This is supposed to be a film about a son and his family returning to Indonesia to care for his sick mother. This happens not long after his father died at home from a fall off a balcony. There is more to the mother's ailments than simply being sick. It is black magic.
This film has some major issues. Let's start with the acting. I am not familiar with Kelly Brook and I don't know that I will ever have the desire to see her in anything else. Nothing about the way she acted came across as natural. It was very easy to see that she was forcing herself to play the part rather than make us believe she was actually her character. It was pretty bad. If I had to name the best actors it would have to go to the kids. They at least showed future potential.
The production quality may be debatable for some but I thought that it was filmed ok. The audio seemed a bit strange to me. I can't really pinpoint what the problem was but it was off. The special effects were not impressive yet there were times where there could've been some semi-horrific stuff thrown in to make this "Horror" movie an actual horror movie.
The story is a hot mess. I don't mind not understanding certain aspects of a story being elusive in as long as it either comes together in the end or it has been set up to add more horror by not understanding the whys.
I'll give my final thoughts on it here because pass this point I'll have some spoilers. This was a film that needed a lot of work. It could've been much better and it is disappointing to see films not reach their potential. It just didn't work for me.
*************************************SPOILERS***************************************
So, we find out that the reason for the black magic may have something to do with a former employe by the name of Amber who worked for the son's father. In the final climatic scene, we learn the family maid, Fatma,(I guess that's what she was or maybe a house manager.) had a relationship with the son's father and Amber was the product of that relationship. It is implied that the son had killed Amber, thinking that she and his dad were having an affair. Fatma had been the one using black magic to exact revenge for the death of her daughter. That's it. No more explanation than that.
Where was the rest of the story? Why did the son think that his dad was having an affair with Amber? How long ago did all this happen? Why did the son dig all the holes in the yard? Was she buried there?
Really?
