DANCE OF DEATH - Don't Mess With This Village! (Indonesia, 2024)
Another movie about KKN students messing with the wrong villagers - aka Ronggeng Kematian.
Hands up: who likes revenge films? Bonus if you like films about vengeful spirits who torture their accused.
If that’s you, you might like this film.
I was skeptical of yet another movie about KKN students, especially after the success of The Dancer’s Village movies, but this one does things a bit different - rather than the KKN students being the innocent victims, in this movie they are the culprits.
First time director Verdi Solaiman, who up until this point had starred in over 100 Indonesian films including the breathtaking action flick The Raid and the awesome Joko Anwar horror flick Forbidden Door, has done a great job at steering the audience through this tale of revenge, creating well developed characters and giving the audience a real protagonist in Sulastri to cheer on!
PLOT
Four college students are invited back to a remote village to accept an accolade for constructing a windmill 7 years after completing their KKN there where they were involved in the murder of a ronggeng dancer Sulastri and her fiancée.
High school student Larasati find a shawl which gives her the ability to perform the ronggeng dance exactly like Sulastri. Now with the students set to return to the remote village, the elders and Sulastri’s mother enact their plan for revenge.
And it’s a revenge that’s been seven years in the making.
ABOUT THE FILM
It’s a possession film, but thankfully this is devoid of any religion, which is what makes this a refreshing change for me. And is one of the big reasons I enjoyed this film far more than I should have.
And what I really, really enjoyed about this film is that it goes all the way.
Without spoiling the movie, I’ll just tell you that if you’re after a movie where the spirit actually gets her revenge and nothing gets in her way, then this will leave you satisfied.
I mentioned that the director has created well developed characters, and what I mean by that is you know almost everyone’s role in the film. Then again, maybe I was just in the mood to watch this film and found myself cheering and booing the right characters.
Since this is Indonesian, then you know there will be gore. The movie is rather restrained in the first half when it comes to the violence but picks up after the hallucination scene when the truth comes out. In fact, it’s the hallucination scenes you want to keep an eye out for, as that’s when the gore ramps up to 11 as Sulastri enacts her revenge!
OVERALL THOUGHTS
An overall fun film that focuses on the characters and revenge plotline - exactly what you want from a horror film like this. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re after gore then the final scene will be worth the wait.
Using my patent pending GHOST rating, which stands for Great Horror Or Stupid Trash, this movie gets 3 ghosts.
I like non-religious Indonesian horror films, I like revenge films and while the voice of the spirit is a bit silly, the rest of the movie was entertaining. This is perfect for a Friday Movie Night session on the couch with a big bag of popcorn.
But as always, what did you think of it?
Genre Horror Thriller
Director Verdi Solaiman
Starring Chicco Kurniawan, Claresta Taufan Kusumarina, Cindy Nirmala
Original Title Ronggeng Kematian
Alternative Title Dance of Death
Country of Origin Indonesia
Release Date 28 March 2024
indonesian movie review horror movie review horror movies 2024 amazon streaming