Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with the 2019 Indonesian movie "Si Manis Jembatan Ancol" (aka "Bloodlust Beauty") prior to stumbling upon it here in 2024 by random chance. And with it being an Asian horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I had to watch it. It combined two of my favorite things after all; that being the horror genre and Asian movies.

I didn't know what to expect from writers Isman H. S., Anggy Umbara and Fajar Umbara when I sat down to watch the movie, so they had every opportunity to entertain and impress me.

However, I was expecting this to actually be a horror movie. But "Si Manis Jembatan Ancol" turned out to be more of a 50% drama and 50% horror movie, and that was a major disappointment. And directors Anggy Umbara and Bounty Umbara spends an unfathomably long time on establishing the characters and setting up the story, but it comes with the cost of losing the audience in the process, because about one-third of the movie is squandered in this manner. You have to venture more than 50 minutes into the movie before it starts to resemble a horror movie, and it is easy to give up on the movie long before that.

The only performer in the movie that I was familiar with was actor Arifin Putra, having seen him in "The Raid 2". It should be noted that they had a good cast ensemble put together for the movie, and the acting performances throughout the course of the movie was good.

The effects in the movie were adequate, though the CGI animated red fabric was a bit questionable at times.

"Si Manis Jembatan Ancol" was a disappointing attempt at making a horror movie, and it is not a movie that I would recommend for fans of Asian horror to rush out and get to watch. Nor is it a movie that every will grace my screen a second time.

My rating of "Si Manis Jembatan Ancol" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Bloodlust Beauty is the woke version of "Si Manis Jembatan Ancol". The original story which was loved by many Indonesians was totally ruined by the extreme changes that were forced into the story. For those who aren't familiar with the real story, let me give you the quick summary. Maryam was a beautiful young woman who was engaged to a poor man. One day she was raped and murdered by a bunch of thugs on the Ancol bridge. Her vengeful spirit cannot rest and seeks revenge on those who had wronged her. That's the original story, plain and simple. And that simple plot had been ruined by these extreme makeover. First of all, they made her a wife. That ruined Maryam's image of the pure innocent virgin who was raped and murdered. Secondly, they made her alive and pretending to be a ghost to give her enemies the scare tactic. That really took the fun out of the creepy and scary revenge that was supposed to be the main theme of the movie. And last but not least, they've erased the lovable and loyal sidekick of Maryam from the story. The bald ghost of a drag queen. Which was ironically played by Ozy Syahputra who was playing the loan shark in this version. I mean, I have no problem with the strong woman image, I'm a feminist. I love the idea. But when it's applied on this story, it ruined the original theme of this movie. This movie isn't any different than "I Spit On Your Grave". Might as well change the title to "I Spit On Your Indonesian Grave". Get the joke?