“Di Sini Ada Setan” (2008) – Indonesian Ghost/ Horror
Another Indonesian scare fest…. this time by way of the Malaysian DVD release, it’s “Di Sini Ada Setan” aka “Satan is Here”. Apparently this is the big screen adaption of an Indo TV series, but Neko’s been unable to find much info on it available in English language, so I’m not going to be able to comment much on that aspect of it.The synopsis I could find reads: “Because of information found from the internet, Choky (Thomas Nawilis) asked his girlfriend to go on holiday to a lake that it seems had the legend that any couple that came there would find eternal love. His sister, Lola (Indri Satiya Handayani), that had just broke up with her boyfriend, was forced to go along because of their mother’s insistance. Also along for the trip were a party of Choky’s friends from school who were to meet them there. This party ran into trouble, their car stalling at the edge of the forest. Then another problem, Lola becomes lost. The holiday that was hoped for pleasant, suddenly became frightening.”
Yep…. sounds pretty standard. So let’s take a peek, shall we?
This one has an awfully large cast for what is essentially the old “teenagers out for a good time all get killed in the woods” plot. I’m thinking it might have been a better film if they had cut out about half the characters and expanded the screen time for the central ones to develop them better. I’m wondering if it’s because this was based on a TV show….. fans can get crazy if their favorite minor character doesn’t show up in the “big screen movie”….. Since I couldn’t find any info on that TV series, I’m sorta at a loss on that front.
Anyway… we reeeeaaally got lots to follow here. Choky’s girlfriend Ann, has her own lil’ tag along too.. in the form of her slightly retarded sister Annie. Seems all Moms in Indonesia don’t mind their kids slipping away for co-ed sleepovers but do want to keep their kids chaperoned to keep any real “fun” from happening. Choky’s friends all bring their significant others too and that makes for a big confusion once the plot gets rolling. Neko honestly lost track of who was who and which girl was looking to hook up with which guy….. not that it matters much, it’s an Indonesian film so there will be no Hanky Panky here!!
Lola is actually our real heroine, and most of this tale sorta revolves around her psychic flashes about the cursed romance and murder that happened here at the lake some years earlier. Seems that the ghost of another psychic girl with some serious emotional problems still haunts the place where she was murdered by the boy she foolishly loved. The title might suggest Satan has something to do with all this, but nope…. he’s busy getting his butt kicked in the Philippines or something, because he’s not to be seen ’round these parts.
What we do get is the standard story about generally stupid kids running around being scared at the drop of a hat by funny sounds, illusions, or other nonsense until it’s time to kill one off in suitably (and surprisingly, for an Indonesian film) grisly fashion. The special effects are spared no expense to show creepy decapitations by extra dimensional mirror dwellers, levitating girls being slowly strangled to death, and some other bizarre death scenes.Neko just wishes she could have really cared about those poor kids. Unfortunately, they aren’t really that sympathetic. Part of that might be the large cast…. part of it might be the two dimensional cardboard characters…. but a good chunk is probably just the boring, boring story.
The only one I could feel any empathy for was the ghost girl. Like many of these poor things, she never asked for her fate…. and doesn’t get any revenge on her killer. In fact, we never find out what happened to that bastard and the bitchy woman he goes off with. I’m not truly certain why recent Indonesian films tend to do this to these characters, but trust me, it’s maddening!!!So…. anyway, “Di Sini Ada Setan” lurches along like this for about an hour and a half, never really going anywhere and ending with the vanquishing of the ghost, naturally. But wait…. lets throw on a twist ending with more dead zombie action just to set us up for the sequel. Sigh…… Thank goodness it only cost me 6$ US to see this one……
Neko has to give this one only 2 “Meows” out of 5 for being soooo, soooo lame. I can honestly say, it doesn’t make me want to spend any of my precious time or effort to find out more about the TV series that spawned it.
I haven’t found a Trailer for it, and I can honestly say you aren’t missing anything because of that. Neko hopes her next Indonesian goodie has more…. well…. “goodie” to it.
Till next time, “Meow, Meow for now”!!
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