Sijjin is a 2023 Indonesian supernatural horror film about a young woman who uses black magic to threaten her cousin’s wife.
Directed by Hadrah Daeng Ratu (Pemandi Jenazah; Perjanjian Gaib; I Know When You Dead; Makmum; #Malam Jumat: The Movie; Jaga Pocong) from a screenplay written by Lele Laila (Pemandi Jenazar; Siska Neraka; Ivanna; Asih 2; KKN Di Desa Penari; Danur 3: Sunyaruri; Asih; Danur 2: Maddah; Danur: I Can See Ghosts). based on the 2014 Turkish movie Siccin written by Ersan Özer.
Produced by Gope T. Samtani. Executive produced by Priya N. Keswani, Wicky V. Olindo, Sunil Samtani and Lisbeth Simarmata.
The Rapi Films-Sky Media-Legacy Pictures production stars Ibrahim Risyad (Pemandi Jenazah; Perempuan Bergaun Merah), Anggika Bolsterli, Messi Gusti, Delia Husein, Niken Anjani, Dewi Pakis, Oce Permatasari, Elly D. Luthan, Deni Saputra and M.N. Qomaruddin.
Plot:
Irma falls in love with Galang, her cousin who is married and has children. However, Irma is still obsessed and wants to be the only woman in Galang’s life.
Irma goes to the local shaman to send black magic to Galang’s wife. Thus, the terror begins.
Mystical disturbances, possession and even death occur in Galang’s house. However, what Irma didn’t expect was that the black magic threat she delivered also targeted her own life…
Review:
Love can be a bitch, right?
Multiple choice question. Let’s say you’re in love with someone that you shouldn’t be, and you’re told, from many people, that it’s not a relationship you should pursue. Do you:
a) give up and move on, or
b) cast some black magic to win him over?
If you answered with “b”, then congratulations you are the main character of this movie.
And also congratulations, you make terrible life choices.
Based on the popular Turkish film franchise Siccin, the writer of some of the most popular Indonesian horror films of the last few years, Lele Laila (KKN; Ivanna; Qorin), has tried her hand, yet again, at mixing religion, or in this case anti-religion, with black magic and a strong female lead. Only this time, she missed the mark by a long margin.
Firstly, for a movie that should have a strong female lead, she’s rather pathetic. Fully lovelorn and dramatically obsessive, she’s supposed to be a woman-scorned character, but instead comes across rather trashy. There is a reason she is always shown in full make-up with her hair done nicely – the filmmaker wants you to know she is a homewrecker and not a character you should sympathize with.
Which leads to the next problem, who do we sympathise with? Not the husband, as he is a jerk, so then it must be the wife who knows her husband is unfaithful but is too damn afraid to say anything. But I can’t find any way to sympathise with such a weak character.
When the movie tries to do something creepy, at least it gets that right. The hallucination scenes are good, as are some of the gory deaths. But those moments are too little and they come too late. At least it has this nice haunting tune that played frequently throughout the film to keep up the tension.
And then there is the religion. Non-stop religious talk that, in my opinion, overstayed it’s welcome even before it began. I know the best way to defeat a Djinn, or any kind of evil spirit, is a healthy exorcism, but we don’t need a lecture about praying and dutifully attending a church/mosque to come with it.
It’s an okay film, but it’s nothing remarkable. I haven’t seen the Turkish original, but I know it’s twenty minutes shorter and has spawned a ridiculous number of sequels. I can’t see this movie being as popular as that.
The Arty Dans – for more of Dan’s reviews please visit his website
For the teaser, trailer, YouTube and external reviews and related movies please visit page 2
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