The Verge of Death

Of course I had never heard about this 2023 Indonesian horror movie titled "Di Ambang Kematian" (aka "The Verge of Death") prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2024. I happened to stumble upon it by random chance, and with it being an Asian horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I took the time to sit down and rectify that mistake. I didn't have any expectations to the movie at all, as I didn't have a clue what I was in for, aside from it being an Indonesian horror movie. However, I have to say that writers Erwanto Alphadullah and JeroPoint delivered an incredibly bland and generic script. "Di Ambang Kematian" delivered nothing that haven't been done or seen in other movies prior to it, and often with a more alluring grip on the audience. The narrative in "Di Ambang Kematian" was so insanely monotonous and slow paced that it was quite a struggle to sit through the 97 minutes that the movie ran for. Throughout the course of the movie there just simply wasn't enough of neither storytelling or interesting horror to keep me entertained. The acting performances in "Di Ambang Kematian" were good, despite the fact that the actors and actresses virtually had nothing worthwhile or interesting to work with. I was only familiar with actor T. Rifnu Wikana. Visually then I will say that the effects in the movie were actually fair. Nothing outstanding or impressive, but in all honesty, then the special effects were adequate. If you enjoy Asian horror then you can skip on watching "Di Ambang Kematian", because it simply was too bland and mundane. My rating of "Di Ambang Kematian", from director Azhar Kinoi Lubis, lands on a three out of ten stars.

1. The movie has a good movie story line and theme that was adapted from original beliefs of the action in real life, even though it was a little bit more exaggerated. The visual for the ghost was also good, not that frightening, yet able to show the figure as it was believed in the folklore. 2. I can admit that the acting of the father was very good, and constant from the beginning of the story until the end. Same goes to the main character (the daughter), yet not that constant at the ending of the movie. 3. When it comes to the ending of the movie, there was a lack of character depth as the time passes in the time skip, and the setting did not change as time goes by either.