What I like about the movie:
The movie doesn't use jump scares like so many other horror movies.
For example there's a scene when the women are exploring the house and Maya finds pictures of her parents and you see what seems like a ghost walking closer to her. In a typical horror movie, you'd see 'the ghost' (which was actually just her friend ) scare her and we would all jump with her and be relieved when we'd realize that it's just Dini. I like how the tension slowly builds up and you're left wondering when the ghosts are going to show up and scare us, but fortunately, the ghosts aren't overused in this movies.
I enjoyed the theme of this movie which was puppetry. The movie successfully showed us everything we needed to know without using a lot of dialogue (although it could have been greatly improved)
What I don't really like about the movie:
Like so many other critics, I would also say that the flashbacks were way too long (and somewhat confusing?). The movie was wonderfully built but the part of of finding the bones and burrying the skin felt way too easy. Also, there was the character of a man (boy?) who was left alive even though he was born without skin that I felt could have been further developed. We would actually have appreciated to know more about his life/purpose in the village. I feel like it would have been better if he had actually rescued Maya and shown the villagers how he had healed and that there was no need to kill her.
I didn't really get the part where the chief killed himself though? I understand that his mother killed herself in grief and I wish they had a conversation (about how the mother did all that for her son) although that might have 'interfered' in a way with the theme of the movie.
On a side note, I have several questions about the movie: Why do the villagers keep having babies if they know it'll be cursed and why do they stay there? ( it would have been amazing if somehow the movie showed us that there would be other consequences if they didn't have the children) Why doesn't Dani say anything when they tied her up? She could have confessed that her name wasn't actually Rahaya (and they could still have killed her because they didn't believe her) We never really learned what was written on the piece of paper (or skin)? All we know was that it was used to protect Maya (the lecturer on the bus could have explained more about that) And how does the man who tried to kill Maya in the opening scene know about that? We know he went to the city to find a cure but how did he find her? A backstory would be nice here (as many others I believe that the director could have stretched the movie a little and make it adored by ppl worldwide)
P.s I'm no expert; just my opinion on the movie
On a side note, I have several questions about the movie: Why do the villagers keep having babies if they know it'll be cursed and why do they stay there? ( it would have been amazing if somehow the movie showed us that there would be other consequences if they didn't have the children) Why doesn't Dani say anything when they tied her up? She could have confessed that her name wasn't actually Rahaya (and they could still have killed her because they didn't believe her) We never really learned what was written on the piece of paper (or skin)? All we know was that it was used to protect Maya (the lecturer on the bus could have explained more about that) And how does the man who tried to kill Maya in the opening scene know about that? We know he went to the city to find a cure but how did he find her? A backstory would be nice here (as many others I believe that the director could have stretched the movie a little and make it adored by ppl worldwide)
P.s I'm no expert; just my opinion on the movie