Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is a movie I really wanted to be good. The setting and premise is nice, and it's shot pretty well (That's where the 2 stars come from).Sadly, the rest does not hold up at all. It is plain as day to see that everything is based on an artificial twist ending that is meant to be as shocking as possible. Everything constructed to support it, and even the motivations for it, don't make any sense, except to ensure it's existence.It could have easily been tweaking slightly to ensure coherency, but that would have made the twist impossible, and that was clearly more important. I can not recommend this to anyone sadly.

I'm not sure why this film is receiving low scores as I really enjoyed it. Basically, a guy wakes up in a shallow grave in the woods with amnesia and has to work out what's going on. He finds a cabin and the mystery begins to unfold. Or does it. It's not until the final scene where the plot takes a huge leap and, in my opinion, it's worth watching it just for that.There are hints of Korean film-making in it, like Old Boy. It's atmospheric and tense throughout and it's quite an original film. I think what makes the film a cut above the rest is the sound. You really need to watch the film in surround sound as the sound is one of the strong points that adds to the tension. The mystery kept me guessing until right at the end. It's a very dark film on retrospect and I'd recommend you go into it without any expectations. Just enjoy the ride and wait for the awesome final scene. As I said, it's very original. I hope we see more films from Joko Anwar as he's certainly got talent and the potential to bring Indonesian film into the limelight.

This tale begins with a man waking up in a shallow grave with amnesia. Not knowing exactly what to do, he begins to wander aimlessly through this remote Indonesian forest, eventually finding a cabin with a car parked outside. Inside he's horrified to find the cabin empty except for the bloody corpse of what he believes to be his wife as he discovers a wedding ring on his finger. Then, after watching a video of a faceless attacker killing her, he ventures back into the forest, scared & confused, with only a lantern to guide his way. The atmosphere in the first thirty minutes was creepy & unpredictable as the viewer watches and waits to get a handle on what exactly is going on in the film. As more information is introduced, the level of suspense does come down a little and at times I found myself scratching my head a bit. Certain things happen that seem at the time a bit absurd, but if you stay patient and continue into the final act, there is a nice twist on things that IMO made it a very original worthwhile watch. Some camera work was a bit shaky, but for the budget the production value was just fine for the duration of the film. The acting wasn't a problem, there wasn't a whole lot of dialogue for it even to become an issue. It is an English speaking film despite it's locality & ethnicity of the cast. In all, it wasn't a highly suspenseful thriller or a gory horror flick, although it did contain some elements of each. If horror fans are looking for something different than the same old clichéd plot line than I do recommend taking a look, it's originality & clever end make for a solid 6/10.

Well, i've gotta say that i was interested to watch it because of its catchy title and the idea about an English spoken film made by Indonesians (i reckon it's the 1st Indonesian film which used English as the main language in it).The 1st 50 minutes, the film seems to be so dull with the shallow explanations, barely interactions from one character to another (unlike other previous Anwar's films), how kid characters ruin it with the way they converse in the forest poorly shows lack of thrilled & anxious expression, seemingly to be a shallow no-background story plot, and unsynchronized & unexplained details(necessarily prepared for the ending). All can lead the audience to a boredom and sleepiness.Endure it, then the film will show you the worth of Joko Anwar as a writer-director and Rio Dewanto as an actor.Anwar prepared an unexpected suspense plot mixed with some thrilling horror ingredients blending them all in the perfectly fit location, and served it to the audience with some quite decent cinematography. Dewanto as the leading actor made convincing enough expression and acting (great pukes as well) so that his performance made "John Evans" becoming a more interesting character.After watching it, some questions may show up in mind regarding the background story that causes things that happen in "Modus Anomali" and how the story goes after the film ends. Generally it's a recommended nice flick to spend the evening with.7/10