Review Of The Night Of The Hells, Horror Film Wrapped In The Dark History Of 1965

JAKARTA - Film titled Malam Para Hell is inspired by one of Indonesia's dark and sad events. This film produced by Starvision combines horror as well as matches that are still rare in Indonesia.

The story begins with flashbacks set in Winongo Village in 1965, when the village head died in a pathetic way. The village head's body is being bathed in a booth by a group of people.

Outside the booth, there were a number of guests attending the event. Although the gloomy atmosphere dominated, it turned out that there was some kind of tension between the two men, namely Kyai Malik (Teddy Syach) and Bachtiar (Derry Oktami), who looked at each other with full suspicion.

In the midst of tension without the word, suddenly a torch was thrown at the yard where the grief event took place, and landed right on the table. The fire from the burning torch grabbed someone, and immediately panicked the mourning residents. Then the fire spread to the village head's house, because the burning person ran and hit the wooden door of the house.

Not finished panic due to the first attack, the second torch was thrown. Some residents rushed to chase the perpetrator, who was then interrogated, but did not want to answer anything. The perpetrator was immediately stabbed to death.

Back in 2023, the audience was presented with the death scene of Rendi's grandfather, a retired soldier. In his grandfather's office, Rendi (Harris Vriza) found a number of items of the deceased, in the form of boxes containing photos, prayer beads, and messages to bury his body in Winongo Village, a village where he had served.

Rendi and his friends, Martin (Zoul Pandjoul) and Siska (Amel Carla) also went to deliver the grandfather's body to Winongo Village. Even though they were assisted with GPS, they encountered a number of difficulties, such as missing signals, as well as a car that suddenly broke down right at the village gate.

Because the car broke down twice, they were forced to spend the night near the slaughterhouse. From there the strangeness began to happen. Rendi and his friends began to see the spirits fighting against each other near the slaughterhouse, who were fighting with each other until they were bleeding.

In their efforts to save themselves, they met a local resident, namely Marni (Djenar Maesa Ayu). Marni lives with Dira (Aghniny Haque) in a Javanese-style classic house. The two appealed to Rendi, Martin, and Siska to stay and stay at their home for three nights, to save themselves from the 'night of the devil', which is a horror incident that haunts Winongo Village every year.

Marni and Dira also told what really happened until finally these curious spirits always appeared and possessed the villagers for three consecutive days, killing each other.

A unique horror

The story of this film is unique because the horror presented feels different from the horrors of Indonesia in general. The storyline of this film is interpreted as being interpreted from dark events in 1965 and 1966, namely the massacre of people accused of supporting communism.

Another privilege of the film is the moment of its broadcast, namely December 7, 2023, which incidentally is the time of the political year.

Starvision President Director Chand Parwez Servia said that his party hopes that apart from being a spectacle, the film can be a lesson for the Indonesian people so that they are not divided, inherit past grudges, and even attack each other even though you are alone.

The scene in Winongo Village was taken in Wonosari, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. The film creators considered the place suitable as a shooting place, because it described the atmosphere of Indonesia in the 60s hot, arid, with many teak trees drying up.

This film tries to provide spices for kinship, friendship, and also a romantic relationship between characters. Unfortunately, family and love relationships between characters are not conveyed properly, so the audience cannot feel the strong chemistry between the players.

Having a horror genre, the film Malam Para Hell shows a different form of ghosts from other horror films. Which in general is just an ordinary creature, but in this film, this ghost is depicted like a zombie who can catch up and even kill humans.

Unfortunately, the shape of the ghost does not even provide a sense of tension to the audience while watching this film. This is increasingly not felt because of the lack of visual or sound effects that support it, so the impression of horror you want to show is lacking and bland.

At the end of the story, it contains a plot twist that was not imagined by the previous audience. So it is enough to raise the question of where the plot twist started so that the audience didn't notice it at all before it was finally shown at the end of the film.

The message from this film is quite memorable. This film Malam Para Hell indirectly wants to remind the younger generation to remember the tense atmosphere that occurred in Indonesia in 1965 so that the dark history will continue to be remembered forever.

Visual, sound effect

Because the inspiration is massacre, it is not surprising that in this film, about an hour and a half, there are many attacks and killings.

For those who have depression or mental disorders, it is recommended to be careful when watching this film, because there are several suicide scenes in the form of hanging yourself.

Quoted from ANTARA, a number of interesting things in this film are the sound effect and the music game. When someone is hit, kicked, or stabbed, the audience can hear, and even feel the sound that is so real, as if they are at the scene, seeing, and experiencing it directly.

Horror films are certainly incomplete without surprising scenes. In this film too, there are some that can be found. When the scene appears it can be known from silence for a few moments before finally being followed by the surprise, which is usually accompanied by loud noises.

Although the jumpscare in this film follows a formula that makes the sensation of the surprise easy to predict, there is one jumpcare scene that uses the effect of dolly zoom appropriately, so that it can spur the adrenaline and tension of the audience.

For the size of the feature film, special effects feel like in soap operas, such as in flying, thrown, and burning scenes.

Coordination and stories

In this film, there are a number of seasoned actors who play, including Aghniny Haque, Teddy Syach, and Djenar Maesa Ayu.

Aghniny Haque, who used to compete in the previous titles, in this film is required not to look too good. He is good at playing his role as Dira, the girl of Winongo Village who has more attention to his place of residence.

The Para Hellen night was Amel Carla's first horror film debut, who played Siska. Even though the film was her first horror, her character as a coward character was quite great, and the audience could feel the fear throughout the story. Amel Carla as Siska is quite prominent and totality compared to other players even though she doesn't have the role of the main character.

In this film, the acting of Teddy Syach and Derry Oktami can also dramatically describe the story of childhood friendship which turned into a feud between two individuals and their respective ideologies. The choreography in the fighting scene also feels tense, because both of them are equally strong characters.

Points plus for this film are a number of interesting twist plots that exist in the middle and end of the story. Although at the beginning of the story there were a number of classic horror Troops, such as missing signals, a sudden strike, and forced to spend the night in a haunted place, the audience was given a different experience in the middle and the end of the story, with many clues around the plot twist. It feels still a surprise, even though the audience can associate a number of common threads from these various clues.

Although many stories are set in Java, it feels a bit strange because we see local residents not using regional accents, instead wearing metropolitan city-style accents. Even though at the beginning of the story it was shown that the area was difficult to signal, so the influence of the outside world should be minimal, not even there.

Film horor ini unik karena menampilkan sebuah premis baru yang berisur dari sejarah yang dinilai sensitif di Indonesia, dan momen penayangannya pun menjadikan film ini lain dari yang lain.

Although there are a number of irregularities in the story and its special effect, the neat execution and historical connection to mystical values in the country make this film interesting to enjoy.