Perewangan (2024)
Davina Karamoy, Beby Evelyn, Ully Triani, Shanty, Septian Dwi Cahyo, Syifa Aulia, Randy Nidji
Directed by: Awi Suryadi
I watched this off my Shudder watchlist last night. I enjoy demon-y type movies, so I figured I’d give this little Indonesian film a chance. And it was… fine.
After a woman is seemingly possessed, the shock sends her husband to a psychiatric hospital. But the real terror waits for her children after the father comes home.
I’m not even sure I have enough to say about this for a full blog post, but I’ll try. It was an altogether average film. The acting was fine. The story was fine, if a little uninspired. The camerawork was fine, although it did get a little annoying with the weird angles sometimes. The demon looked ok, but again, uninspired. One thing I really didn’t like, though, was their over-reliance of cgi. There were hardly any makeup effects, it was all cg. It takes away from a film, I find, if over-used. The one big makeup they had was some shots of the demon itself, and honestly, it looked a little silly. The film was also over-long, clocking in at 1 hour 49 minutes. 20 minutes could have easily been shaved off this thing.
I didn’t know anything about this demon, the Perewangan, because it’s from Javanese folklore. The word means “helper” and is basically a demon you summon to grant you what you want, but it must be fed. And if you don’t, you’re cursed and possessed. It’s multigenerational as well, so even if you kill yourself or something, that won’t stop it. It’s a pretty common myth, they have something like that from many cultures around the world, but they could have done something more interesting with the concept, I’m sure. And the ending is, in a word, typical.
So do I recommend it? Meh, not really. There’s not much to recommend. It gets a fine 5/10 from me.
M.
This is currently streaming on Shudder.
VampirePlacebo * Mel's Entertainment Page 
This sounds like Boringsville. Plus I’d probably have to read it so I’ll politely skip. How are you doing FF? Do you have a big week ahead of you?
#FF
I don’t mind reading subtitles at all, but they still have to be interesting…
I’m doing pretty good. I’m back at work now. Got myself a nasty case of carpal tunnel, though, from doing repetitive movements with my hands. No big plans, just work. Although, I took off tomorrow. It’s going to be freezing rain. I work evenings, so there’s no bloody way I’m driving in that at night. We got a weather warning that says stay inside unless it’s an emergency, and I plan on doing just that!
And how are you?
#FF
My eye are getting old and it’s getting harder for me to read and pay attention to what’s happening at the same time cry cry cry.
Aside from that thing things are ok here. Work is too busy and I don’t like it but I’d probably complain if it was too slow too so *shrugs* I guess I’m just an old complainer haha
#FF
My eyes suck at the moment too, actually. I went to the eye doctor, and she said that they got considerably worse since last exam 2 years ago. I ordered new glasses, I’m hoping that’ll fix it.
I like that middle ground for work as well. Too busy and you’re going crazy, too slow and you’re falling asleep. I like to be medium busy, lol.
#FF
I think I’ll skip this one. I hate when films rely heavily on CGI over practical effects, and it sounds very uninspired altogether. Maybe there’s a better version of the perewangan tale out there somewhere waiting to be found, though!
I hope so, cause it really is a good idea. It was just done so… boringly.