After recommending this film to @mballesteros, i feel it is time for me to write a review for ROH
Information
Title: Roh
Origin: Malaysia
Director: Emir Ezwan
Date Released: 2019
In summary: i gave this movie 7 / 10.
Poster
Trailer
Synopsis
Two children, Along and Angah, live in a ramshackle shed in the forest with their widowed mother, Mak. When one day, they discover a dead deer hanging by its neck caught between branches high off the ground.
On their way home, they see a young girl who starts following them. They take her in and call her Adik (literally means little sister). Mak told them about a legend of a restless forest spirit that is cursed to endlessly hunt animals and children but victims can save themselves by knocking two rocks together and chanting a mantra.
To their shock, the next morning, the family wakes to see Adik eating raw chicken. During the commotion, Adik tells them that they all will be dead by the next full moon, and then proceed to slit her own throat, and died on the spot.
The family leaves Adik’s body in a clearing in the forest. They return home to find an old lady who calls herself Tok looking at rocks that mysteriously appeared around the house the night before. Tok tells them the rocks are a bad omen and makes the children discard them.
That night, Along encounters a specter that looks like Adik in the crawl space under their house. After the encounter, she develops a high fever and Mother goes to Tok for help. Tok conducts a ritual and instructs Angah to sacrifice two white pigeons but the boy secretly lets one of the birds go free.
A hunter shows up at the house looking for Adik but Mak turns him away. That night, Along sleepwalks and wakes to find herself at Adik’s gravesite where she again encounters the apparition. The next day, the hunter finds a terrified Along in the forest and returns her to Mak, who is suspicious that he had abducted the girl and harmed her.
There is more sinister event happening towards Along, Angah and Mak. Can they survive until the full moon?
My Review
This film era is set during ancient times, ROH (means soul) brings the audience to feel the fear faced by a poor family who faces various mystical and horror events after being approached by a mysterious little girl.
Typically, Malaysian local horror films love to play with ghosts and paranormal, however ROH brings viewers to experience something new in its genre with local flavors. I don’t want to compare ROH with foreign films, honestly I’m just impressed with the director who dares to bring something new and get out of of local films clichés .
Some says that ROH is a heavy film, but for me, this film has a simple and ‘straight-foward’ storyline. The only twist is during the ending where ROH require the audience to think for a moment and understand the meaning of the whole story as well as the characters.
The ‘build-up’ of this film is very slow, for those who don’t like ‘slow-burn’ films will probably feel bored. Honestly, I love the way the storyline is constructed, slowly bringing the audience to feel the fears faced by the main character’s family.