True story horror movies! What could be more exciting than knowing what you’re about to watch actually happen.
Or at least some kind of version of it happened.
This is one of those movies where you know someone found out what happened to the real-life Ayu and Sarinten and thought it would be better suited as a full-length movie rather than a long YouTube video or a series of podcasts. They probably thought it would feel more genuine.
I am not sure that was achieved at all though, because this has podcast written all over it, not movie.
The biggest problem is that while it might be based on a true story, it feels like a very familiar movie with themes and tropes we’ve seen many times in Indonesian cinema.
PLOT
A group of high school students film themselves performing a dance routine by the river of a sacred site. One of the students finds what appears to be a jewel, and pockets it.
This upsets a spirit called Sarinten who then takes possession of Ayu.
As Ayu’s behaviour becomes more erratic due to the possessed spirit inside her, a trio of small filmmakers who investigate paranormal activities descends on the village to offer assistance, except one of them becomes an unwilling sacrifice.
ABOUT THE FILM
On top of not liking vampire movies, I don’t like possession films either, and it usually comes down to how ridiculous the possessions end up looking in the final product. This film is no exception, the possessions look almost comical towards the end.
In turn, this ruins any believability for me. What should be creepy and scary end up as just a series of weird cackling where the possessed person ends up with no eyeballs.
And it couldn’t be more ridiculous than the scene at the end of the movie where Sara Fajira, the actress playing Ayu, has to portray being possessed by two different spirits. It takes place on a table where she keeps flipping sides and poses depending on which spirit she is supposed to be. Kudos for the actress to attempt this scene, but the final product looks more hilarious than scary.
But that’s the least of the movie’s issues. The biggest problem is that the movie feels like it doesn’t actually have a story. For the first half of the movie, I felt like I was just following the vlogging lifestyle of Ayu and her bestie Rara from a third person view. It’s not until the filmmakers/paranormal experts arrive at the village does it feel like the story of the movie actually kicks in. And that’s not helped by that fact that we only see those three characters sparingly in the first half of the movie.
So, by the time they get to the village, we don’t really get a strong feeling of who they are and their importance.
But one thing I did like was the footage in the credit sequence that proport to show the real Ayu and her alter ego/possessed spirit aura of Sarinten – complete with a mosaic to protect her identity. But again, I can’t help but thinking it would have made a better YouTube documentary or podcast than an actual film.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I think possession movies are hard to get right, and I felt this movie did most things wrong.
Using my patent pending GHOST rating, which stands for Great Horror or Stupid Trash, this movie only gets 2 ghosts. A weak story that takes too long to get started and comical possession scenes make this hard to recommend.
But as always, what did you think of it?
Genre Horror
Director Faozan Rizal
Starring Sara Fajira, Laras Sardi, Dimas Aditya, Naufal Samundra
Original Title Jagat Alam Gaib: Sinden Gaib
Alternative Title The Invisible Singer
Country of Origin Indonesia
Release Date 22 February 2024
mystic singer movie review sinden gaid movie review indonesian horror movies 2024 movies about spirit possession movies
