Review: Santau

Santau follows in the footsteps of Jangan Tegur, Skrip 7077, Rasukan Ablasa, Momok the Movie dan Sifu & Tongga as the latest entry in the Malay horror film genre. Okay, Sifu & Tongga is not a horror movie but it was pretty horrifying. Hahaha.

But I digress...

Santau is about a well-to-do family who is unlucky enough to catch the ire and jealousy of someone who would resort to the black arts to ensure that the lucky family will be torn apart by tragedy and such.

Right at the beginning, the antagonists were set up for us to figure out. So we don't really know which one is the culprit... actually, I knew... straight away from that scene...

I don't know, maybe it's the writer in me or maybe the trailer has spoiled it for me... but I figured out the red herring early on... also, sometimes the casting can also reveal the storylines...

The entities in this film are not too scary. One of them... we can totally see through the makeup and recognize her as legendary actress, Mariani... the other one is a bit heavily made up so guess that one passes for an entity...

Which would bring me to the scare factor... the ambience of the movie was effective and the location chosen played a role in upping the scary levels... but as I said, one ghost was not scary enough... but this movie brings more of the yuck factor with the maggots and stuff in the food... *blerg*

Story-wise, it's not really new territory as Jangan Tegur has explored the realm of 'santau' also... and there were some bits in the movie that did not exactly gel... or needed...

Acting-wise... some parts were kinda horrible... like in the beginning of the movie, some of the dubbing was quite bad and some of the acting is kinda wooden... but towards the middle and the end, it got better...

So, how did Santau fare against the other horror movies? It's decent enough... but nothing to shout about or recommend to friends... just passable entertainment...

On a side note... why does most Malay horror films out this year (and last year) basically have the same formula? Take one family, put them a situation where an entity would haunt them, and then have them go to a bomoh/imam and the entity will be exorcised and they'd live happily ever after...

Histeria did not follow this formula... and it was still a decent horror movie... good even... I really enjoyed that one... hmm, Skrip 7077 is also one that did not follow the norm... but that movie was not exactly that scary... guess Rasukan Ablasa doesn't look like a copy of Jangan Pandang Belakang as well... Rasukan Ablasa is genuinely scary because it was really bad... all the screaming, good God, make it stop... hmm, Skrip 7077 and Rasukan Ablasa came from the same moviemaker yes?

Please someone make an 'out of the box' horror movie for next year...


P/S - Niyang Rapek looks set to be kinda awesome and scary...

New Movies

Movies that opens today (10/12) (according to GSC)...

THE STORM WARRIORS

Cast: Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Charlene Choi, Nicholas Tse, Simon Yam, Tiffany T.

Japanese evil warlord Lord Godless desired to conquer China. He imprisoned a large number of martial artists and tried to make them subjugate. Among the prisoners were Cloud and the martial arts elder statesman Nameless. Wind came to the rescue. The trio was badly wounded by Lord Godless's evil martial arts attack. Chu Chu was also knocked out when she blocked Cloud from Lord Godless's strike.

The remaining martial artists sacrificed their lives to save the trio, in the hope that the trio would beat Lord Godless one day and save the country.Chu Chu was badly wounded and stayed unconscious. Cloud was filled with remorse and vowed to take revenge. Wind chose to take the evil way to quickly boost up his martial arts skills, so that he could protect the people. During his training, he met the girl who changed his life, Dream.

Meanwhile, the troop of Lord Godless came to attack. Wind's training was interrupted when he tried to save Dream from Lord Godless's assault. After some killings, Wind ran away and disappeared... Lord Godless took The Emperor in captivity and stationed his troops in Heaven Cave. Cloud arrived alone and started a combat with Lord Godless. Lord Godless had the upper hand.

In the meantime, the half-evil Wind appeared and joined the battle. During the fight, they inadvertently discovered the secret of the sovereign. The real intention of Lord Godless's invasion was related to an ancient tomb, a forbidden ground buried with the Royal family's secret. The truth was finally revealed. At last, how would the battle end? Who would eventually rule over the country?

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
Cast: Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Jenifer Lewis, Keith David, Oprah Winfrey.

A prince named Naveen (Bruno Campos) from the land of Maldonia is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier (Keith David). The frog prince asks a waitress named Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) to break the spell by kissing him. However, the kiss doesn't break the spell, but instead turns Tiana into a frog as well. Together, the two of them must reach the good voodoo priestess of the Bayou, Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator and a hopelessly romantic firefly along the way.

ZOMBIELAND
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin.

Zombieland revolves around a mismatched pair of survivors who find friendship and redemption in a world overrun by zombies.

SANTAU
Cast:Esma Daniel, Putri Mardiana, Riezman Khuzaimi.

Halim and his family are blessed with happiness and wealth gained through his own growing business. On top of that, he has an understanding wife Nina who stands by his side and a lovely daughter named Tuti. Near Halim's home, there is an unrented house. Ever since the neighbour moved out from that house, Tuti sees mysterious happenings until a point where Nina begins to experience weird incidents that have never happened before. Nina's character soon changes drastically, where she becomes a lazy and hot-tempered person. Halim does not believe Nina and Tuti's story on the existence of the paranormal until one night; Halim rushes home upon hearing his wife being possessed.

Info: GSC