THE DEVIL'S BRIDE (Indonesia 2025) - MINI REVIEW
A frustrated housewife has a sexy dream, conjures the devil and tells her story to TikTok.
A disenfranchised housewife named Echa, frustrated over the lack of sex in her marriage, takes comfort in her nightly sexy dreams where a good-looking man instantly seduces her. Desperate to fix her crumbling marriage, Echa and her husband Ariel rekindle a spark, and a few days later she mysteriously falls pregnant.
But her dreams are actually a Djinn who preys on weak housewives, and he may be responsible for her pregnancy. Along with her best friend, Echa and her husband consult a religious leader for assistance.
I’m not going to be kind to this movie, so if you here only for positive vibes, then you are going to be disappointed. In fact, it’s a long shopping list of the typical “Indonesian horror tropes” that combine together to ruin yet another movie that had excellent potential.
What are those tropes?
Marriage issues are caused by Djinns and not shitty partner behaviour
As with the above issue, if the partner was faithful to Allah, all these issues would be avoided
Only a Ustad and his unwavering faith in Allah can save the day
All supernatural stories are based on true stories, which are just stories told on Twitter or Tiktok
In the end, religion wins.
Almost every mainstream Indonesian horror movie released in the past few years has one or multiple of those tropes. This movie has all five of them.
The worst part of that is, the first hour of the film is quite enjoyable, atmospheric and full of potential. There’s great insight into Echa’s marriage and the issues that normal, busy married couples face. And honestly, that was the story that should have been told.
In that first hour, we are witness to a few interesting scenes that show a lot of potential, such as when Ariel is doing his first day shift in the car park and hears the baby crying, and then he is scared by the demon baby. Or when Echa is at her job just after she’s announced her pregnancy, and the demon who is controlling her has also taken control of her colleagues, who point and taunt her.
But then we end up with silly possession and exorcism scenes and an ending that makes out as if the Djinn is still in Echa’s life. Well yeah, of course it is - she’s not going to stop having naughty dreams if she enjoys them, right?
The real kicker is at the end of the film, where there is an interview with the real Echa talking about what happened to her. It must be great where you can blame every problem with your marriage on Djinns and spirits and the supernatural and not the fact that people are just shitty and sometimes, they just pick the wrong life partners. Religion doesn’t solve everything.
Also, what’s with the self-abortion scene in the movie?
If I was rating the first hour of the film, then it would be a solid 3 ghosts pushing into 4 ghost territory, but then that final third kicked in…
…and that’s why I give this movie 2 ghosts out of 5.
GENRE Horror Thriller
DIRECTOR Fajar Aditya
STARRING Erika Carlina, Emir Mahira, Wavi Zihan
ORIGINAL TITLE Pengantin Setan
ALTERNATIVE TITLE The Devil's Bride
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN Indonesia
RELEASE DATE 16 January 2025
