Siksa Neraka

As someone who was raised Pentecostal, hearing about what awaits sinners in hell was a staple of my childhood. In fact, the reason I stopped going to church was because the older I got, the more I realized that each sermon dedicated a lot of time to the cost of sin and instilling the fear of an eternal of torment, even in Sunday School. So when I heard about this film, it piqued my interest, as I have never seen religious propaganda quite at this level before, and Indonesia has been on a roll lately with its horror offerings. Although I watched the movie in its entirety, I can't confidently say I enjoyed it. But as an exercise in religious control and how it affects the people most susceptible to it, it really does crawl under the skin in a wholly different way than traditional horror.

The first half of the movie is a touching family film about a father and a mother of 4 children who seem to love and honor one another. The music is sweet, the interactions are very "After School Special" and it seems like the kids are going to grow up to be respectable and well adjusted individuals. But below the surface, the children all lead double lives. The thing is, you'd think they were murderers or drug traffickers or something along those lines. Aside from the oldest male child, the rest are literally just teenagers doing teenage things, but that didn't stop the film from showing the repercussion of their actions (not matter how relatively tame they are).

The second half of the film is basically spent in hell, and for 40 of so minutes, we see people being tortured in many unique ways, the next more horrifying than the last. The SFX were well done, although you can tell its SFX so it takes a lot of the sting out of the visuals, but the torture is creative, unique and absolutely demented. The fact that anyone would believe God, in all his benevolent glory, would allow his children to suffer this was for eternity, is what really makes the story that much more horrifying. The fire and brimstone religious fanaticism that is responsible for this type of belief is the real terror to be found here. No one in the main cast deserved this level of absolutely barbaric punishment, and I shudder to think that anyone would watch this movie and think, "That's exactly what's going to happen to me if I don't repent."

I've always been under the belief that God wants you to come to him of your own free will, because you want to welcome him into your heart to change your life out of LOVE, not because you fear the eternal damnation of hell. I mean, why would any supreme being want someone to come to Him solely because they fear the alternative? That's what this movie ultimately does; it makes you want to lead a better life because you fear going to hell, not because of your love for God, and that's where these types of films ultimately fail.

I watched this movie as a moderately religious person and I wasn't scared, I just felt pity. If it takes the fear of hell to make you accept God into your life, then it's not the right reason to do so. As a form of entertainment, it just didn't do enough to truly make it a successful horror film.

This movie is terrible, it's unhealthy fearmongering first and a movie second with paper thin characters, flat emotionless directing, and an exaggerated focus on shock value to try and get people into seats.

But the worst part of it is that it simply isn't scary.

It prays on people's insecurity about their faith for cheap scares and gross-out to try and unnerve the viewer, showing teens below the age of 18 in the movie itself as being tortured for eternity to scare children into being good.

This is not to mention this movie's disgusting portrayal of suicide. Audibly made me yell in my local theater.

Want your children to be good? Treat them with love and respect.

Treat yourself with love and watch something else intead, this movie SUCKS.

Siksa Neraka (2023) is a religious horror film adapted from a classic comic, delivering a strong moral message. The film presents the consequences of human actions in an explicit manner, serving as a reminder of religious values. However, despite its intriguing premise, the execution falls short.

One of the main weaknesses of Siksa Neraka is its use of CGI, which often appears unpolished. Scenes that should have been terrifying end up looking unconvincing, diminishing the film's eerie atmosphere. Additionally, some parts of the story feel overly drawn out, reducing the tension and making the pacing sluggish.

In terms of acting, the cast delivers a decent performance, effectively conveying the intended emotions, especially in the more reflective scenes. The background score also helps set the mood, though certain moments feel overly dramatic due to excessive sound effects.

Overall, Siksa Neraka has good intentions in delivering its moral message, but its technical execution needs significant improvement. For those who enjoy religious-themed horror, this film might still be worth watching. However, viewers looking for high-quality visuals and a more solid narrative may find Siksa Neraka underwhelming.

This is a hard one to rate. It's a low budget movie that doesn't quite pull off being "good". But it's not awful either.

I've never seen anything quite like it before. A lot of my 7/10 score is originality bonus! It might be the first Indonesian film I've seen, and the first horror-esque film with Islam as the faith of focus rather than Christianity. All the main actors do a decent job - no-one is pretending it's Hollywood blockbuster and there's a kind of simple charm to it because of that. There was one particular scene that actually made me feel sick, and again I think that's a first!

The storyline is problematic morally, and too obvious with no subtly in subtext, but then many movies in this kind of genre are like that. It was kinda refreshing to watch something that I didn't feel I'd already seen before several times over.

I rate it 9 because it is worth watching for me. I think in today's world where people don't know bounds to bad things, it's worth looking into ourselves what wrong are we doing to ourselves in the race of lives to get pompous and lavish. It's a Imaan refreshing for most of us so that we can reflect ourselves at moments. The lead female actress I have seen in many indonesian movies, Indeed she is a good actress and four siblings have also done justice to the role. These type of movies should be made more often. Thank you Indonesia, producers, directors, writer and all those who contributed to this movie and also all those who understood the message of the movie. *********