'Titik Hitam': A failed attempt at horror

'Titik Hitam': A failed attempt at horror

Joko E.H. Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

Titik Hitam (The Black Spot);
Starring Winky Wiryawan, Aurora Yahya, Enditha;
Directed by Sentot Sahid;
An I Sinema/Prima Entertainment Production;
Horror, ** (out of ****)

Noted film editor Sentot Sahid whose excellent work includes the
art-house favorite Pasir Berbisik (The Whispering Sands) makes a
big-screen debut with a horror movie which is said to be based on
his real-life experience.

While the movie shows signs that he will get better the next
time, Sentot would be well not to stray from his specialty just
yet.

At time when local audiences desperately need another movie to
keep their faith in the newly reborn local film industry, Titik
Hitam is likely to end up on the viewers' disappointment list.

The story about a young man who can see ghosts, while
dangerously derivative, is lacking in scary or thrilling scenes.

Since he was a little kid, Heru (Winky Wiryawan) is blessed
(or cursed) with an ability to see ghosts. His cousin Retno
(Aurora Yahya) has always believed in him while nobody else does.

When they are in college, Heru has a relationship with a girl
even though he knows that Retno loves him very much and always
imagines that someday they will get married.

Meanwhile, Heru keeps seeing ghosts which have little to do
with the story. Heru is then also involved in making video clips
and movie projects (talented film director Riri Riza appears in a
cameo).

However, none of it really takes us anywhere.

The supposedly interesting "The Black Spot" theory which
becomes the title of the movie itself is never explained and only
appears on the cover of a book.

Oh, there are also some sequences which involve our main
characters flying around, which will immediately prompt a "what
was that?!" response from the audience. Hmmm...

Just like most of the recently released locally made movies,
Titik Hitam suffers from a lack of adequate storytelling and
should make a good example for scriptwriting classes about how
not to write a script.

The screenplay, surprisingly written by Jujur Prananto who co-
wrote the highly successful Ada Apa dengan Cinta? (What's Up With
Love?) last year, is so poorly-structured it falls apart before
finishing its second reel.

There is no real story to push the movie forward, we do not
know what the main character's real goal is in the film.

As a result, the audience has no motivation to keep following
the story and will start counting the number of speakers in the
theater, instead.

It is unlikely that Titik Hitam will follow the commercial
success of another local horror flick, Jelangkung, which created
long queues at local multiplexes last year.

While Jelangkung benefited from a straight-forward, simple
plot, Titik Hitam is tangled in its own attempt to create a
complex storyline.

What could have been the main plot, about someone close to the
main character who dies and tries to tell him what it feels like
to live in the spirit world, comes too late near the end.

As a result, we are presented with a movie with a very
stretched-out setup which stops when the real problem arrives.

The scary moments are also poorly staged here while the
ghostly images often appear in poor computer-generated graphics
which often look like figures in video games.

Too bad, since horror fans would spot that there are so many
potential moments in the movie which should have been able to
make the audience jump off their seats.

The fact that the movie is being released at the same time as
another Asian horror movie The Eye, which is still being shown at
local theaters, could seriously hurt Titik Hitam as it will draw
a direct comparison.

Of course, The Eye which is a worldwide hit and is already
hailed as one of the scariest horror movies of all time is far
superior.

Shot in digital video then transferred to celluloid, Titik
Hitam pales in comparison.

However, The Eye's success does not solely rely on its
relatively greater budget, but on the filmmakers' good judgments,
including using real images instead of computer-generated ones.

Titik Hitam is not without quality. The performances are
mostly believable while there are moments that you would think
that there is a future ahead for Sentot as a director.

He just needs to pursue his storytelling skills.