Adhering to the strict burial rites usually found in the country, it's no surprise Indonesian audiences adopting the improper burial customs of one of their own into a terrifying creature in their cinema. Known as a pocong, the idea for the creature stems from the burial shroud given to practitioners of the Muslim faith that are wrapped in a ceremonial cloth before being buried, and should the cloth be improperly tied or loosened, the deceased would rise from the grave as the titular being to wreak havoc on the living. While there are several efforts that have brought the creature to the forefront of the country's genre cinema, among the better efforts is Hanny Saputra's atmosphere-drenched shocker “The Real Pocong”.
After finally have their own home, Ivan (Ashraf Sinclair), Rini (Nabila Syakieb), and their young daughter Laura (Sakinah Dava Erawan) arrive at a deserted house in the countryside to be far away from the noise of the city. But ever since she sets foot in the house, Laura is always scared and feels that something is wrong, while Ivan feels that Laura just needs time to adjust. The longer they stay at the house, the more aware they become of something happening to Laura involving the legend of a vicious ghost that's rumored to haunt the house and surrounding area. As the events continue and they come to believe that her daughter is the target of the ghost, they turn to a supernatural specialist Dr. Nila (Kinaryosih) for help but aren't prepared for the maelstrom that comes after her involvement.
Generally speaking, “The Real Pocong” has a lot to like. Where it works best is the fun and engaging setup that brings the family to the remote house in the first place. The general idea of the family being much more accustomed to city life moving out into the countryside not just to escape the noise and stress that entails but also for their financial constraints, serves this nicely. This factor addresses the common trope of why they're unwilling to leave the location when it starts to get spooky, since they have no choice. By calling out the various sightings Laura has in the surrounding woods or the reported incidents they have which highlight something not being right in the area as being unfamiliar with the area and the move to a new house, there's a rather fun old-school haunted house setup present in the film. That plays into Laura's attachment to the cat that she finds left behind or the strange lullaby that she begins singing, that signals something much more sinister at play but just gets written off as adjusting to the surroundings.
As well, “The Real Pocong” features a really enjoyable tone once the ghost is revealed and starts attacking the family. With the early scenes hinting that something might be hanging around the house with brief glimpses of someone or something lurking through windows spying on them or just being aware that a figure has terrified Laura, the intriguing setup here prepares this to move into the supernatural, involving the discovery of the Pocong's presence and Laura's abduction. Featuring a rather fun seance gone wrong, Ivan heading off on a special journey to recapture Laura and a big confrontation with the being holding her hostage along with the other ghost children, there are some chilling sequences in this section that highlight the danger posed by the creature haunting the family. This also ends up setting the stage for the series of intriguing ideas in the final half where the action picks up considerably.
Aware of the ruse that has occurred and the double-switch involving the identity swap of the particular characters, her terrified state that emerges here creates a chilling setup. That involves the desire to warn RIni about what's really going on with the dad after they return. The chases involve the wrapped Pocong chasing her around the house requiring her to adopt a series of defenses and means of tricking the ghost to keep it away long enough for Rini to return and attempt to rescue her. That provides the launch to a fun series of revelations and remarks about what's going on and who the ghost really is and what she wants with the daughter, as the backstory revelation about what happened and the final method for stopping the ghost which generates a lot of enjoyable aspects. These aspects provide the movie with plenty of likable qualities to hold it up over its few minor flaws.
There aren't too many drawbacks to “The Real Pocong” but there are a couple. The main detriment here is Armantauro's story that focuses way too much on aping other films instead of being original and clever. Way too often the audience is far ahead of the characters because of the lack of originality in the concepts being employed. The constant attempts at jump-scares with the ghost popping up in windows or trying to come up behind unsuspecting victims feel copied from so many foreign genre efforts. In addition, there are also some logic problems here about figuring out quite easily what's going on involving the ghost trying to lure and kidnap Laura away from the house any way she can but not being subtle about it. This is most evident in the inane decision-making skills of Rini, barely able to recognize what's happening to her daughter as she's obviously terrified but doesn't do anything about it. As well, there's also the rather underwhelming and unappealing CGI, managing to make a lot of the scenes look obvious and detrimentally fake that borders on laughable at times. Overall, it's not enough to truly drag this down completely but it does come down somewhat from what it could've been.
Featuring enough positives to make it enjoyable enough but still weighed down by several obvious drawbacks that do hold this back, “The Real Pocong” ends up an intriguing enough if not essential Indonesian ghost film. It's worth a watch if you're interested in the genre or the approach taken by the film.
