JP Nunez
Indonesian horror is on the rise. In fact, these past few years have given us so many awesome Indonesian genre films that whenever I hear about a new one, I’m instantly intrigued. This culture’s unique take on terror just really resonates with me, so naturally, when I first got wind of Respati, it instantly became one of my most anticipated movies at this year’s Fantastic Fest. I couldn’t wait to see what brand-new frights it would conjure up, and now that I finally have, I’m happy to say I was not disappointed.
Respati was directed and co-written by Sidharta Tata, and it stars Devano Danendra, Keisya Levronka, Mikha Hernan, Budi Ros, Ratu Felisha, Fajar Nugra, and Ratu Felisha. In the film, Respati is a teenager like any other, with one small exception. He suffers terrifying nightmares about people dying, and when he wakes up and sees the news, he learns that the people in his dreams perished in real life too.
At first, the kid has no idea what’s going on, but after befriending a new classmate named Wulan, he and his best bud Tirta set out to uncover the terrifying truth. The trio find out that these mysterious murders have a connection to Respati’s family, and as luck would have it, he’s the only one who can stop them.
Much like the last Fantastic Fest movie I saw, Ghost Killer, this one also won me over in the very first scene. It drops us right in the middle of one of Respati’s horrific nightmares, and it’s pretty eerie. Director Sidharta Tata cranks the atmosphere up to 11 right from the get-go, and he has the ghosts speak in some of the most spine-tingling tones I’ve heard all year.
It’s an awesome way to start a horror film, but unfortunately, Respati can’t quite keep up the pace, at least not at first. The next 20 minutes are chock-full of similar scares, and even though they’re well executed, they eventually start to lose their effectiveness. There are just too many of them, and that rapid-fire pace makes the terror begin to feel mundane after a while.
Thankfully though, the movie settles down soon enough, and once the plot gets going, it’s pretty much all smooth sailing from there. Sure, the frights still come pretty frequently, but because there’s more to the film than just horror, they’re able to hit a little harder than they were before.
On top of that, Respati also features a really fun story that draws on some great fan favorites. For instance, a few of Respati’s nightmares have hints of The Sixth Sense, and there’s a dream realm that feels a lot like the Further from the Insidious franchise. But above all else, this movie owes a huge debt to A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors.
In fact, it’s a bit of an homage to the entire A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The killer’s MO is nearly identical to Freddy’s, and the two monsters even share a similar backstory. But beyond those parallels to the series as a whole, Respati draws on the third installment for a number of specific plot details.
Most notably, Respati can enter other people’s dreams, and he possesses a unique power that enables him to fight back against the villain. There’s also a character who feels like an amalgamation of Nancy Thompson and Amanda Krueger, and the finale just about drops all pretense of being anything other than a Dream Warriors remix.
Admittedly, that might not sound terribly appealing on paper. I’m usually not a fan of movies that just regurgitate the plots of more famous films, but Respati has enough going for it that it’s one of the few exceptions. For starters, this template is so fun I don’t mind seeing it done again and again. In that sense, it’s kind of like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which has spawned numerous cinematic adaptations and has inspired horrific tales like ‘Salem’s Lot and Fright Night. I love that story so much I enjoy seeing it retold in different ways, and Dream Warriors has a similar revisitability.
What’s more, the characters in Respati are excellent as well, so I had no trouble at all believing that these kids really were experiencing a supernatural life-or-death ordeal. I became attached to Respati and his two friends fairly quickly, and that connection allowed me to immerse myself in their journey so much that I almost forgot this was a fictional story modeled on a film from the 1980s.
In particular, there’s a recurring theme of parental loss here that really drew me close to these characters. I lost my father when I was in my 20s, so I identified with them in a way I never could with the kids in Dream Warriors, and that set the movie apart even more. Of course, your mileage may (and will) vary quite a bit based on your own life experiences, but this theme resonated with me on a deep level.
So despite my general dislike of films that make their influences a bit too obvious, I thought Respati was a fun story brought to life with effective horror and believable characters. Sure, it’s not one of the top horror movies of the year, but I still had a really good time with it, and I suggest giving it a watch when it gets a general release.
Respati played at Fantastic Fest on September 19, and it’s set to screen again at the festival on September 24.
