Death Whisper makes a great production for the uninitiated to be introduced to Indonesian genre cinema. It also reminds all of the classic cinematic traits where the story is always king.
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Indonesian remake of a Korean horror film Whispering Corridors that was released in 1998 hits the cinemas this week with delights for genre fans. Death Whisper by Awi Suryadi explores vengeful spirits haunting an elite high school with a peculiar tradition where freshmen would be enslaved to their seniors.
Under this premise, seniors going overboard caused the death of a poor freshman who eventually haunt the campus for vengeance. Under typical hands, Death Whisper might have turned out to be a trashy horror production that is relentless on blood and violence. Suryadi has pleasantly surprised both genre fans and general audience.
With an emphasis on a simple yet effective narrative structure, Death Whisper follows freshman Alex (Angga Aldi) and his misadventure in Abdi Bangsa High School where he is exploited by his seniors. One of the bullying acts saw Andre being coerced to attempt to summon vengeful spirits by vicious seniors Fahri (Teuku Rizki), Erika (Naomi Paulinda) and Andre (Aarya Vasco).
Brutal misfortune soon befalls upon the seniors where the plot thickens to keep the audience glued to the silver screen as they await each haunting to claim its victim one by one. Suryadi illustrates how scare scenes can be effective without over-relying on blood and violence as seen in films such as those by emerging Indonesian horror filmmaker Rocky Soraya.
With the workable screen presence and performance by the cast ensemble, the teenage actors help the audience better relate to the screenplay and horror elements through their onscreen reactions. Special mention to Naomi Paulinda who plays a balanced antagonist role with a good mix of wicked and woeful attributes.
Given the cultural context where seniority reflects Asian values of respect, Suryadi explores a niche space where teenagers who are inexperienced in life exploit the power of seniority. While serving as a relatively linear plot device to enable bullying as the underlying theme of the film, it also briefly hints of how easily corruptible people can be when it comes to wielding power and authority.
Edited at just a minute over 90 minutes, Death Whisper makes a great production for the uninitiated to be introduced to Indonesian genre cinema. It also reminds all of the classic cinematic traits where the story is always king.
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