Indonesia, 2008
Review:
JA Kerswell
A lesser Indonesian slasher that has lofty aims but is let down by its amateurish, unfocussed production. A young doctor returns to his ancestral home after graduation to practice medicine but begins to suspect that there might be an illegal organ harvesting operation when he sees patients with strange scars. Only really of note because it features an early central performance by Oka Antara, who went on to be one of Indonesia’s biggest action stars.
Dr. Rian (Antara) comes to a remote village after graduation for a placement but finds a mixed reception from the locals. Staying at his grandparents’ old house, he is given short shrift by the village boss and is warned to stay away from his beautiful daughter Lila (Farah Debby). He is also warned to stay out of the jungle after dark, as it can be dangerous - and is reminded that a group of campers went missing there two years before with no trace of them ever found. He is also haunted by visions of a hooded figure with bleeding eyes - who has a habit of popping up in the most unexpected places (including a bag of his groceries!).
Rian starts at the local clinic, which initially goes well. However, when treating a young boy for a wounded foot, he notices that he has a scar on his side that his mother seems too scared to talk about. The young doctor confronts another village elder (Piet Pagau) and accuses him of being a shaman and for shady medical practices. Meanwhile, local people are being killed by a portly masked man lurking in the undergrowth …
There are the bones of a good film with THE SHAMAN, but it is ultimately too incoherent to have much impact. Major characters vanish from the film without resolution, and it seems that nobody misses all the murdered villagers because they are never mentioned again. The film teases the mysterious hooded figure as the film’s main villain, but it is never fully resolved if they are human or a supernatural presence - or even The Shaman of the title. The makers said that they wanted to pay homage to classic Indonesian horror films, but the scares are generic and largely ineffective. Although ostensibly a whodunnit, the reveal of the killer or killers is - with one exception - hardly surprising as it has been telegraphed throughout.
The film does feature some gore, with a few of the operation scenes being gnarly enough to cause censorship issues in its native country. However, the majority of the violence is the throw a cup of fake blood at it and hope for the best variety. Unfortunately, the film never fully takes advantage of its setting and the cinematography is muddy and uninspiring. In the version I saw, the boom mic made so many appearances that I was surprised not see it listed in the cast list. Antara is the film’s lone bright spot as the believable young medic, but even he can’t save the nonsensical turns his character is forced to take towards the end of the movie. Antara went on to major roles in high-profile Indonesian movies such as THE RAID 2 (2014) and even North American genre movies including V/H/S 2 (2013).
It was filmed on 35mm around Bogor, a Javan mountain town famous for its unique plants, active volcanoes and mysterious folklore. Director Raditya Sidhart contributed a piece to the anthology horror film TAKUT: FACES OF FEAR the same year but has made nothing since - which is a shame as the film at least suggested he had potential with future projects. The blog from the film's long deleted website suggests more interesting stories from the shooting of it than are contained in the film, including an abandoned shoot at an insane asylum.
Predictably, THE SHAMAN bombed during its theatrical release in Indonesia. For a much more entertaining take on the same type of folklore as a hook for slasher action, check out the same country’s later popcorn mega hit AIR TERJUN PENGANTIN (2009).
BODY COUNT 13:
Female 8 / Male 5
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THE SHAMAN trailer