Alice Oscura, Featured Writer
Disclaimer: The following contains minor spoilers.
We’re now into our third week of 31 Days of Horror, are you guys liking it so far? I thought that we should switch things up a bit this week with some Asian horror. So, for Day 15 let’s review the Indonesian horror Monster (2024). It is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
Unfortunately, monsters are not just figments of our imaginations. We can find monsters in real people that lack even the slightest compunction of the vestiges of humanity. Anyone who can kidnap children and treat them as nothing than a commodity is definitely a monster. And that’s the theme of the Indonesian horror aptly titled Monster, directed by Rako Prijanto and written by David Charbonier, Justin Powell and Alim Sudio.
Siblings Alana (Anantya Kirana) and Rabin (Sultan Hamonangan) are kidnapped after school by a man who appears to be part of a child trafficking/pornography ring. Rabin is immediately carried into the house and chained by his ankle in one of the upstairs bedrooms. However, Alana is kept in the trunk. This is an element of the story that I am not clear on, but I came up with at least two hypotheses for this. Number one, maybe he kept her stashed in the trunk because he thought that he could only handle one child at a time or maybe the specialty was just boys, and he only grabbed Alana because she would have alerted the authorities. Anyway, moving on, Alana is clearly a tough cookie as she repeatedly kicks until the trunk opens, and she is able to remove her duct tape bindings. Bravely, her next thought is to save her brother Rabin.
There’s little to no dialogue during the film, only for when a person’s name being called out. However, you will soon discover that honestly there’s absolutely no need for it in order to follow the tension of the story. The audience will immediately be drawn to elder sibling Alana, who is very smart, resourceful and incredibly brave. Once Alana escapes and makes it into the house, she has to make it past her kidnapper in order to find out where her brother is being kept. What ensues is a nail-biting game of “Escape Room” as she moves from the kitchen to the upstairs bedroom that reveals the level of unspeakable horrors being done by the kidnappers and their associates. We eventually find out that the name of the kidnapper is Jack (Alex Abbad) after his girlfriend Murni (Marsha Timothy) arrives at the house.
Despite the lack of dialogue, Monster is incredibly engaging and keeps your eyes glued to the screen as every movement will command attention and can be an important piece of the story. By the film’s climax, the audience will realise that Alana’s greatest challenge wasn’t Jack but his sociopathic girlfriend Murni, who comes across like a crazed, relentless terminator. The ending will have audiences holding their breaths in an almost exasperating final act that leaves you wondering, up until the very last second, if these poor kids are going to survive this ordeal.
Monster does an incredible job at using heavy societal themes without being disrespectful to victims. No wonder it doesn’t need any dialogue because the powerful story speaks for itself. It says everything and more in the fact that the real monsters are people who can commit these atrocities against innocent children.
Dark Alice’s Score: 9 out of 10
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Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump. I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. Read More