Asian Does Horror is bringing you three movie reviews in one post. Why, you ask? Well, imaginary question giver, it saves me time and effort and because I've got other reviews to do, so I figure, "why not just lump these three movies into one".
Astro First is a cinema to home subscription service where you can purchase the movies that are currently playing in the theaters without the hassle of leaving your home.
In my opinion, it's usually reserved for movies you don't think is worth your time getting ready, traveling out, paying for parking, reserving your seats, buying popcorn, sitting down and surviving through half an hour of ads, but you really want to watch.
Some might say, "god bless Astro First", others might say, "it's just Astro trying to squeeze money from you because of their overhead costs trying to keep a broadcasting company alive since the introduction of Netflix and other streaming sites" while others might say, "hmm... this isn't where I parked my car". If you're any of these three people, let me just say, there is no wrong answer and any assumption created from feelings of bitterness or resentment aimed at an obsolete service is warranted.
So today, we'll be bringing you a review of Astro First's collection of Horror movies released in 2020.
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| Ainul Aishah in a red kebaya? Yes please~ |
Pretty good poster if you ask me. But behind every good piece of promotional artwork is a product that usually doesn't meet expectations.
Suraya is the story of Nabila played by Farihin Ufiya and Adam played by Amir Rahim who are vloggers on a holiday across Malaysia. During their journey, they get lost and find themselves at Homestay Abadi run by Ms. Suraya, played by Ainul Aishah, a widower with a mysterious personality.
When I started the movie, I had pretty low expectations for it. But to my surprise, the quality of the movie and my expectations kinda met halfway. Suraya didn't surpass my expectations nor did it dip below, it kind of hovered in the middle. It's like treading water, but you're a few meters from the beach. You're kind of nonchalantly suspended there.
The story is pretty simple, couple gets stuck in one location, male lead is attracted to the host, female partner is suspicious and then BAM! People die.
I can't complain about the acting because I think the script is written in a way that there was no wiggle room, but both Farihin and Amir did a good job trying to make what they're told to say seem natural, like a free flowing conversation. Suraya was... well trying very hard to be mysterious, so her lines were dragged on and her voice kept low. It did work to add a sense of mystery to her, but I have to commend Ainul for switching her character from proper lady to psychotic witch.
Suraya was basically a deformed child that made a deal with the devil to become beautiful, but needs blood to maintain her beauty. So she lures men to her homestay, kidnaps them and uses their blood for her spell. But it's also specified that she needs the blood of virgin men, which in this day and age is damn near impossible and i'm pretty sure Amir's character in the movie was not a virgin. So... how does that work?
The camera angles were pretty decent, scenes were pretty choppy, but easily dismissed and the story was not bad. Although, production quality could have been better but for a low-budget Malaysian, straight to television movie, one could not ask for too much.
Asian Does Horror gives Suraya two ghost emojis out of five. 👻👻
Pretty much every mall in Nilai is a horror mall.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Hasrudi Jawawi, Town Mall tells the story of Rusdi, played by Eizlan Yusof, an executive in a construction company that's been awarded a contract to resurrect a ten year old abandoned mall project.
When the mall was first built, there were already signs of paranormal activity which forced the original developer to postpone the construction, leaving it unfinished for up to ten years.
Town Mall is Eizlan Yusof's directorial debut and features some pretty amazing talent including Jalaludin Hassan and Intan Ladyana.
It's no surprise that for his debut, he put effort into some really good scenes. The CGI isn't amazing, but it'll do to create some choice moments. There's a few twists and turns throughout the movie that were pretty obvious but otherwise easily dismissed and Town Mall is a decent horror movie. The only thing lacking is the scare factor and jump scares as well as the script writing and the delivery of lines. They just feel so forced, despite the caliber of actors in the movie. Other than that, overall, Town Mall is not too bad.
It's not something I would enjoy watching in the cinema, but if i'm at home with nothing better to do, then I don't mind Town Mall at all.
Asian Does Horror gives Town Mall two ghost emojis out of five. 👻👻
A bang for your buck.
This is one of those movies where you don't knock it till you try it. It's such a good movie! I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. I mean, there were a few lull moments, but when the jokes hit, they hit hard. It's not for everyone, but i'm sure it does have a cult following within the Malay demographic.
A big one up to Reen Rahim for her effortless acting and hilarious ad libs which made scenes with her so enjoyable to watch.
Syif Malam Raya basically has two story lines, one involving a hospital staff working on the eve of Eid to transport a dead body to Ipoh and the other is about a quaint little village that is terrorized by a 'pocong' or hopping corpse (not the Chinese vampire kind, the Malay kind). These two story lines converge together when they lose the corpse in that village and the villagers assume that the pocong terrorizing them is the hospital workers' corpse.
The movie has a few notable cast members including Azlee Senario, Ropie, Emelda Rosmila, Saiful Apek and Reen Rahim who also starred in Town Mall in the post above.
Everyone executed their lines really well and paired comedic timing and ad libs perfectly including the supporting cast.
The production quality fit the theme of the horror comedy and the camera angles, editing and scenes worked really well. The script was written so well that it allowed the actors to converse like normal.
Props to A. Razak Mohaideen, a veteran in the industry, for delivering such a refreshing movie. Not till today did I think that he'd have the chops to pull something like this off. I mean, if you look back at his 90's early 2000's credits, it was mostly full of mediocre or really terrible movies.
Syif Malam Raya is such an easy movie to watch and since it's a Eid movie, i'm sure there will be reruns in the following year. If there isn't, there should be.
Asian Does Horror gives Syif Malam Raya three ghost emojis out of five. 👻👻👻
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