FIKSI.NET — There is this one thing about Indonesian horror movies
that might be appealing for local audience but not as much appealing for
global audience.
The Devil's Bride, or Pengantin Setan in Indonesian, is a
new Indonesian horror movie you can watch on Netflix. Starring beautiful
actress Erica Carlina as Echa, the main character,
and Emir Mahira as Ariel, Echa's husband. Directed by Azhar
Kinoi Lubis—a director that I have never heard before—produced by the infamous
Punjambi family and written by four writers for some reasons.
Of course, like many other Indonesian horror movies, Pabrik Gula or
Sugar Factory, and KKN di Desa Penari or Dancing Village,
this The Devil's Bride is adapted from "real"
life story, that goes viral on TikTok and become a hot topic among
Indonesians a while ago.
You can tell that I already think everything about this movie is
super silly, right?
WARNING! This article contains minor spoilers of the movie The Devi's Bride (2025) and Nosferatu (2024). If you don’t want any spoilers, go watch those movies first before continue reading. {alertWarning}
Synopsys from
IMDB: Echa and Ariel are experiencing a rift in their household relationship. In
the midst of the cold relationship, Echa finds happiness in her dreams with a
handsome man, who turns out to be the incarnation of Jin Dasim, a Jin who
destroys households. When trying to reconcile, they must face many
life-threatening terrors. Echa and Ariel must find a way to free themselves
from the dark shackles that haunt their marriage before it is too late.
Sounds familiar?
It's because we have heard this story before. Nosferatu (2024)—starring
Lily Rose-Depp, Bill Skarsgård, Thomas Hutter,
and Willem Dafoe—has similar story like
The Devil's Bride (2025).
The Devil's Bride, in my opinion, feels like a localized story of
Nosferatu, and a cheap knock-off of the original tale.
The Devil's Bride might focus more on marriage life, while
Nosferatu use its horror elements as symbolism of female
sexuality. However, The Devil's Bride falls flat, with
nothing new to offer to me as the audience. Cheap jump scare,
deus ex machina
moments, and predictable conflict and resolution feels awfully boring—and
don't get me start with the possession scenes... it's terribly loud and so
long in duration.
I have a feeling that they adapt the story solely because its virality. The
story in itself is fun as conversations between friends and discussion on
superstition, but not as a movie. It could have a lot of potential to be made
better and engaging, but well... even with four writers, they couldn't pull it
off. What do you expect?
Indonesian horror movie is getting boring and boring each time. They may get a lot of buzz surrounding the release but in execution, Indonesian horror movies are not living up to my expectation. They need to work harder and find new tricks to scare us, perhaps learn to write a better story first, not only relying on what's hot in the market.
Me saying this won't change anything though. I know the Punjambis
has a lot of money, and they will make whatever movie they believe going to be
profitable in the local market. But I do miss to watch a proper horror movie,
perhaps with a little bit of science fiction like
Joko Anwar's Nightmare and Daydreams on Netflix.
Let me end this by saying that The Devil's Bride is a forgettable movie
and I don't like it one bit. They are going to produce more movies like this,
I'm sure, and many of Indonesian people will go and watch it anyway.
Have you seen this movie? What do you think about it?
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