Indonesian horror has been on a hot streak lately. Granted, that country has been churning out incredible horror films for over six decades, but now the access we have to these films has exploded in the best possible way. The mythology and moral assessments that simmer just beneath the surface of films like Satan’s Slaves, Impetigore, and The Queen of Black Magic feel fresh to the uninitiated. Add to that a fairly bankable commitment to good ol’ jump scares and creative kills, and we are in for a great time at the movies. The Book of Sijjin And Illiyyin is a nice addition to the new slate of Indonesian horror emerging into the Western market, and it is not afraid to get messy.
The film has a helluva opening. Having no interest in easing the audience into the story, The Book of Sijjin And Illiyyin starts with a memorable dinner scene. Within moments of the start, a nuclear family of three is sitting down to dinner, and the mother is violently unwell. At first, it seems like an ache or tension flare, but when needles begin to emerge from her skin and eyes, there is no way that assumption can continue. This swift and agonizing episode leaves both parents dead, and the daughter being chastised by her father’s legal wife. It seems the lone survivor may technically be an illegitimate child in the eyes of the law, and the woman who was the formal wife is set on punishing this girl before her parents’ bodies even begin to cool.
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In the present day, this punishment continues to no end. Half-sister Laras (Dinda Kanyadewi) has taken in “bastard” sister Yuli (Yunita Siregar) and inherited her mother’s hatred of Yuli. Laras appears to have a lovely life with her husband, two children, and mother living on one roof, and she treats her sister Yuli like a sub-human servant. But every person has their breaking point, and Yuli hits hers with gusto. She convinces a fellow shop worker to bring her to a black magic shaman in the woods to aid in her revenge against the entire family.
As far as magical rituals go, this one is a doozy. Black goats and carcasses and blood rites, oh my! And the kicker is that Yuli must keep repeating the ritual if she wants to eliminate the entire bloodline. Her dedication to the cause will be tested, and it will be stinky.
From here on out, The Book of Sijjin And Illiyyin takes an Agatha Christie And Then There Were None approach to the awful family members. The aftermath of each kill is given the appropriate emotional gravity from the surviving kin, but that never fully detracts from how truly visceral each of the kills is. By that, I am talking possession, throat slashing, head smashing, and a good heaping serving of insects assisting in the mayhem.
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Prolific director Hadrah Daeng Ratu has plenty of experience crafting spooky movies, and this shows in The Book of Sijjin And Illiyyin. The production quality rivals that of any Hollywood creation with excellent VFX, sound design, visuals, and performances. Particularly, teen daughter Kawai Labiba, playing Tika, holds her own in every scene, many of which would be demanding even for the most seasoned actors.
The only minor weaknesses in The Book of Sijjin And Illiyyin come from the lead-up to the ending, and the jump scares.
As the film ramps up toward the cathartic and gory ending, it mistakenly pumps the breaks to wedge in a religiously fueled scene to save a soul. Though the family is depicted as religious and Tika seeks comfort from her religious elders, including the paint-by-numbers scene of an exorcism, distracts from all of the enveloping black magic and makes the film lose a good amount of the inertia it has deftly built.
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And I am not about to argue about the state of affairs of the jump scare in contemporary horror film. Frankly, when they work, they work. Oddly, the frequent jumps in The Book of Sijjin And Illiyyin do not work because they hold the image in the sudden scare for far too long. The timing of each quick cut is impeccable and got the audience at Fantasia gasping and flinching in their seats.
But then the camera stays for about two beats too long. After we have seen the ghost or the gore, it just lingers. Not all of these cutaways are showcasing brilliant makeup effects or anything that would benefit from the extra time to take it in. It just creates the same feeling as waiting too long for someone to take a photo, and steers the film into cartoonish territory when it does not seem to intend to head that way.
For a black magic film with a healthy body count, The Book of Sijjin And Illiyyin is a solid choice. Best watched long with that one friend who always jumps and screams at horror films for added cinematic drama.
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