Cursed Island (2023) Movie Review

One more film from neighboring Malaysia will be present in Indonesia. After previously animated films Mechamato Movie was present and received a positive response during its premiere, now it’s the turn of the horror genre film, Cursed Island will be present in Indonesian cinemas on March 22, 2023.

Bumareview had the opportunity to attend the gala premiere Cursed Island which was held at CGV Grand Indonesia (15/3), and during the premiere in Indonesia, a number of main players were specially brought in to promote this film in Indonesia, such as Amelia Henderson, Alif Satar, Ikmal Amry, and Joey Leong.

Movie premise Cursed Island actually not very original. There are several Indonesian and Hollywood films which have more or less the same plot, with the difference being only in the source of the main conflict.

What’s interesting about this film is the news that the content of the adult theme is quite dominant and had caused quite a stir when this film released its first trailer in Malaysia. Bumareview itself is also interested in finding out about this news, and the trailers are a bit suggestive, but none of this is true. Film producer Cursed Island also denied vehemently that he sold hot scenes in this film script to attract the audience.

Chong said, “They don’t intend to touch sensitive elements that offend many people. We only want to promote the beauty of the island in Malaysia and have no intention of selling hot scenes as people have reported. It is better to watch the film before criticizing it.”

There are indeed significant differences as explained by Chong to the media at the time press conference after the movie takes place. For the Malaysian and Brunei Darussalam versions, this film was subject to censorship, while for Indonesia it was not censored at all, and this certainly makes us happy, because there are no cuts at all in this film.

Cursed Island Synopsis

A group of young people who were on vacation at a resort on an island, did not expect that their trip would turn into a nightmare. Kat (Amelia Henderson), Ben (Alif Satar), Khai (Ikmal Amry), Lili (Joey Leong), Yus (Sanjna Suri), Dauz (Jazmy Juma) who are enjoying their vacation and unexpectedly they are staying with their sworn enemy , Desmond (Harris Annuar), Yaya (Harris Annuar), Kitty (Siew Pu Yi), Hero and Toni.

The next day, Pak Azhan (Namron), the boat owner, took them to dive around the resort, which happened to be close to the Cursed Island. Immediately Kat, who has a sixth sense, gets visions that appear more and more often when they stay at the resort. While diving, Kat’s vision returns and gets stronger until she loses consciousness in the water before being rescued by Ben. After that they returned to the resort and Mr. Azhan reminded them not to stop or stay overnight on the forbidden island. Mr. Azhan said that the island was cursed because of an incident in the past that made all the inhabitants of the village die from black magic.

Cursed Island Movie Review

That night, Kat and her friends are challenged by Desmond to play, and if they lose, they will stay overnight on an island and will be picked up the next day. It turns out that Kat and her friends lost and are forced to stay on the island with Desmond escorted by boat, without Mr. Azhan’s knowledge.

Arriving on the island, they entered into the middle of the forest and found a rope that became a spell to keep the evil spirits out of the village, they let go of the rope and entered one of the residents’ houses where all the inhabitants had disappeared. After that many strange things happened, and what Kat felt this time became more real and clear, that there was an evil energy in that place, who wanted to harm her and her friends. Was the incident in the past so frightening that Kat was always terrorized by endless nightmares?

The story is a cliché with a twist ending like a double-edged knife

The film has a focus on Kat and Ben following behind. Occasionally Lili, Yus and Khai appear with screen timeits not much. We are treated to the problem of Ben being abandoned by his mother and his return to smoking. Meanwhile, Kat always has endless nightmares.

Story Cursed Island itself spelled out cliché with twist ending like two opposite edges of a knife. Some like twist like this, but many also do not like it twist like this. It’s like seeing a vision before it happened. There are many films using twist like this, both at the beginning and at the end of the story. Some have succeeded, but some have failed, and indeed twist like this the response is not always positive. However, on a positive note, this film explains in sufficient detail why this place is cursed through Kat’s dream.

Selling the beauty of the island as well as the sexiness of the cast

As with adventure films in the wild, especially on the islands in Malaysia, of course we have to pay attention to the outfit in which the activity is carried out. And because many activities are carried out on the beach and sea, the cast, especially the women, wear bikinis and tank tops that indirectly show their curves. This has caused controversy in Malaysia when the trailer was launched. Even though after seeing the film, everything went as usual without any excessive scenes. Luckily in Indonesia, this film was not subject to censorship at all and only received a rating of 17+

His demonic figure deserves praise

Rarely do we see horror films with demons that are so scary, especially in the open. In Cursed Island, this figure is present perfectly with all its horrors that will surprise us when it appears. The CGI is quite neat, and the horror atmosphere can also be raised in several crucial scenes.

Cursed Island Conclusion

Film Cursed Island present differently from the horror films currently showing in Indonesia. In the past maybe we can see the equivalent in Bride Falls (2009), but it is clear that this Malaysian film is superior in many ways, and adult-themed horror films like this have started to disappear in Indonesia. So the potential to be accepted by Indonesian audiences is greater, moreover this film has advantages from a non-technical side that will attract the audience’s attention. Besides that Cursed Island not hit by the sensor at all. So watch this film immediately before it disappears from the big screen.