SIKSA NERAKA

An Indonesian horror film that depicts what hell would look like and what sinners may face. It’s apparently banned in some countries probably because of the torture scenes. Directed by Anggy Umbara, who has also done a number of other horror films in the past. This is truly horrifying as it shows us what our pastors in school have warned us about. The film was based on the comic book of the same name written by MB Rahimsyah AR and illustrated by Ema Wardana. Each page was full of suffering humans on some of the worse tortures imaginable. Examples are: Bodies are hung on hooks and stabbed with hot iron spikes. People lying face down on a flat slab of concrete with blistered flesh smoking under a giant red-hot iron. The tongues of liars cut out of their mouths. Limbs hacked off. All of these and more will be repeated for all eternity.

The title is roughly translated as “Hell Torture” which literally is the premise of the film. It’s about four siblings who have always been taught lessons about Heaven and hell. Their parents are both very religious, so they’re not very concerned about their sons/daughters as they were raised in a religious household. But lo and behold, most of them have made unforgivable sins. And those that have were the ones who their father thinks are the successful ones, but the one problem child he thought of as was the most innocent one.

The premise is simple. People committing sins and paying for it. They made a movie out of it but it felt like a documentary of sorts portraying what hell torture would look like. Story-wise, it felt hollow and there wasn’t enough cast-to-viewer engagement, hence the viewers wasn’t that affected with what happened to them, there were no sense of emotional attachment. That’s where the film fell short in my opinion.

I thought the ending was a nice touch but definitely traumatizing if you were in the sole survivor’s shoe. Imagine seeing your siblings go through their specific tortures and you can’t do anything about it other than to watch them suffer. And then you’d be free to leave the place, knowing that their fates are sealed and will go through those tortures for all eternity. You say goodbye to them with that thought I wouldn’t wish that fate on my enemies. It was a bitter-sweet ending but was really well done. It’s definitely a gore film. The effects were enough to convey the pain through the screen.

This film has been banned in Malaysia and Brunei due to it’s depiction of torture. The strict regulations of both countries may also be a factor.