‘Grave Torture’ Netflix Review: An Interesting Psychological Horror That Meanders In The Second Half

Horror movies are another ball game altogether. Either you will like them or you will simply hate them. There is no middle ground when it comes to liking horror movies and other related subgenres. Personally speaking, the last horror movie I genuinely was blown away by was Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Grave Torture is an Indonesian Netflix original that was released on the platform on 16th September 2024. 

Directed and written by Joko Anwar, Grave Torture begins with a tragedy when Adil and Sita are witnesses to their parents being killed when a suicide bomber blows himself up just outside their bakery. Post this, life is not simple for the siblings, as their stint with an Islamic boarding school does not end well. Sita and Adil had to escape the school after facing traumatic experiences, which is later explained in the film. Grave Torture moves on to the lives of adult Sita and Adil; she works as a nurse at an old age home while Adil works at a funeral home that prepares the mortal remains of the old people from the old age home. Sita is on a quest to uncover the reason behind her parents’ deaths, which is vaguely connected to something she had read about grave torture, which the suicide bomber claimed to have heard of before getting radicalized. By proving that grave torture does not exist, she wants to question the basis on which people are radicalized, thereby putting ultra-religious people in their place.

The best aspect of Grave Torture is the premise, story, and atmosphere of fear created. There is a lot of focus on mental health and the trauma caused by tragedies, and how it manifests into something ugly in the daily lives of the lead characters. While Sita is obsessed with the idea of finding out grave torture does not exist, Adil is traumatized by sexual harassment he faced at boarding school. Adil seems to have moved on from the tragic death of their parents, but Sita is desperately looking for closure just to be able to prove her point. These aspects are explained well in the first half of the film. It does not take much time for the writer-director Joko Anwar to establish the premise and present what the characters are up to. It is the second half that is a letdown, as there is no clarity on what is happening to the leads and others around them. There are no typical jumpscares, which is a refreshing change, but the writers do not do a good job of tying up the subplots that are opened in the first half. There is a mention of a child, Ismail, in the first half; however, in the second half there is no conclusion regarding that.

There ought to be an explanation for everything that is occurring to everyone in the movie, but the writer-director Joko Anwar only catered to a few elements and completely abandoned many parts. The sad part about Grave Torture is that the start is excellent, but the end is just chaotic. The director and the writer had an idea, but the climax felt flat. There is no proper conclusion, and it seemed the director and the writer wanted to just end it with shock value. If only there was more at the end of the film than the shock value. It needed proper reasoning and structuring for us to understand what transpired and why. There is, however, a lot of talk about religion having its own plusses and minuses, and how people take advantage of the vulnerable to further their agenda. It is interesting to watch how religion is intertwined with horror and psychological elements. Religious brainwashing affects mental health, and this is described well in the show. Faith is a sensitive matter, but Grave Torture does a good job of talking about how faith could be problematic as well. The monologue about faith in the first half is also interesting, and it keeps recurring many times throughout Grave Torture.

The loneliness faced by the older generation during their stay in the old age home is palpable. There is pain, anger, and resentment that can be felt. Kudos to the director for creating a sense of melancholy during all the scenes set in the old age home. There is trauma there as well, and people deal with it in their own way. There is sadness all the way through Grave Torture, as every character is trying to get away from their past, be it a tragedy or mistake. There are characters experiencing redemption of sorts for the acts they committed in the past. There are others who are running away from it and wanting to live a normal life. All of these and more are expanded sensitively. There is a lot of gore, screaming, and blood in Grave Torture, which is a given as this is a psychological horror film. It is distressing and triggering, so viewer discretion is advised to those sensitive to any of the above. 

The direction in the first half is excellent. The writer-director Joko Anwar is in full control of the narrative, and there is a lot to take away from it. The cinematography by Ical Tanjung is painfully beautiful. There are several one-take shots, which add drama to the film. The cinematographer is able to showcase many forms of pain and guilt, which is excruciating to watch in the beginning. The performance of the actors is brilliant. Faradina Mufti as Sita and Widuri Puteri as younger Sita are perfection incarnate. There is a lot said through their smiles and eyes, which sucks the audience deep into their tragedies. It is hard not to empathize with them. Reza Rahadian and Muzakki Ramdhan as older and younger Adil are equally fantastic. Adil wants to move on, but somewhere he wants the same answers Sita is looking for. The chemistry between actors as siblings is brilliant, and full credits for that to the writer and the director of Grave Torture. Slamet Rahardjo as Wahyu, the rich businessman with a shady past, is excellent in his cameo. He has shades of gray to his character, and it is performed well by the actor.

Grave Torture would have been an excellent film if the makers had not botched up the ending. Horror movies need to have a conclusive ending, something people would feel was satisfying. Sadly, that did not happen with Grave Torture. The movie is a good watch only for its premise and the performance of the actors in it. Give it a watch.