Review - Dilarang Masuk

"Ayu Roslan berlakon dalam movie ni ker? Dia tak cakap pun..."

The same speech was uttered when watching Legenda Budak Setan. Syikin Kamal looks exactly like Ayu, my ex colleague. Well, except maybe Syikin's face is a bit more oval. Maybe they can be sisters. :)

So this is the first horror movie to hit us in April. Dilarang Masuk. The first time I saw the title, I thought it was a movie about crossing the border illegally into a country. Did not registered at all it was a horror movie. Then I asked my colleague and he said it was horror. Great!

I got the tickets to watch it on Sunday with a friend. It's always better with a friend. So that you won't get shocked and suffer a heart attack and die alone. Hahhaha...

Went to Midvalley to watch this one. The hall was huge and it was not really a full house but it was not bare either. It's understandable because this movie came up against Hollywood giants like Rio and Source Code. I have seen both on Thursday and then Saturday so I am patriotically doing my duty in support of the local cinema on Sunday.

Dilarang Masuk tells the story of four friends who went on a hiking trip but got lost somewhere in the woods. Suddenly, they stumble upon an abandoned house where they stumbled upon two dead bodies and a loaded gun. One of them, Fatia, kept on seeing things and experiencing visions of what had happened in the house. Things took a turn for the worse when they found a stash of money in the house. Their friendship is tested between doing the right thing or taking the money for themselves. All the while, someone or something appears to be stalking them.

First of all, Dilarang Masuk is not a horror movie. It's a suspenseful movie, with horror elements incorporated into the storylines but it ain't horror for sure. Don't get me wrong. Dilarang Masuk is a fine movie. Quite enjoyable. As a thriller or a drama. But just don't clump it in the horror category.

Seriously, going in thinking it's a horror will screw up your view of the movie and you kept waiting for the ghost to pop up in the frame but none will come.

I have a few issues with the script... the dialogue is nice and all but sometimes it felt a bit stilted, like it was not real. Like no one in the real world would be speaking like that. But only in a few instances, nothing too distracting.

However, I do think that some of the dialogues are unnecessary... like for example... they have discovered the dead bodies and the gun and Fatia had been spooked by things that go bump in the evening... and yet she told them that she felt something bad had happened in the house... I know she was referring to something else, but it's kinda like a 'DUH' moment coz, dead bodies? Automatically equals Bad in my book...

The acting was not too bad here... Syikin Kamal's improved tremendously from her stint in Legenda Budak Setan where she was a bit wooden, but then again, she was required to play Lisa Surihani playing a character... which was no easy feat... and also perhaps that was her first big gig as an actress...

Isma Yusoof, who plays Ronnie, her boyfriend... had this one look permanently etched on his face the whole movie... annoyance I think it was... only softening once in a while in an attempt to display some sort of emotion... but I guess his character was written that way... not to say he was awful, but he was better in Setem...

The other two supporting characters were well done as well... Muniff Isa had nothing much to do but lust/look after Fatia... although I do think Isma Hanum's Juli was given the most layer and personality... at first she was just a meek girl, who was just Fatia's best friend, then it turned out Juli was having an affair with Ronnie... but then she was feeling guilty and tried to apologize... and then towards the end, she did a complete 180 and turned into a remorseless/guiltless person...

Hmm, speaking of which, the role reversal here do seem a bit forced... Ronnie was the jerk and he ended up a nice guy and Juli from a meek mousy girl and turning into a dominatrix... not really, but you get the point...

Somewhere towards the end, there was a scene where it seemed like everything was a dream or a hallucination... but it ended up different... which got me scratching my head till now to understand... but it would not distract from the movie... definitely a good thriller, but not a horror...

http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/film/info/?id=Dilarang_Masuk_1036