The 3rd Eye (2017)

The 3rd Eye (2017) (Mata Batin)
Written By: CM
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff

Film Information

Director: Rocky Soraya
Producers: Mohan Nankani, Raam Soraya et. al.
Writer: Riheam Junianti, Rocky Soraya
Date Released: 30 November 2017

Cast:
Jessica Mila as Alia
Denny Sumargo as Davin
Citra Prima as Mrs. Windu
Bianca Hello as Abel
Epy Kusnandar as Mr. Asep

Rating = 1.5/5 graves

***May contain some spoilers***

Synopsis

Ever since she was five years old, Abel has been claiming to see things other people can’t see. When her parents died, her sister Alia is convinced she needs to go see a psychiatrist. Abel then brings Alia to her spiritual advisor Windu, who explained that her third eye is opened. Unconvinced, Alia opens her third eye to prove her little sister wrong—but she ends up experiencing unusual things.

Gore Factor

The 3rd Eye (2017) jumps straight to the scary stuff ten minutes in. You’re in for a ride, this film doesn’t spare its viewers with some old-fashioned blood, gore, and creepy crawling. There a few horrific scenes like a burglar cut his victim’s leg with machete and a little girl have so much bruises and scars on her face, she claims that she was hit by her dad. Riddled with jump scares and exaggerated SFX, it seems like this film is desperate to scare.

The Grave Review

An Indonesian horror film The 3rd Eye (2017) is more like horror house amusement ride than a movie. The moment you press play, it’s as if you’re entering your local park’s scare house. It slowly builds up, starting slow with some cheesy, seemingly royalty-free score. It builds tension and lets you breathe for about 15 minutes, after those last minutes, it’s just all scares and screams up until the end.

These all sound promising. After all, this is exactly what you want a horror movie to be. It makes you want to cover your eyes and jolt with your popcorn spilling all over the place. Perhaps this is the perfect formula for a horror movie—if it were released in 2009. It seems like The 3rd Eye(2017) didn’t get the memo as they used outdated tricks and clichés that definitely did not stand the test of time. At first, it was still exciting. The Indonesian film promised gore as a horrifying amputated specter drags itself while clinging onto Abel, guaranteeing a few shrieks at the cinemas. The moment Alia got her third eye opened, however, it went downhill from there.

It could be the cliché acting or the horrible SFX—which is even comparable to the stage makeup you see at horror houses—but this film was just not effective. For one, there was a complete disregard for world building as the authors left it all for suspension of disbelief to do its job. They didn’t bother trying to make a good script either⁠. Right after the stereotype supernatural guru with the black lipstick and Abel tied Alia to the bed after she gets possessed, the guru says, matter-of-factly, “she’s possessed.” You could almost see everyone in the theater face palm.

To be fair, The 3rd Eye (2017) never claimed to be a slow-burn and have intricate plots, and it definitely passed as a good amusement park ride. This film is something you’d show to someone who scares easily or maybe watch if you want a quick, fast-paced horror flick. We would advise you to skip the ending though, if you don’t want to see some cheesy ghost-saving adventure that will make you go, “wait, am I watching Stranger Things but with a Goth supernatural advisor instead of Hopper?”

Overall, this film just didn’t quite hit the mark as a good horror movie in 2017, but if you miss the jump scares and the vastly unrealistic stories of the early 2000s, you might like The 3rd Eye(2017). Don’t say we didn’t warn you though, you might laugh at the clichés and the dialogues in this one.

For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives The 3rd Eye (2017) one and a half graves out of five graves.

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