Co-directors Rafki Hidayat and Kevin Rahardjo’s latest joins the ranks of the best expertly crafted Indonesian horror films ever—Impetigore, May the Devil Take You, and Grave Torture among modern horror’s finest offerings. sMOTHERed is far more than meets the eye, transforming from one kind of film into another one entirely. Very hard left turns hit when you least expect them, and you’re left picking your jaw up off the floor. It’s akin to The Handmaiden in that way. Rahardjo and Hidayat, who co-wrote the script with Joko Anwar and Aline Djayasukmana, based on the folktale Malin Kundang, create something so twisty and gnarled, you’ll have a hard time slashing through the thorny underbrush.
Alif (Rio Dewanto) has just had a life-altering accident. The late-night car crash left him missing huge chunks of his memory, particularly his childhood. His wife Nadine (Faradina Mufti) and son Emir (Jordan Omar) welcome him home with warm embraces and desperately hope a familiar place will return those fragmented pieces. But even his recent memory has been affected. He can’t seem to recall anything about the last few years. What’s even more, Alif’s personality completely shifted after the accident. As many keep telling him, including Emir, he’s far from the same person who went driving on a back, forested road that fateful night.
Throwing a wrench into things, Alif’s mother comes to visit, and it’s his first time seeing her in 18 years, ever since he left home without a word when he was just 15 years old. Not even Nadine has met her. The reunion is emotional, leading Alif to plead for forgiveness for abandoning her. Something about her seems off, though—not quite right, as though she has sinister intentions. Revenge for years of pent-up anger and sorrow? Perhaps.
When you think the story has settled into a rhythm, Hidayat and Rahardjo yank the rug from underneath your feet and send you spinning across the hardwood. In anyone else’s hands, the plot points would seem convoluted and unnecessary, but every decision they make feels earned. Discard all expectations heading into the film and brace yourself for a thrilling roller coaster ride, complete with upside-down loops and sidewinders. Revelation after revelation characterizes much of sMOTHERed‘s second and third acts, bringing up themes of betrayal, seduction, trickery, and the many crushing blows of merely being alive.
Rafki Hidayat and Kevin Rahardjo direct the film with careful consideration of mood-setting and the emotional underpinnings of the broken human spirit. sMOTHERed doesn’t just arrive as one of the year’s best films; it has horror classic written all over it. In excavating matters of compassion and cruelty, the co-directing duo mines the darkest, most disturbing parts of humanity. It’s not ghouls and goblins that are most terrifying; it’s humans themselves and the wicked things they conjure.
sMOTHERed hits Shudder this Friday (May 29).
sink. your. teeth.
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