asian – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: At least the devil is doing better than the humans these days, I think.

Vampire Bat: Maybe the devil should go to Earth and leave hell for the humans.

Vampire Owl: Isn’t it where most of the humans are going sooner or later?

Vampire Bat: I am expecting the angels of heaven to be very lonely.

Vampire Owl: Do you think that there will be space in hell for this many humans?

Vampire Bat: Hell is infinite and eternal, and with separate circles.

Vampire Owl: So, it is the same as what Dr. Frankenstein had discovered.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frankenstein is a man of infinite circles of nonsense.

Vampire Owl: When did infinity start coming in circles of Frankenstein?

Vampire Bat: He has always needed them as he would be going to hell as a human too.

[Gets a paneer paratha and three cups of Darjeeling tea].

What is the movie about? :: Five friends from the United States, Sara (Kathryn Newton), Max (Lala Condor), Greg (Gavin Casalegno), Adrienne (Tommi Rose) and James (Nico Hiraga) are on a trip to South Asia, now visiting the beaches and going through underwater journeys in Thailand. As they are enjoying the open tropical waters off the coast, they do not realize that Sara is diving in the water, and as they ask for the boat to be moved to the land as Max feels that she is in the shower. Left alone, Sara is swarmed, and stung by aggressive jellyfish in all parts of her body, rescued later, but is left in pain. Max is supposed to be the one in control of the trip and also the one who said that everyone was aboard before the boat was taken forward, which leads to some tension, but Sara and Max are back together as best friends in no time. The friends are back together, and as they continue to feel that something is in the saltwater of ocean due to seeing dead fish and turtles cast ashore on beaches, they sign up for a guided swim through a fresh water remote cave system known as The Devil’s Mouth.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: This early incident leaving Sara as damsel in distress does manage to keep a rift between them right before they enter The Devil’s Mouth cave network, and despite Sara trying to keep up with the excited team against her pain and in spite of Max trying to tip the guide to take better care of her friend, there is some disagreement. While Sara asks for the easy way through the tunnel without that much of it submerged in water, Max who has always been the leader opts to go for the highly submerged red route, and Sara, despite her fears, agrees to the same. The team is led through a path which had its water level only somewhat come down from being fully submerged in a previous storm. They go through different caves which are interconnected through passages flooded with water, some of them even having salt water from the nearby ocean. But they soon find one of the divers who went before them dead, and within minutes finds themselves hunted by a shark which seems to have come in from the ocean during the flooding with nowhere to go as the tunnel lost its connection with the saltwater. Now, can they survive the creature sensing blood all around?

The defence of The Devil’s Mouth :: With the tide rising and oxygen levels dropping inside the cave system, the friends left on the isolated rock shelves where the shark cannot reach, do not find it to be a long-term option, but have nowhere to go in the maze-like chambers – this is perfectly shown here with each scene, and we have an environment which is so well created and maintained with danger all around the corner. The cave diving horror and shark survival are combined nicely here, as the subterranean setting makes it a different battle against the creature. The tight underwater struggles, internal disagreements, secrets and grievances within themselves, all add to the further tension here. The movie is also never really that long, and this length feels perfect for the total run-time. The signs of the same was established early enough, and that too in open water, with the attack of the jelly fish as much as being left alone in the middle of the sea – these are also basically the kind of horror which are scary enough even without huge fangs.

Positives and negatives :: The movie’s caves are among the best that you might ever see, and when you put a shark in there, it is just glorious. One then remembers that some fine foreshadowing has always been there, and all would lead to just disaster. The final moments when the protagonist lures the shark with herself as a bait is among the best of the movie, and when the characters try to escape from the shark at a ledge, and when they move through tight tunnels, we are all kept in the highest level of tension. We see that the situation places us in a world from where escape is almost impossible by logic with water all around, and the shark being able to thrive in both freshwater and saltwater settings. This also means that there is less visibility, and we can keep feeling the need to have more light around – keeping on looking at the darkness is not the best thing we can do around here. There is some repetition here and there with what the characters are doing, even though the same remains enjoyable.

The performers of the soul :: Here, we have Kathryn Newton once again doing what she does the best, and that is to survive against all odds, as she already did in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, and had managed to get out of that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania level which was rather lower in comparison to where she stands now as a grand scream queen in the making – she seems to be surviving everything in a convincing manner, and here, she remains a lovable character, and it is her for whom we keep rooting for, as she knew that something bad was going to happen all the time, and in her senses, tries to avoid the worst, even though she has to finally give in to her friends. She is the survivor whom we would all love to have, maybe in a sequel to The Shallows. She is one young actress who seems to be bringing a certain amount of completeness. Lana Condor whom we would best recognize from Alita: Battle Angel, Pretty Lethal and X-Men: Apocalypse, also comes up with a memorable role, and it is another work that we are going to remember here. Tommi Rose also has some work that we will remember. Nico Hiraga as James might be one selfish character which is done well. Then, Gavin Casalegno also comes up with the needed.

How it finishes :: It can be seen that the movie maintains a certain amount of balance around here with a shark attacking in a flooded cave with nowhere to go – the horror gets more of the strength here with the same, while tensions also run related to the past among the characters. We have already seen the sharks and friends running strong in 47 Meters Down, Deep Blue Sea, Killer Whale and more, but this one takes a divergent and interesting approach with the same. Anchored by strong performances from Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor, the movie also focuses on the deteriorating, toxic friendship and further focuses on the terrifying situation rather than the shark. The predictability does not push this aquatic survival flick that much down, as the tension never leaves us and the lovely leading character always have us rooting for us, with the empathy right there to be taken home. I would consider this to be a surprise charm as one of the best shark movies in some time, and its release on Amazon Prime Video has left the same accessible to more of us who choose OTT over the theatres.

Release date: 29 July 2026
Running time: 104 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Gavin Casalegno, Nico Hiraga, Tommi Rose

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: Why is this particular woman only called a mother?

Vampire Bat: Maybe it is a name in another language which means mother in another.

Vampire Owl: Or calling a mother not a mother is usual among some humans.

Vampire Bat: And yet it is a horror movie with a mother.

Vampire Owl: There was that movie called Mama with such a theme, right?

Vampire Bat: Yes, but I would not find any relation between the two.

Vampire Owl: The human worlds are never really related to one another.

Vampire Bat: It is a good reason to hate one another for the humans.

Vampire Owl: Is hate another word for humanity?

Vampire Bat: Human hatred is infinite and eternal, like Uncle Dracula’s curse and Frankenstein’s madness.

[Gets a Munnar white chocolate and three cups of Vagamon tea].

What is the movie about? :: Yanti (Artika Sari Devi) goes through a severe psychological breakdown after her husband leaves her and their children and files a divorce. She becomes desperate to claim her independence and provide for her family which is now financially broken. She moves to a new area with her two children, her teenage daughter Vira (Aurora Ribero) and her younger son Dino (Ali Fikry) to a rural town where she plans to open a stylish and advanced new hair salon. Her two children are not confident about the same, as this shop is opened right beside their home which is far away from the roads and town area, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It is indeed a peaceful place for a home, but not the right place for a salon as Vira keeps asserting. Yanti invites different people of the town to the salon, and her children do notice a certain amount of seductive nature in that invitation. Then all of a sudden, the move seems like a blessing, as people seem to come in big numbers to her new venture.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The success of the salon brings them a lot of wealth, which interests them, but Vira has not been feeling well at the place which feels as strange as what has been happening with her mother’s business adventure. She sees some shift in the mother’s behaviour and she seems to be doing something strange in the bathroom, lying in the bathtub. Then, she also sees someone else, a shadowy figure with her mother, mostly reflected in the mirror. Yanti is also seen drinking a lot of milk for no reason, while a certain cruelty and brutality when preparing meat can also be seen from her side. Dino had also felt something while trying to explore an abandoned house nearby with overgrown vegetation as part of her attempt to take a video for the social media. Unlike Vira, he feels that it is safe inside the house until he sees his mother both inside the house and outside on the streets at night. But as their room is not bathroom-attached, they might need to walk around at night. Now, what might be the problem with the mother and how can this terrifying situation be solved?

The defence of A Woman Called Mother a.k.a. Dia Bukan Ibu :: The movie places the characters nicely inside the house and the salon making them ready for all the horror which is to come, with the rest of the world only adding less to the scares in comparison. As the mother’s evil presence grows to be more menacing, the danger is even more felt in a world of terror. The focus here is not only on the fear of the supernatural which is ready to unleash itself on the family, the real-world tragedy of a broken home, financial devastation and the immense burden placed on single parents. With the trauma already there much earlier, we see the horror as the extra addition to what is already there. The final moments nicely show the unleashing of pure evil, but we already see the signs of the same in a bathtub and the actions of the mother with shadows and darkness nicely complementing all of these without hesitation. The imagery of horror that we have here catches our attention, and being a fine atmospheric horror is the movie’s advantage.

The claws of flaw :: The movie drags quite a lot as we look at it – there is the time taken to get into horror action, and even after that there is some drag. The middle part drags significantly as the story takes so much time revealing what is actually going on – this would test the patience of viewers looking for clues early itself. The idea in the movie is also not new, and it is not extended that much to provide a new divergent feeling. The movie’s best moments also fall apart after starting very strong. A number of characters of the movie that fails to go relevant also goes through a struggle. The blood and gore might upset some people as it is rather evenly distributed around here, and focused on animals, which can also be found not good for a number of viewers. The supernatural is also not that much explained here. We keep feeling that there is more to this, and enough has not provided around here related to the world of terror. Then we remember that there were many repetitions, and still there was not enough provided here to make the narrative’s movement through the inner evil smoother.

The performers of the soul :: Artika Sari Devi’s performance as Yanti remains something to be appreciated. There is more than one side of the character that she displays around here. She shows the shift from a broken, grieving mother to a feral, unpredictable and possessed monster of pure evil incredibly well. Her work brings the scares and makes the whole thing deeply terrifying to watch with the help of some mysterious gestures and expressions. The bathtub scene and the last moments with her coming in a bloody dress would be two moments which would be remembered as classic additions to an otherwise dark movie which depends on quick scares. Aurora Ribero comes up with a performance to remember as the young woman who does a fine job in understanding that there is something wrong with her mother, and she plays a character with confidence and determination which has us rooting for her. We would feel that she would make a great scream queen in horror movies someday. Ali Fikry has his moments, and the brother-sister moments add well to the side of drama.

How it finishes :: If you are looking for a a highly unsettling piece of psychological domestic horror, this might be the one, even though it is never near perfection in any way. There are so many moments which could have been better, and it is only safe to say that there were so many occasions which could have been dealt in a better way. There are indeed those moments when it falters under its own weight with the repetitions. Furthermore, it treads incredibly familiar territory for anyone already well-versed in Indonesian occult cinema. The movie had made some good impact in the Indonesian Film Festival too, and deserves a watch for its divergence from the usual. Indonesian movies have had some fine horror added here and there which have kept us wondering why more industries could not follow this particular path. It is the one reason why this movie came to the movies to be watched list early. Its availability in JioHotstar was another reason, and this one does not disappoint the audience who loves to have some variety in horror.

Release date: September 25, 2025
Running time: 119 minutes
Directed by: Randolph Zaini
Starring: Artika Sari Devi, Aurora Ribero, Ali Fikry, Fara Shakila, Khiva Iskak, Sita Nursanti, Dian Sidik, Husein Al Athas