Suzzanna: Buried Alive (1/5) – Netflix Movie Review

Suzzanna: Buried Alive is a new horror movie on Netflix. It’s from Indonesia and directed by Rocky Soraya and Anggy Umbara. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly a movie we can recommend. Read why in our review here!

Suzzanna: Buried Alive is an Indonesian horror movie on Netflix now. Officially, it’s a horror, comedy, drama hybrid. But really, it’s mostly horror with some very off-beat comedy elements.

Most notably a character with a grotesque overbite – the kind you might expect to see in old American movies featuring a stereotypical Asian servant character. He comes along very early in the movie and was almost enough for us to stop watching. It’s a small thing that speaks volumes about the kind of story you’re about to watch.

Honestly, we can’t recommend watching Suzzanna: Buried Alive on Netflix.

Unless, of course, you want to have fun with a kitsch B-movie in the style of 80s horror that takes itself way too seriously.

Horror B movie galore

As stated in the former paragraphs, I suppose you can watch Suzzanna: Buried Alive (org. title Suzzanna: Bernapasdalam Kubur) as a sort of joke. If you expect a serious and dark horror movie, you will be very disappointed.

I know I was!

The character of Suzzanna (Luna Maya) isn’t exactly buried alive, as the title states, but I’ll let you figure out how all that unfolds on your own.

The wicked witch of Indonesia?

The thing that I had a problem with was the fact that once Suzzanna is “back” and goes after those who buried her, she turns into a weird witch-like character.

Yes, complete with the stereotypical maniacal witch laughter as she terrifies those she’s after. It might be scary for kids, but as adults watching this, it’s just dumb.

Or maybe it’s because I’m not from Indonesia and can’t understand why this would be scary. The jury’s out on this. Especially since this is listed as a horror, comedy, drama movie. 

If you watch it as a kitsch or campy movie, then I think you could have fun with Suzzanna: Buried Alive. But as a “hardcore” horror movie, it is a huge letdown.

Watch Suzzanna: Buried Alive on Netflix now!

The director of Suzzanna: Buried Alive (with the original title Suzzanna: Bernapas dalam Kubur) is Indonesian horror director Rocky Soraya along with Anggy Umbara.

Rocky Soraya has made quite a few horror movies so far. Most notably to many are the doll horror movies The Doll and The Doll 2 as well as the spin-off, Sabrina. 

If I was to base my opinion of Indonesian horror on Rocky Soraya movies, I would not be impressed. It seems more important to release a lot of movies instead of creating something original and well-made. 

However, there is also at least one absolutely brilliant horror movie from Indonesia called Satan’s Slaves. 

Recommended reading: Our review of Joko Anwar’s awesome horror movie Satan’s Slaves here >

Of course, Satan’s Slaves was directed by the truly remarkable director Joko Anwar, who also directed the Indonesian episode of the Asian HBO horror anthology Folklore (read our review here). If you want to watch really good horror from Indonesia, then Joko Anwar movies are your best bet.

If you’re curious about how well Rocky Soraya can actually make a horror movie, then check out The Doll instead. For me, Suzzanna: Buried Alive was actually a waste of time. 

Suzzanna: Buried Alive is out on Netflix in the US from April 3, 2019.

Details

Directors: Rocky Soraya, Anggy Umbara
Stars: Luna Maya, Herjunot Ali, T. Rifnu Wikana, Verdi Solaiman, Alex Abbad

Plot

After a pregnant woman is murdered, her spirit seeks revenge against her increasingly terrified killers, who are determined to finish her off for good.