Hi everyone!
Today we welcome back Ryan L. Terry to One Movie Punch, with a film that I tried to convince him not to review, because of my long-standing hate for Indonesian horror films. Want the evidence? Check out my reviews for “The 3rd Eye” (Episode #226), “Kuntilanak” (Episode #297), and “Sabrina” (Episode #328). In fact, I should probably check to see if Ryan bothered to write a review... oh good! Whew!
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Take it away, Ryan!
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Today’s movie is “Suzzanna: Buried Alive” the Indonesian horror movie released on Netflix in November 2018. The film is directed by Rocky Soraya and Anggy Umbara, written by Bene Dion Raja Gukguk, and stars Luna Maya, Herjunot Ali, and T. Rifnu Wikana. My apologies if I really butchered those names. I really tried my very best.
After its promising start, “Suzzanna” takes an acute turn for the worst. Won’t take long for you to begin checking your watch or clicking the back or menu button on your remote. This movie is a great example of how too little plot can be stretched over too much run time with the end result being terrible pacing that disconnects the audience from the story. Honestly, had this movie been as short or at least around an hour, then it would have been much more enjoyable.
Sometimes the experience of a horror movie can be helped by a haunting score or stylized imagery to make up for a vapid plot and characters. Unfortunately, there is little style to be found and the score is borderline cheesy. It’s like the director took a score from a completely different movie and added it to this one. If you’re a gore fan, well, I hate to disappoint you there too, but... there are only a few of those moments as well.
An easy way to fix this story is to play up the comedy bits more. Even increasing or relying upon comedy derived from the conflict may not elevate this to “Tucker and Dale vs Evil”levels of horror-comedy, but it certainly would’ve helped the two hours go by faster and more effectively. So, as a comedy, this movie works; the characters are utterly laughable at times. My advice to the writers and directors of this movie is to take a page out of Hitchcock’s handbook: “Start your scene as close to the end as possible.” This echoes the screenwriting fundamental of “write leanly.” Kill your darlings, cut the fat, trim the scene until it works for effective and efficient storytelling.
“Suzzanna” is one of those quasi-horror movies that starts out strong, ominous, and gripping, but then very quickly devolves into a hodgepodge of unimaginative plot points, flat characters, and awkward pacing. Not that these characters are boring; quite the opposite, these characters are entertaining at first, but soon bore you with their lack of dimension. Moreover, this is billed and advertised as a horror movie, but has far more in common with dark dramedies than it does what it so desperately wants to be.
Rotten Tomatoes: NR
Metacritic: NR
One Movie Punch: 5.0/10
“Suzzanna: Buried Alive” (2018) is rated TV-MAand is currently playing on Netflix.
Thanks for taking one for the team, Ryan!
