Let's Split Up, Gang! in Indonesia
Lawang Sewu: Dendam Kuntilanak (English:Lawang Sewu: Kuntilanak's Vengeance) is a 2007 Indonesian Horror film directed by Arie Azis. The film tells about a group of seven teenagers from Jakarta is in Semarang to celebrate their high school graduation. Along the road home after partying, they stopped by Lawang Sewu, a supposedly haunted building in Semarang, to relieve themselves. One of the girls went inside the building to avoid the boys and didn't come back. When they start to find their missing friend, the night turns into a nightmare for other six, who find themselves haunted and terrorized by a Kuntilanak.
Lawang Sewu: Dendam Kuntilanak provides the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Diska. She is shown to be level-headed and never freaks out even in the face of the kuntilanak and the resident ghosts of Lawang Sewu. She even goes back alone to Lawang Sewu to put an end on the kuntilanak's wrath.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Armen begs to the Kuntilanak/Ratih to show some mercy as she closes in for the kill. Onil was seen doing the same thing not too long after.
- Abusive Parents: Ratih's father throws her out of their home once her naked pics were leaked online and printed right to their doorstep.
- Affectionate Nickname: "Dis" for Diska, "Nil" for Onil, and "Men" for Armen.
- Anguished Outburst: In a mix of What Were You Thinking? and You Monster!, Diska throws one at Armen after the latter reveals the whole thing was a result of his irresponsibility for making Ratih pregnant.
- Artistic License – Engineering: Justified and Averted assuming the film is set in the mid-2000s. Lawang Sewu is depicted as a centuries-old abandoned house with vines growing over it. Some
Fridge Brilliance and Shown Their Work here as the Real Life Lawang Sewu was left neglected up until it was restored in 2009 and inaugurated as a tourist attraction in 2011
. Since the, it is nowhere as derelict as seen in the film. Even the local government of Semarang has tried to repair the image of Lawang Sewu as a tourist attraction rather than a haunted house. - Asshole Victim: Armen, Yugo, Dinda, Naya, Cika, and Onil.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: YMMV on this but it is heavily implied that Ratih spared Diska because the latter tried to console her after the bullying incident. Sadly, Diska never knew about it because her asshole friends called her over before Ratin could inform her of the incident.
- Big Boo's Haunt: Lawang Sewu, which is haunted by the ghost of Dutch Woman, a headless man who was beheaded by the Japanese during World War II, the titular Kuntilanak, and several others spirits.
- Big Good: Diska
- Bilingual Bonus: When Dinda becomes possessed by the ghost of Dutchwoman, she manages to speak perfect Dutch in telling the group to leave Lawang Sewu. Props that the actress had to learn Dutch just for this short line.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Armen. His tough guy facade ends once he goes face to face with the venegeful spirit of his ex-girlfriend.
- Bittersweet Ending: Diska, Yugo, and Onil survive the kuntilanak's wrath but their friends, including Diska's grandmother, are dead thanks to the antics of Armen, Naya, Cika, and Dinda years back. On the other hand, both Yugo and Onil are traumatized by the event, possibly taking years to recover from it. Lastly, this may also mean Diska's friendship with Yugo and Onil may end as they did nothing to stop the torment Armen and the girls did to Ratih.
- Bully Magnet: Ratih, since she comes from Semarang rather than a city. It has something to do with the stereotype of those coming from the province being ignorant on city life.
- Candlelit Ritual: Along with the Spooky Séance.
- Cassandra Truth: Mbah Darmo, Diska's grandmother, warns Diska and friends not to do the following around Lawang Sewu: (1) Do not urinate around the grounds, (2) Do not do immoral acts, and (3) one should not enter if she is on her period. Naturally, all but Diska violate these tenets but she was forced to be dragged along her friends' mistakes because Cika went missing.
- Demonic Possession: Dinda is possessed by the ghost of Noni van Hallen, a colonial Dutchwoman, who warns them to leave Lawang Sewu.
- Dirty Coward/: Armen
- Dragged Off to Hell: A close example: Naya is suddenly lifted into the air by an unseen force.
- Driven to Suicide: After Ratih was left pregnant by an irresponsible Armen, forced to strip naked in a scandal by her With Friends Like These..., and thrown out of the house by her father following this incident, she felt no choice but to end her life in by tying a ball-and-chain into her leg and drowning herself in Lawang Sewu's basement well. That's how she became the kuntilanak.
- Dwindling Party: As expected for a group of wild teens that find themselves in a haunted house.
- Ethereal White Dress: The kuntilanak wears one, naturally.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Ratih as the kuntilanak does not seem to harm or even go after Diska, probably because Diska tried to help her. The kuntilanak also ignores the other people in the train (who also cannot see her), choosing to go after Dinda instead.
- Eye Scream: The kuntilanak removes one eye for each Asshole Victim she kills, as revenge for destroying her glasses during the infamous bullying incident.
- Foreshadowing: Several of them:
- Diska has dreams of being in a basement with wall complete with a woman in a white dress jumping off into it.
- Once Diska and her friends arrive in her grandmother's house in Semarang, she gets somehow attracted to a photo of Lawang Sewu.
- For Want Of A Nail: Had Diska probably stayed a few more seconds to listen to a weeping Ratih, the whole Lawang Sewu could have been prevented. Granted, Diska could not be blamed as she was unaware that her friends would do such a despicable act and due to the fact Diska was stopped by Naya and Cika.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Lawang Sewu has eerily-lit red lanterns adorning the entire building. Armen sees one in the mirror in Diska's house and is unsurprisingly terrified.
- In one scene, we see a brief establishing shot of Diska's grandmother's house with a Plumeria tree blooming with flowers. The scent of Plumeria flowers are often associated with a kuntilanak/pontianak in Indonesian-Malaysian folkore.
- Ghost Train: Dinda finds herself in one she attempts to go back to Jakarta.
- Hate Sink: All of Diska's friend but special mention goes to Cika, Naya, and Armen. Especially Armen.
- Hell Is That Noise: The kuntilanak makes her presence known by the noise her ball-and-chain still stuck in her feel when she walks around. Doubles as a Sinister Scraping Sound.
- Hope Spot: Mbah Darmo conducts a Spooky Séance in the hopes of getting some answers from the vengeful spirit. Unfortunately, it ends up getting her killed.
- Hypocrite: Cika and Naya berate Ratih for being a provincial girl schooling in Jakarta. It gets even worse when viewers note that Ratih is even more physically attractive and polite than those two bullies.
- Jerkass: Armen, Cika, Dinda, and Naya. Onil and Yugo could partially count because they could have chose to stop the group from bullying Ratih but chose to look the other way.
- Karma Houdini: Onil and Yugo (who were both complacent when their friends tormented Ratih) escape the kuntilanak's wrath but not entirely scott-free, as the experience has left them traumatized and begging for their lives.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Ratih the kuntilanak delivers justice to Cika, Naya, Dinda, and Armen.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: The group spilts up inside Lawang Sewu while looking for Cika.
- Light Is Not Good: Keep track of the eerily-lit lanterns in the background.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Armen has this the moment after some of his friends have died due to his irresponsible actions a few years back; as well as knowing he is next in line for the kuntilanak's victims.
- Never Found the Body: The fate of kuntilanak's victims.
- Averted for the first. The group did find Cika's body (sans missing one of her eyeball) but are unable to retrieve it as the ghosts begin to terrify them. The next morning, the police state to the group they could not find Cika's body.
- One of the girls who is killed in the midnight train ride back to Jakarta by the kuntilanak leaves no trace behind except for streaks of blood, which baffles the authorities.
- Naya, who was inexplicably lifted into the air and never seen again.
- Armen's body is found wrapped under towel once the kuntilanak kills him outside a clothes line but it also disappears later on.
- The end reveals that the kuntilanak dragged all the bodies with her back to the well.
- Nice Girl: Diska
- "Not So Different" Remark: Diska throws one at Yugo after she finds out the him and Onil, who chose to look the other way when Ratih was humiliated under the orders of Armen.
- Not So Stoic: Armen appears to be the tough guy of the group. Once he comes face-to-face with the vengeful spirit, all of this is thrown out of the window.
- Off with His Head!: Onil and Dinda see the missing head of one of the people killed in Lawang Sewu in World War II.
- Oh, Crap!: Each of the characters especially when they see the ghosts and come face-to-face with the kuntilanak
- Police Are Useless: The police could not find the bodies of the missing friend. Justified as the ghost made the bodies disappear.
- Reality Warper: The kuntilanak only appears to the ones she seeks vengeance. This is evident when Dinda tries to go back to Jakarta on a midnight train, she tries to escape the kuntilanak by going to the next car with other travelers. They all look at her with confused stares.
- The Reveal:Mbah Darmo believes that the kuntilanak is haunting the group because of revenge. After the Spooky Séance, a flashback reveals the kuntilanak's identity and who caused her to go to commit suicide: It was after Ratih approaches Armen that she's pregnant in which the latter was so enraged, he told his friends to make a scandal out of her. Armen reveals all of this after the vengeful spirit of his ex-gilfriend comes for him.
- Say Your Prayers: A traumatized Onil can be seen praying once he realizes his life in danger by a vengeful spirit.
- Shout-Out:
- The gang splits up in a haunted house, reminiscent of another iconic cartoon.
- The story involves a well with a vengeful spirit residing inside it. She even has her hair covering her face.
- It also has its references on Ju-on and its American remake, The Grudge:
- The fact the group enters a haunted house and is stalked by a vengeful spirit, minus the fact the spirit only goes for those who tormented her.
- Dinda's encounter with the ghost in the train resembles a mix of the elevator scene and the phone booth scene in The Grudge 2.
- Armen sees a bloody hand emerge from the toilet, similar to the scene where Toshio's hand emerged from the sink.
- Onil receives a strange call from an unknown caller, only to receive an eerie whisper on the other end. In The Grudge and its sequel, characters pick up phones only to hear Kayako's iconic death rattle. Additionally, this is similar to "One Missed Call''.
- Shown Their Work: Despite Lawang Sewu's depiction as inaccurate in the film, there are some props when it comes to the kuntilanak myth.
- Lawang Sewu is also alleged to be haunted not only by a kuntilanak but also the ghost of a colonial Dutchwoman and prisoners killed by the Japanese during World War II. The film portrays these allegations.
- Ratih is revealed to be pregnant by Armen's hand, which causes her to be humiliated leading to her suicide. In Southeast Asian folkore, the kuntilanak is produced a spirit of woman who died while pregnant.
- Plumeria flowers are associated with the kuntilanak.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: A non-Japanese example since kuntilanaks/pontianaks often have their hair covering their face as per the myth.
- Spooky Séance: Mbah Darmo conducts one with Chinese incense and a red candle while the group carries mirrors while blindfolded to reveal the identity of the kuntilanak. Unfortunately, this gets her killed.
- Tears of Fear: All characters except Diska when they encounter the kuntilanak.
- This Explains So Much: Diska loots at a photo of well and is able to make a connection with her visions and dreams of a woman in white about jump off.
- Vengeful Ghost: The kuntilanak, as per Indonesian-Malaysian folklore.
- Walking Spoiler: Armen and Ratih.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Onil is simply not mentioned after escaping a near-death experience with the ghost. His survival is confirmed as the last shot shows the four Asshole Victims the kuntilanak killed in the well, which did not include him.
- Wild Teen Party: The group parties in a nightclub in Semarang to celebrate them graduating from high school.
