forbidden door
28 October, 2009 – 22:26Our last London Film Festival film last night, Forbidden Door, was an Indonesian psycho-thriller directed by Joko Anwar.
I was expecting a full on horror film in the South Korean style, but it was more of a mix of genres. The opening credits were all 1950s Hitchcock and retro James Bond shapes of bright colours, even though the film seems to be set in the present day. Much of it is classic horror movie, but there are also some genuinely funny gory scenes with Cronenberg blood spurting all over the place too, and dark Freudian and sexual themes.
On the one hand I liked the fact the film went off on its own unclassifiable path, on the other hand I did find the mix of styles unsatisfyingly incoherent at times. I would have liked the horror to have escalated a level too. A lot of the suspense and fear had dissipated by the end of the film, though there are a couple of good shocks for later on.
Overall though, well worth seeing! A very distinctive and competent voice.
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