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Stars: Caitlin Halderman, Jefri Nichol, Marsha Aruan, Ciccio Manassero, Susan Sameh, Irsyadillah, Cathy Natafitria Fakandi, Salvita Decorte | Written and Directed by Kimo Stamboel

What feels like a very long time ago now, I played this amazingly brilliant and actually creepy horror survival game on the Playstation 2 called Fatal Frame. It made you walk around in creepy old houses armed with just a camera. And I got the same vibes when I was watching Dreadout. So it came as no surprise when I learnt this movie was based on an Indonesian video game of the same name that is clearly heavily influenced by the Fatal Frame series of games.

In Dreadout a group of young adults enter a tower block that has been cordoned off by police, in the hope that filming their adventure will make their social media accounts more popular. The cameras on their phones becoming a much-needed asset,...

Malignant forces within Catholic tales of evil generally seek to create Hell on Earth by finding a host willing to read the ancient words serving as their key. It’s therefore rare to receive scenes of demonic possession wherein a writhing body with black fluid spewing from its mouth screams for a portal not to be opened. But that’s exactly how writer/director Kimo Stamboel opens his cinematic adaptation of DreadOut—an indie survival horror video game from Indonesia. He introduces a group of men holding the demon down while also coercing a woman (Salvita Decorte’s Nancy) to read a phrase only she sees on a weathered piece of parchment. Her young daughter is held captive, the police are banging on the door, and we’re at a complete loss for comprehension.

We fast-forward a few years to meet Linda (Caitlin Halderman) waking from a nightmare in Ms.