dork that pretends to be a medium to put his slimy moves on girls. Even the really cool girlfriend she makes at the house who looks at her boyfriend a lil’ toooo longingly. This is one busy nasty ol’ Tree Demon……
Agung even falls on Samantha’s bad side over the whole matter of her not feeling she can truly trust and rely on him, so the monster puts the snatch on him too….dragging him away to the closed off 2nd floor of the Boarding house where nobody is supposed to go……it’s one of the rules of the house…..yeah, right.
The landlady works for the Matriarch of course. So it’s only a matter
of time before the big climax to see who’s the biggest baddest Chant
using-est girl in Jakarta. There’s gonna be only one lady standing at the end of that duel……..and we all know who’s a’ gonna win…..
This one is a simple story….but sometimes that’s a good thing. Especially when the folklore is just sooooo different that you sorta wish you had a program to know what the heck is going on. I was able to follow this one easily….and the acting and cinematography….the gloomy sets….and the really odd monsters were a breath of fresh air. I truly enjoyed ever minute of this one. The effects are good, with a few computer assisted ones thrown in as well, just to let you know the Indonesians are up to speed.
As films from Indonesia go…I’d say this one is an A+ effort. Neko-chan gives this one a well deserved 5 “Meows” out of 5. If you can find a copy, definitely grab it…..it’s a corker!!
(Psssst! And I hear there’s a sequel that just came out. this year….gotta start “Googling” for THAT one!….Hehehehe!)
And of course to get you all as excited about Evil Tree Demons as me, here’s the Trailer….
Hey, nice review! Just wondering where you bought the DVD from? I normally get the more obscure Asian horror DVDs through eBay sellers but haven’t managed to find this one yet.
This one is probably one of my favorite Indonesian films and should be available from an Indonesian DVD seller directly, but if you are in the US itself, then your best bet might be esindo.com out of New York City.
Prices are good, shipping reasonable for the US… (not certain how foreign shipping stack up for them) and they get quite a few Indonesian horror films in stock. They appear to have all 3 of the Kuntilanak series on hand too…. wish I’d found them before getting mine from waaayyy over in Malaysia.
Great, thanks! I’m actually in the UK but I’ll try that site you recommended. I’m not all that familiar with Indonesian films but I just had to write an article on ‘Air Terjun Pengantin’ (I write for the UK magazine GoreZone) which is directed by the same guy as Kuntilanak. Look forward to checking a few Indonesian films out!
Glad I could be of help! If shipping from esindo looks too severe, you could try Sensasian.com out of Malaysia. Their shipping isn’t terrible and I believe they stock the Malay versions of all three films too. (Although the Indonesian editions are better by far…. better subtitling and more special features.)
“Air Terjun Pengantin” is on my “to watch” list too…. I’m just waiting for the DVD to pop up somewhere convenient for me.
If you want some other Indonesian stuff worth a look, I can most definitely recommend Joko Anwar’s two films, “Kala” and “Pintu Terlarang”…. very, very good.
Thanks again! If you’re interested I can send you a scan of my article once it’s published
Another thing.. are the English subs on most of these DVDs you’ve reviewed good? I recently bought a copy of the Thai film Rahtree Reborn and the subs were awful.. not just bad but completely incoherent! I ended up watching the film on asian-horror-movies.c*m and the subs were a million times better. Pretty confused as to why there are decent subs for the film out there but not on the DVD!!! So I’m wary of wasting any more money on DVDs of obscure Asian films..
It’s nice to see you again!
I’d love to see your article… everything I can learn about a film before taking the plunge to actually track it down is so helpful. Even for the baaaad ones…. (I can just never resist watching them anyways….Hehehehe!!)
Hmmmm? Hate to say it, but if you’ve got a copy of “Rahtree Reborn” with English subtitles it’s probably a bootleg. I’ve kept pretty close watch for a legitimate release to pop up either in Singapore, Malaysia, or HK with no luck so far. More than likely the subs were “auto-translated” from Thai to English using an online translation site like Bablefish. Most time the bootleggers don’t even take the effort to run such subs past an English speaker to see if they even make sense.
As for the quality of subtitles on legitimate discs… Well that’s a mixed bag really. Japan and Korea consistently have the best and most accurate ones on their releases. HK has come a long way since the 80′s and 90′s…. having excellent ones now for the most part. Thailand used to do a pretty good job…. but recently stopped subtitling anything for the most part. Indonesian subs are varied in quality…. some perfect, some slightly off for usage or grammar and some are timed somewhat badly (Say, not allowing sufficient time for them to be read….) Malay subs…. well, they are generally terrible, with some exceptions… but are usually usable enough for most peoples needs.
Often times, Fansubs are definitely better. The ones available for the Thai film “Chocolate” come to mind… The official English subs on the Magnet Region 1 release are perfectly accurate… but the Fansubs that were available online actually captured the feel of the dialog and it’s intent much better in my mind.
Well, I’m not sure you’re learn anything from my article since I haven’t seen the film myself! But I will certainly send you a copy of it
Do you ever use that Asian horror films website I mentioned? You can watch films in about 2 or 3 parts and the quality is pretty decent. I prefer to collect DVDs but if the subtitles make no sense then the site comes in handy! You can watch Rahtree Reborn there..
Speaking of Rahtree, my next article in on the fourth film in the series, and I just so happen to work occasionally with the Thai distributor of the film and managed to get a subtitled screener from them. I’ve gotta say.. having watch Rahtree 3.2, I may be done with the series now! It’s pretty much identical to the third one. And whereas I found the comedy in the first one worked quite well, the slapstick stuff in 3 and 4 kind of ruin it for me.
Incidentally, do you know if there is an English subtitled DVD of part 2 out there?
I have to admit… I don’t know anything about fan subs.. how do they work?
Whew…. sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you…. it’s been a whirlwind of a week for me and I’m still a little dizzy.
Hmmmmm? Nope, no subtitled legitimate DVD’s for any of the sequels to “Buppha Rahtree” at all. Been expecting the “grey market” Malay versions to pop up but sadly none so far.
Ahhh… Fansubs. You can usually find those at most forum sites for Asian cinema…. unfortunately usually connected with DL info for the films too….. which is bad, bad, bad……but the subs themselves, well…. subs are good, good, good. There are however one or two subtitle only sites like Kloofy’s that archive just the subs written by fans or translated from the original language ones, to go with various versions of the film. If subs are something you need, I’d start there first.
Hello! Long time!
Still not really sure how fan subs work though… can you explain as if to an idiot? (which indeed I can often be)
I see that esindo now have DVDs of ‘Air Terjun Pengantin’ and ‘Suster Keramas’.
Reckon they’d have decent subtitles in your opinion? I’ve been scared off Asian DVDs with so-called “English subs” since my experience with ‘Rahtree Reborn’. Man those subs were bad!!!
Why hello again Ewan!! Nice to see you drop back by.
“Fan Subs” are usually found as some sort of text file and can be used with many of the media players (such as the wonderful VideoLan player, my personal fav…) on your computer to display while you watch a DVD. They also can sometimes be added to a Disc by making a backup copy and adding them to the VOB’s….(But that can be a bit technical to explain…. Check out the forum over at VideoHelp.com for specifics if you are interested in going that route…) The Fansubs themselves are usually the work of somebody who can understand both English as well as the language of the film and get translated for use by the rest of us as a sort of hobby…. Others are direct translations of available foreign subtitles from a DVD itself re-done into English. Often, these are the only available way for a non-speaker to enjoy a disc if it never gets a release in their country.
Hehehe…. I just recently (The beginning of the month or so..) picked up copies of “Air Terjun Pengantin” as well as “Suster Keramas”…. I haven’t watched them yet, but expect a review from me soon…. (Well… as soon as my schedule lets me watch them that is…) I’m expecting the subs to be fairly good…. the official Indonesian discs are usually pretty good for English subbing in my experience with only a few atrocious exceptions. Not to worry… I’ll give you the heads up on that as soon I can.