Kuntilanak - Julie Estelle In Disguise

Last night, after a busy day judging for the AIM, thought of relaxing my mind a bit by watching a movie. So I had a double date with a colleague of mine from the office. After dinner, we head to the cinemas at Sunway Pyramid. My girlfriend suggested the new Indonesian movie, Kuntilanak. I've seen it's trailer on the tv a few times, and it wasn't bad, plus the heroine, Julie Estelle looked boleh tahan cun la.

"Why not.", I said. And everybody else concurred.

RM44 for 4 tickets and some extra ringgos for the tit bits, we were off to Hall 2. Quite a nice spot we got. Everything was okay, as the opening of the movie was not bad. Not till another 15 minutes, some jakuns came in and sat just behind us. Up till then, everything went haywire! The movie started to look like a grade B movie. Having assholes babbling behind you while watching a movie really gets to me. I think most of you guys would agree with me on that. Anyway, here's the sypnosis of the movie:

- Sam has had enough living with her step-father who takes advantage of her. Having no job and money, she rented a large and cheap room, ignoring the fact that it is located in a haunted neighbourhood (btw, a really dumbass decision if I may add). Once arrived, the keeper of the house gave her a tour of the ancient house and told her of the history of Kuntilanak in that area. Funny part was, the house was filled with college students renting the rooms anyway. At the end of the 'tour', she sings an ancient Javanese chant that somehow tap's into Sam's body. Whomever she sings the chant to will die a horrible death. Things go out of control when Sam chants to her boyfriend, Agung, who then disappears mysteriously.

What irked me most about the movie were, it's bad acting and bad screenplay. I'd give some points for the hantu effects and cinematography but apart from that, everything was a B grade movie quality. Till the end, I can't really understand the plot and some of the characters in the movie. What was the origin of the kuntilanak? Why did the kuntilanak choose Sam as the medium to appear in the real world? Why didn't her boyfriend, Agung, killed as others?

Rizal Mantovani, the film director, did little to make the movie feel like a really good ghost/thriller movie. Most of the sets, looked very much like in a studio. Most of the 'killing' scenea were repetitive. Example - Sam unconsciously sings an ancient Javanes chants in front of a person, that person then gets a nose bleed (right nostril, everytime!). Sam would later vomit filled with ulat and stuff. Kuntilanak appears and kills the person. You will get to see the same sequence, 5-6 times in the movie! And can you just imagine, right at the end of the movie, everybody in the cinema hall, LAUGHED! I wish the director was in the cinema, as well. I feel, this movie is a really another "SS movie". (Syok Sendiri movie)

This movie should have been made as a telemovie as it doesn't meet the basic requirements of a movie. For me, it's the same standard as the Bawang Merah Bawang Putih telemovie. Honestly speaking, I felt cheated after watching this movie, as I expected much, much more. The highlight of the movie, for me, was seeing Julie Estelle wearing a nightie. That's about it.

VERDICT : 5 out of 10

CATEGORY: Another dumbass movie. Slighly better than the Sundal Series.

ABPBH vs The Flood

Of late, been very busy with my work. Going outstations every weekend since end of December 06. Didn't even wish everybody a Happy New Year. Oh well, just another year. Pejam celik dah end of January.

On the 13th to 15th of January, I was in Johor doing my Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian Roadshow at Pasir Gudang. Initially, we were a bit sceptical of the crowd response since the major flood that hit Johor state earlier. The day we arrived in JB, more than 100,000 Johorians had to be evacuated from their homes as the flood was really bad. Even on the day of the event itself, it was raining the whole day.

Ironically, we got the biggest crowd to date compared to other roadshows! More than 8,000 people turned up! Really was a pleasant surprise. Nobody expected such a response. Even I had done roadshows in Johor a few years back, but none could top this. I guess, the power of ABPBH brand has reached to a new height. And I'm very proud to be a part of it.

We came back to KL on Monday, 15th January. On the way back, we stopped by at Ayer Hitam and visited the flood victims at several flood evacuation centres. Most of the artistes joined the cause. Seeing the flood victims face beamed when they saw their favourite stars visited them was a pure joy! This was the first time for myself, too, experiencing such event. It really made me appreciate life more. It really hit me when I saw the victims, especially, the children and babies. At least, for a moment there, we helped them to forget their sorrow. Even, most of the artistes walked through the flood water just to visit some victims at their homes. Later, all the artistes, helped distributed hundreds of packets of food to the flood victims.

We headed home soon after, feeling a little bit better.