Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati – Review | Netflix (3/5)

JURNAL RISA BY RISA SARASWATI on Netflix is a new horror movie from Indonesia. It has a short runtime and features a documentary-style supernatural plot with a found footage vibe. Read our full Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati movie review here!

JURNAL RISA BY RISA SARASWATI is a new Netflix horror movie with high production quality and a very interesting plot. It’s not difficult to follow and manages to utilize some of the most popular horror subgenres.

This is an Indonesian horror movie and we have watched (and reviewed) quite a lot of those over the past couple of years. If you’ve watched both good and bad horror movies from Indonesia, I can tell you that this is one of the better. And it isn’t even by Joko Anwar, which is usually a sign that it will be good. The runtime is just 92 minutes.

Continue reading our Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati movie review below. Find it on Netflix from November 8, 2024.

A mockumentary-style horror movie

Everything about Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati is presented as a documentary. Not unlike The Blair Witch Project (1999) though this is very different. Instead of looking for a witch in the woods, Risa Saraswati is doing a show where people have volunteered to be in a haunted place. 

The purpose is to see if these people succeed at communicating with the ghosts that are supposedly there.

Risa herself is known to have supernatural abilities that enable her to communicate with ghosts and other supernatural beings (usually of the more demonic variety). And as this is a horror movie, things will obviously turn out badly.

Solid and efficient scares

Among the people who challenge themselves to be in this haunted place, one of them succeeds to such an extent that she becomes possessed.

Or does she?

This is really the core plot of Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati on Netflix.

It’s a horror movie that doesn’t have too many special effects of the CGI variety. And the ones that are there, tend to work remarkably well. Extremely efficient at creating that eerie and creepy vibe where something is moving around in the corner or background for a few seconds.

In other words, keep your eyes open for those little chilling horror treats that are sprinkled throughout.

Watch Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati on Netflix now!

The director of Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati is Rizal Mantovani, who has directed plenty of horror movies over the past few decades. The screenwriter is someone we’ve become quite familiar with as she has written several of the Indonesian horror movies we’ve covered here on Heaven of Horror.

Her name is Lele Laila and she has written some impressive and very recommendable horror movies in the past. Previous movies written by Lele Laila include Qorin (2022) and Do You See What I See (2024).

This latest movie is definitely one of the better Indonesian horror movies we’ve covered. Also, the story should work well globally. Haunting, challenges, and trying to communicate with “the other side” is something that happens all over the world.

Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati is on Netflix from November 8, 2024.

Details

Director: Rizal Mantovani
Cast: Risa Saraswati, Prinsa Mandagie, Ranggana Purwana, Nicko Irham, Riana Rizki