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'Kuntilanak 3' fails to keep its grip on the story

A still from Kuntilanak 3 (Courtesy of MVP Pictures) The third installment of director Mantovani's Kuntilanak films is out this week

Lisabona Rahman (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, March 16, 2008

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'Kuntilanak 3' fails to keep its grip on the story

A still from Kuntilanak 3 (Courtesy of MVP Pictures)

The third installment of director Mantovani's Kuntilanak films is out this week. Kuntilanak 3 is the weakest of all, weighed down by its effort to offer a different setting, new subplot and something like an ultimate task for Samantha, its main character.

The story is unfocused and loses its way because Samantha's mission, which should bind the sequels together, is unclear and comes too late in the film.

The story starts with Petra (Antoinetta) and a companion heading to a village called Ujung Sedo to find their missing friends. They meet Samantha (Estelle) who is heading the same way to take care of mysterious family business.

The group arrives at a place not charted on any map, a blank spot where communication devices don't work and time proceeds in random order. Samantha warns her new friends their lives are in danger but they insist on continuing their search.

Ujung Sedo is described as a mountainous area with giant trees and unexplored trails that attracts nature explorers like Petra and her friends.

Kuntilanak 3 intends to move away from the urban settings of its previous incarnations, delving here into the world of nature's mystique. But, alas, it's poorly done. This new setting is only superficially established through the characters' lines and there's hardly any wide angle shots that can impose a sense of Ujung Sedo's challenging landscape to fully communicate our protagonists' helplessness.

Petra and her friends' fear and confusion seem pointless and at times even stupid when compared to their hi-tech outdoor gear that is supposed to show their readiness to conquer nature.

The challenges they face such as heavy fog and a cave are thrown in without a proper anchor in the story, and added props like skulls and bones inside the cave just add to the silliness.

The characters lack convincing reasons for their respective missions. Petra and her group's goal to find their missing friends is very much unclear. Except for Asti's (Therinne) vague remark about losing loved ones, what's so important about finding the missing friends remains unknown. It's not even clear who she meant as the "loved one"; is it all the missing friends or one of them? And instead of sticking to their stated purpose, the team is easily distracted by saving a bizarre infant whose consequent disappearance is then met with indifference.

Samantha's reasons for making the trip remain a mystery until much too late in the film.

It turns out she is following her late mother's advice to find an old dukun -- shaman -- who can remove a curse on her family that makes them agents for Kuntilanak.

The lateness in this revelation weakens its power to build any tension. We are left wondering what Samantha's got to do with Petra's group and where she gets all her knowledge to warn them of the dangers they face.

When Samantha finally meets her foe, we're all so distracted that it doesn't even matter whether she wins or not. There's hardly anything that can be called a fight scene, although she is supposed to fight a very powerful enemy. Samantha's character loses its significance altogether, as she's neither the evil one nor the hero.

The Kuntilanak films might have earned a loyal audience that faithfully waits for their next sequels, but they will soon lose fan without major reworking of the storytelling. Kuntilanak 3 suggests Samantha will be back after her suicide attempt. Let's hope it will be for the better.

Kuntilanak 3 (The Chanting 3) (Horror, approx. 100 minutes). Starring Julie Estelle, Imelda Therinne, Reza Pahlevi, Laudya Cynthia Bella, Ida Iasha and Laura Antoinetta. Directed by Rizal Mantovani and produced by MVP Pictures.

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