Review - Sekali Lagi Pontianak

The title of this post seems to suggest that this is a review of some sort of Malay spoof movie... which it is not... it is a review of two movies as a result of last night's movie marathon at Pavilion.

This is quite a busy month for me, even though I still watch movies every week but my movie days are normally reserved for the high profile blockbusters of the summer and my friends definitely won't wanna watch Malay movies, especially these two... today I am going to see Harry Potter's final movie, so it was decided that I would watch Sekali Lagi at 6pm and then Tolong Awek Aku Pontianak at 9pm.

Sekali Lagi is a charming little movie starring three of the best working actors today, Lisa Surihani, Shaheizy Sam and Bront Palarae. It's about Arman (Shaheizy Sam), who is an adult but has the mind of a child. Autism. On his daily outings, he met Amy (Mia Sara Nasuha, who I suspect is Afdlin Shauki's daughter, but I could be wrong), and they hit it off really well, since they were about the same age mentally, but Amy is a bit more matured though.

Amy's mom, Shila (Lisa Surihani) is a single mother working in the city and is being helped by Bront Palarae's character, who is carrying a torch for her. Unfortunately, Shila was still badly scarred after being dumped by the love of her life and finding out she was pregnant with Amy at the same time.

The very first thing you see when the movie started is the labelling... this movie was said to be a romantic comedy... romantic comedy my ass... there was barely any laughing out loud scenes that would constitute a comedy... it is not even a dark comedy... it's actually a drama... a very emotional drama at that... I actually cried... haha... yup, nothing shameful in admitting it... lucky I was alone and there was barely anybody in the cinema...

Anyway, this is a very charming, emotional drama... and the storylines get peeled off one layer at a time... like an onion and each layer added quite a punch to the movie... and it's all tied up together pretty neatly... for a layman like me, I was pretty impressed with the level of storytelling here...

Acting-wise, this movie is rife with good actors... I am biased I admit but I love Lisa... she did a really good job here... so does Bront Palarae and Kartina Aziz... Shaheizy Sam is of course really good, hands down... the young actor in the movie is not bad as well, although there are times the dubbing failed her but mostly she did a good job, for someone that young...

Any movie that gets me crying is a good one...

After this movie, it's off to watch Tolong Awek Aku Pontianak... from director James Lee, who is increasingly becoming one of my favorite local directors. His first movie... or maybe the movie of his I saw was Histeria and it blew me away... Sini Ada Hantu was a good movie as well... so I was looking forward to seeing this one, even though the title really turned me off...

Tolong! Awek Aku Pontianak is about Bob who is a floormat/wallflower who just got dumped by his gold-digging girlfriend... he moves to a different house to have a fresh new start... and his neighbors are two girls who happens to be pontianaks... of course he falls for the older sister without knowing she is a supernatural entity...

But then Bob's boss tried stealing her from Bob and she revealed her true identity to him and he plots to save Bob from her, even though Bob is smitten with her... In a side plot, another supernatural entity is coming to KL because a bomoh type person is hot on her tail...

This movie is rife with pop culture reference... just about every single horror movie was referenced... from Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam to Zombi Kampung Pisang... although this movie is less funny than Sini Ada Hantu and less scary than Histeria...

Acting-wise, this movie is nice enough, even the cartoon-ish characters were handled well...

I've never been a Sazzy Falak fan but I enjoyed her performance in this movie. Liyana Jasmay supports nicely but she was rarely required to do anything much but pouts and stand around looking cute... Zahiril Adzim's second movie role (as far as I am concerned coz I've only seen him in one other movie, Senjakala) and he did a better job here. He played wallflower well with a bit of the charm and likeable aura thrown in.

The surprise for me in this movie is Nurul Wahab, the singer... she seemed natural at this... maybe I've missed her doing some movies, I don't know... but then again, she was not required to do much...

I do have one gripe though... the fight scenes were a bit wooden... would've loved seeing the pontianaks going at it with a showing of impressive powers or something... but you can totally see when they were fighting it was broad swipes at nothing...

Other than that, I had fun watching two good movies... I have read some reviews and my colleagues have told me stuff about both movies but I cleared my mind when watching... wanted to watch without prejudice or expectations... unfortunately, some stuff stuck to mind and I saw what they were talking about but with relatively low expectations, I watched both and thoroughly enjoyed the movies...

P/S - today is The Deathly Hallows Part 2 at Times Square *gurly shrieks*

Marathon

Today, after work... going to Pavilion to catch two Malay movies... yup, I do watch Malay movies, and these two aren't even horror movies... okay2, Tolong Awek Aku Pontianak can be considered horror, but it's more comedic...

One of my favorite Malay actresses, Lisa Surihani... and two of the better actors working today, Bront Palarae and Shaheizy Sam... hope it's good...

One of my favorite directors... James Lee... looking forward to this one after Histeria and Sini Ada Hantu...

Review - Seru

Seru is the last horror movie of April... so far all the horror movies this month seem to be missing the mark at being horror movies... more like suspense or thriller movies, with supernatural elements to it... except for Penunggu Istana, coz I did not get to watch that one, so dunno whether it was actually horror or not...

But fret not horror fans, there are a couple of horror movies still coming our way in May...

Okay, so... Seru... the title's bit simple and refers to the act of summoning things, so you know sorcery's involved...

Saw this movie at a preview in Wangsa Walk with some colleagues... a lot of stars were there... even those not in the movie like Lisa Surihani and Liyana Jasmay... I even sat one row above the directors and Khatijah Tan... hehe...

Anyway, so Seru is a movie within a movie... or like a documentary-type (mockumentary actually) footage that shows behind the scenes of the making of Jangan Bernafas, a horror movie starring Pierre Andre, Nora Danish and Awal Ashaari.

During one intense scene, one of the crew members started shaking violently and screaming and passed out. Then, another girl also did the same thing, but this one got up and wandered off into the woods. Two crew members went to follow the wandering while the others went back to their base of operations.

The stars left the location, since they could not film anymore, but the cameramen (one's off following the girl in the forest) kept on filming.

The crew started bickering amongst each other, quick to blame the other for what had happened. One of them saw another house at a distance and thought they could ask for help. The couple that lived there came to their aid. The possessed girl was taken to the hospital. But then, scary stuff started happening at the base and soon they find themselves under attack by one of their own.

Meanwhile, the other two can't seem to find the wandering girl but they encountered something else in the forest...

God, I hope I did not spoil the storylines...

Anyway... that's basically the movie... oh, did I mention that this movie is like a mockumentary? Ala The Blair Witch Project? With shaking visuals and all? Yup... if you're not a fan of vertigo and first person POVs, then this might not be the movie for you...

But if you are able to watch Cloverfield or Quarantine or The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity (or even Penunggu Istana) and not flinch or vomit, then go ahead and watch...

This movie is directed by Pierre Andre... who seems to be getting away from the typical Jangan Pandang Belakang type movies, which I guess is a good progression for his horror career. Oh and another guy also directed the movie. Ming Jin. Both of them are credited as the writers as well.

But just so everything's out in the open... Nora Danish, Awal Ashaari and Pierre Andre has cameos in the movie and they are not the stars. Good cameos though. Fooled some of us into thinking Jangan Bernafas was the actual movie. It was a rare touch of satirical humor after the director yelled 'Cut!' and you get to see the stars act diva-ish.

The cast consists mostly of unknowns... the lead of the movie is Shaarnaz and he seemed to be doing an okay job with the acting. The rest of them also not bad but when the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, everything just fell apart.

Seru is the movie that has the distinction of making me vomit. Literally. But I managed to hold it down until the end of the movie. If not, I would've vomited on the Pierre Andre, his mom and the other director... yup, I was sitting above these people... I mean, I have seen The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield... to name a few and I have yet to vomit... maybe I am getting older... or maybe it was the flickering lights in the movie, plus the jerky camera movement/first person view...

Few things that bothered me about the movie... first of... the killer is just one person... yes, yes, I've gone and spoiled it... I know... but hey, the movie, like all April horror movies, lack the horror ingredients to be an actual horror... anyway, the killer is one person... there's at least five able bodies there... why can't they subdue the killer? It's not like the killer is picking them off one by one and stalking them like Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer or Halloween... the killer actually came out and attacked them in a bunch... I know some people might say possessed people are stronger but there were instances where they fought the killer off and they manage to knock her out... one person knocking her out... why can't they just do that in the beginning? She still has the weapon and she still was possessed... sigh...

I won't go into the nitpickings of the dubbing and the extremely shrill noises coming from the cast... I get it, you're scared for your life but if there were a crazed killer on the loose and wants to slit your throat, you really shouldn't be screaming and talking loudly and stuff... the camera's lights should not even be turned on... give away your position much?

Also, why did these people get to survive after a run-in with the evil guys? Why did they let them live and run around again? Coz they needed them all to die for the ceremony right? Why let them loose still?

One final thing that bothered me... and my colleague made me realize this... how on earth did anybody get the footage of this mockumentary? The police? Someone passing by? Jungle trekkers maybe? No way lar. The movie ends with... oh, oh, before we get to that... in the early stages of the movie, we get the handsome mugshot of Shaarnaz saying that everybody's dead and he might be next... that's really great... spoiling the entire movie at the beginning of your movie... now we know all those people are just cannon fodders...

Anyway, yes, footage... somehow or rather, I don't think this footage would ever see the light of day since no one survived... the evil guys who orchastrated the entire thing are the only ones who survived and they would soooooo not turn the footage in coz it's evidence in the crime that they have committed... so I ask again... who got the footage and who revealed it to the world? Like in The Blair Witch Project, the police found the camera while searching for the missing students... but this one? Obviously the bad guys gonna take the camera with them or have it destroyed or something...

Anyway, it's a good effort, something new in Malaysia... but the details... the details are the one thing a lot of filmmakers are totally ignoring (Raja Azmi's Dalam Botol is one shining example) and it really detracts from the movie...

Now, if only someone would go making a slasher film like Scream... maybe Pierre Andre should look into it since Seru is basically a slasher film... take out the annoying screaming and the crazy shakey jerky stroby light effect and the ghost element which did not amount to anything and it is a decent slasher... :)

Review - Senjakala

As I've posted before, this month, we got a barrage of horror movies coming our way. Senjakala was the second movie after Dilarang Masuk. Penunggu Istana will be showing this week and next week, Seru. I have seen Seru, and cannot wait to write something about it next week.

Anyway, I went to KLCC to watch Senjakala with Sifu (who taught me a lot of things to do at the movies that would definitely save some money, haha). This would be my first time watching a movie with a well-regarded blogger/reviewer that was not at a media preview. And he did tell me that he would walk out if the movie sucks... (read his review here)

But he did not walk out. Not sure whether it was because the film was good, or it was okay, or because we paid good money for the tickets. Yes, I got a couple of free tickets but we can only go watch it Saturday onwards. Anybody want those tickets, just email me k? :)

So, Senjakala. This would be how many horror movies Ahmad Idham's made now? I lost count. I remember Niyang Rapik (which was not too bad, quite interesting for me... and starred Liyana Jasmay), and last year's Damping Malam, which I did not get to see, but will soon... anyway, I think Ahmad Idham has his own stamp by now, and we can see plenty of his stamp on this movie....

The movie starts with Khalisa dreaming. About running through the forest and bumping into a huge wooden house where she saw herself being possessed. Wakes up. She's in a car with her fiance. Then her fiance ran over a haggardly woman, and he was ran over by a lorry. Then she wakes up. From that moment on, she feels this strong urge to return to her grandmother's house in the kampung, which she was told not to do so by her parents. Of course, she defied them and went anyway, with a girl friend in tow.

There, she found her creepy grandmother, and even creepier kampung folks, who seemed to want her gone. Also, there's this guy who keeps saving her life but refused to interact with her. And there was a bit of a slo-mo 80's style shot when they touched... I think it was supposed to mean that there was an attraction...

So after a while, Khalisa found out the truth of what's going on and that she has an inheritance from her ancestors that she needs to accept, which was why she felt the tug to go visit the grandmother...

Story-wise, it's not bad. And the way it was layered... it was a nice touch I think...

Unfortunately, when it comes down to the actual horror part of this horror movie, it was severely lacking. For a horror-fest April, so far the two movies shown were not exactly horror movies.

And the entities that do show up on screen, especially early on... not exactly relevant to the story. Ahmad Idham did this with Niyang Rapik. All kinds of ghoulies but none of them were actually relevant to the storylines.

I heard from my colleagues and from reading other reviews that the sound mixing was done at Finas and yes, the sound was nice. But... but... why oh why did they use a rattling snake as one of the sounds? It got annoying after a while. Do we even have rattlers in Malaysia?

The actors are not too bad in this movie, but I do think there was a bit of a problem with the dubbing. Some of the actors' mouth are not in sync with the dialogue spewed out. Who's at fault when this happens? Hmmm... Also, Aida Aris and Eizlan Yusof does not look like they could've been the parents of Liyana Jasmay. But then again, Liyana looks like a young girl, what with her being cute and petite.

And the resolving of the conflict? It's always the Ustaz right? I think Malay movies should step out of the religion comfort zone and try to think of imaginative ways to resolve the issues besides just relying on religion.

By the way, Senjakala had a nice touch with the whole Khalisa and Arman romance thingy. I mean, not at first. They had to resort to a musical montage to tell us that they are hanging out and the slo-mo scene to show that there was an attraction. But I saw what the scene was meant to be. It was meant to show that Khalisa felt the attraction of the inheritance or the saka, rather than of Arman. Look at her dead fiance for goodness sake! And then, at the end of the movie, she touched him again, before he left the room and she felt nothing. Or there was no slo-mo scene, so you know that it was the saka and not Arman. Nice one! :)

Review - Khurafat

The first Malay horror movie of 2011. The first one I watched anyway. Wait, it is the first Malay horror movie. In fact, it is the first Malay movie of 2011. Damping Malam and Janin both came out end December last year.

One of the reasons why I wanted to catch this movie, other than the fact that I am a horror movie buff... is Liyana Jasmay... something about her... I very much like... her and Lisa Surihani are the two actresses that I would go see in the cinema... Liyana Jasmay was in Histeria, a very good Malay horror movie... and of course I was kinda intrigued with Shamsul Yusuf after his directing win at the last FFM...

So the story goes like this... Johan (Shamsul Yusuf) and Aishah (Liyana Jasmay) came back to Johan's hometown to visit his sick mother. During which, one villager died due to his usage of the black arts, which Johan witnessed. The death itself. The night before they left for KL, both of them got haunted.

Meanwhile, back in KL, Johan's ex-girlfriend Anna, who can't get over Johan marrying someone else and is hell bent on getting Johan back, one way or another.

Once the newly-weds are in KL, the haunting started to escalate...

Pretty nifty story here. There are a couple of red herrings in the plot. Actually three. Which served to mislead us until the final revelation. I could not figure out, for the life of me, what the twist was. Actually, I knew there was a twist somewhere and that one of the misleading subplots is in fact misleading. So I guess this movie manages to keep the red herrings intact and distract me from figuring out the movie until after the revelation occurred.

So good job to Syamsul Yusuf for weaving an intricate and kinda complex storylines together. Using the makcik for expositionary purposes? Quite nice. I'd expected him to go to the Imam.

The dialogue was not bad. It's quite natural and real, like us normal folks talking, especially the scenes between Johan and his friend from the hospital.

Acting-wise, the movie's pretty solid. Liyana Jasmay, FFM Best Actress for Papadom, sleepwalks through the movie as her role is not exactly a challenge. Syamsul Yusuf was not bad, although at times, he may seem a bit wooden and stoic but that maybe how the character was written. His crying scenes were pretty good. Sabrina Ali, playing the crazy ex Anna, is also pretty good but I wish she (and indirectly Syamsul as the director) would make Anna out to be a little more subtle. Subtle crazy is far scarier than freaky crazy.

Other than that, it was an enjoyable horror movie. Oh wait, scratch that horror part. It was an enjoyable movie. The usage of loud music to shock us was minimal. There are several scenes where the ghost would show up but there was no music to set the mood. It was silence and then, bam! Girly Ghost in your face! Hahha...

Looking forward to the next horror movie from him... if he is doing another horror...

Niyang Rapik

Yet another horror/ghost story blasting into the cinemas. But with this one, I was a bit excited to see it because I saw the trailer and it was interesting. First of, most horror movies have female leads, except maybe Jangan Pandang Belakang... Intan Ladyana was more a supporting character for Pierre Andre's lead.

Niyang Rapik showcases four male co-leads and Liyana Jasmay (and Fizz Fairuz) is more of a supporting characters. Something different... :)

So... when my colleague mentioned the preview, I was excited to go. It was held the same day as Lu Pikirlah Sendiri... two birds, one stone...

For the synopsis, go to http://thewanonly.blogspot.com/...

THE GOOD:

1) It satisfies the horror fan within me. Okay, so it's not really a horror movie... it's a movie with a supernatural theme... actually more like a vengeance movie but has enough thrill/suspenseful moments to warrant 'horror'

2) Some of the acting is quite good... Zed Zaidi, Kamal Adli and Awal Ashaari handled their roles quite well while it was just a walk in the park for Liyana Jasmay...

3) The music helped created the horror ambience... nice touch...

4) Little usage of the loud noise effects to signal the ghost's arrival... we can see the damn thing show up on screen already, do we need to be shocked by the effects? Getting shocked by the ghost itself is enough...

5) The storylines pretty good and the narrative... the flashbacks... the slow peeling of the mystery...

THE BAD:

1) First of... what were they thinking when they made the poster? Totally giving away the red herring and the surprise twist... sigh...

2) The dubbing... some of the voiceover work doesn't really tally with what's going on onscreen... crying sound comes on but the character's not really crying... screaming voice comes on but character's just talking... a lot of those going on... kinda annoying after a while... btw, who's in charge of the dubbing and the laying of the tracks on to the movie? Coz I dun really know whose fault this is? The producer? The director? Sound guy?

3) Some of the acting and/or voice acting really weird and overly done...

4) The ending...

Not that I am saying Niyang Rapik is unflawed, because it is... but looking at it overall, it was a decent effort... I came out from the hall feeling satisfied, rather than discontented... although some of the things that happened to them is rather bizarre and some was not really thought through to the end... in any event, I'd pay money to go see this... :)