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After renowned
writer Anna dies, teenage student Airin
is asked to finish her latest book about the haunts
on jeruk purut cemetery. According to the legend, a
headless priest haunts the grounds there and anyone
who circles the graveyard seven times will die a
horrible death. What Airin doesn't know is that the
spirits of the cemetery don't want this book to get
written, and will do anything to prevent it from
doing so. Unknowingly, Airin has just put her own and
her friends lives in jeopardy.
Hantu Jeruk Purut has one of the best opening scenes
in Asian horror movie history. The movie starts off
with a really creepy scene where the headless ghost
makes his first appearance, and I'm telling you, this
scene will send shivers down your back. But that's
not all, this movie actually has two opening scenes.
Now that we've been introduced to the scary ghost,
we're introduced to a bunch of partying teens who
decide to go to see the ghost at Jeruk Purut cemetery
(I'm pretty sure either Jeruk or Purut means cemetery
but I don't know which so I'm just going to call it
that for now). So anyway, they stumble onto the ghost
and before they know it, they're getting killed in
true Final Destination-fashioned death scenes by their
own car which the ghost has apparently possessed.
I have no idea what the car had to do with anything
but man was that a cool opening scene or what? Then
the opening credits show up with some killer heavy
metal music and the adrenaline is pumping through my
veins - I couldn't wait to see the rest of this film.
Unfortunately, the opening scene turned out to be the
best thing about the movie (this happens way too often
if you ask me). Now we're introduced to a bunch of
students who are investigating the haunting at Jeruk
Purut after the death of a famous writer (who was
writing a book on the legend). If you're not sure
what I'm trying to say here, just read my plot
description. So anyway, the rest of the movie is
basically just about a long-haired ghost girl trying
to scare the students in various ways. The headless
ghost becomes more of a sidekick than anything.
It's a shame really because they had so many directions
where they could take this movie after that killer
opening scene, but instead they headed down generic
alley. What's even more annoying is that they've stolen,
not ripped off, actually stolen some scenes from other
horror flicks such as Shutter and A Tale Of Two Sisters.
Still, I have to give Hantu Jeruk Purut some credit
for managing to scare me a couple of times. There's
plenty of atmosphere to be found in here and it is
pretty watchable for most of the time. I just wish
that they had done something more out of the ordinary
for once rather than to steal stuff from other great
horror movies. No wonder it turned out to be a hit
in Indonesia, right?
Ultimately, Hantu Jeruk Purut is a fairly competent
and suspenseful horror flick for most of the time, much
more so than most Indonesian horror movies. It could
have been great since it had so much potential though
but at the end, it's merely average at best. Nothing
you need to check out but if you're in the mood for
a mildly suspenseful ghost flick, you could do worse.
Surprisingly gory with an impalement, a fan in the
head, a knife in the throat, a decapitated head and
some needle damage.
Starts out great with awesome heavy metal music, some
very dance-friendly psy-trance, and some cool sound
effects. Sadly, this also drowns out as the movie goes
along with generic piano music and dull strings.
A movie filled with potential and a killer opening
scene that ended up being nothing more than an average
ghost flick. It steals stuff from all the successful
horror flicks and hopes for the best. Sure, it works
enough for you to stay interested, but it doesn't do
a whole lot more than that.
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