Para Betina Pengikut Iblis Review: Para Betina Pengikut Iblis is an Indonesian horror film directed by Rako Prijanto, written by Prijanto and Anggoro Saronto, and stars Mawar de Jongh, Hanggini, Sara Fajira, Hans de Kraker and Adipati Dolken, alongside others.
Para Betina Pengikut Iblis Plot
When Sumi’s father encounters a tragedy that renders him unable to work, she comes across a curious and evil presence who pushes her to do abhorrent things. Although it helps her improve her lifestyle, she realises that the price of following the devil has its own consequences.
Para Betina Pengikut Iblis Review
Para Betina Pengikut Iblis really tries to be edgy and gory from the first minute of its runtime. Close shots of Sumi’s father’s decomposing leg, getting rid of said leg, and whatnot set the tone for what we are supposed to witness in the movie. Only… that’s not what we really witness in the movie.
The horror flick tries its level best to be creepy from its first minute but turns out to be quite funny, with a white-faced devil influencing Sumi’s decisions and trying to be as creepy as possible. It doesn’t bring out the desired effect that you’d expect, and his odd child-like laugh just makes you look at the screen with a confused and awkward laugh. The only horrible thing that we are made witness to over and over again is Sumi’s father’s bloody stump of a leg, and that, too, gets old quickly.
The movie, then, instead of looking inward into one protagonist, decides to look outward and find a gory story elsewhere. This only exasperates the situation since the creators don’t solve the already-existing issues and try to cover them up with more insane incidents. Either way, the only thing I probably hated more than this all-over-the-place narrative is the Devil’s laugh. Man, it creeps up all the time and leaves you wanting to slap someone.
One of the other issues of Para Betina Pengikut Iblis, which translates literally to “Women Following the Devil”, apparently, is that there is absolutely no thrill in the movie. Apart from some jumpscares that don’t have the intended effect, there is nothing that will keep you rooted to the story, and neither is there anything that scares you out of your mind. It’s awkward and flat, and the copious amounts of gore don’t do much when the story itself is devoid of horror. You can’t care about someone dying or about their guts spilling out on the floor when you have seen them for 2 seconds and have no emotional connection to them.
Para Betina Pengikut Iblis doesn’t care about its “anti-hero” protagonists, and neither does it care about making any of its characters remotely believable in any way. In a bid to look scary and intimidating, every character looks like a joke and the makeup or acting isn’t good enough to make them look or feel any better. I wonder whether this movie is a horrendous joke on us, and they just made it as a parody or something. Like, are they testing us with this?
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Rant aside, people in this remote village are really quick to resort to making deals with the devil. It’s an interesting concept, I must say – how evil can easily get into a person’s mind when they are at the end of their rope and desperate for a way out of their misery. It could’ve been a great drama or even a subtle horror movie if the creators focused on the characters and their inner and outer turmoils instead of whatever this is.
As a weird side story, there are also dead babies, affairs, and a mentally unwell man murdering women mixed into the mess. The person behind all that goes on a long monologue that is neither scary nor thrilling. Sari’s storyline is the most unnecessary addition that doesn’t add anything, and Hanggini’s rather odd portrayal of this character is also quite weird. The final confrontation is hilarious at best and gets super boring and annoying as soon as it starts.
That being said, it’s not like Mawar Eva de Jongh is any better at playing Sumi, but then again, the direction is quite lacklustre throughout the movie, so I can’t really blame her either.
Para Betina Pengikut Iblis Review: Final Thoughts
This is just a disappointing movie. I am a huge fan of Indonesian horror; they usually nail almost all of their scary ventures. But this one is just one big sack of “what is the point” that really goes nowhere. Best to look at something else instead of spending time watching this one!
Para Betina Pengikut Iblis is streaming on Netflix.
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Honestly, I don’t know what this woman is even talking about.
She’s conparing this gore, very unique movie to hollywood-style horror, I have to suppose, which is a lame way to go. It doesn’t value its uniqueness.
What I found incredibly fascinating about this movie is that it portrays very correcly the reality of very, very dark wichcraft (at least until one of the ladies goes “gandalf mode” on the man that really is responsible for her sisters murder, that was so hollywood it disappointed me). I Also think you are missing the point LARGELY when aiming the focus at the gutting of somebody “you are not emotionally involved with”: The interesting thing is to “witness” sumi being turned into a horrid killer by the sinister spirit poisoning her thoughts further and further, spirit that promised to get her out of her misery,not who is being gutted.
Then, about the acting being inadequate is laughable, truly: Sumi starts as a bitter teenager with a shy body language and ends up walking around with a vulture demeanor, very fitting to say the least, since she herself prayed on deth to “get fed”.
Finally, about the laughter of the evil spirit: I found it ingenious, no stereotipical “muhahaha- evil-laughther” shit, nothing already seen or heard of, very odd and otherworldly, somewhat childish and wining. It does not laugh like a human being, nor a stereotipical hollywood horror villain.
So, to sum it up: If you wanna see the same old hollywood shit over and over, I guess thia unique and enstranged movie isn’t for you. But it is well done and, up to a an unprecedented extent, very well adherent to the brutal reality of a certain kind of witchcraft.