SOUL REAPER movie poster | ©2025 Well Go USA Entertainment

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Devano Danendra, Keisya Levronka, Mikha Hernan, Ratu Felisha, Budi Ros, Fajar Nugra, Sri Isworowati
Writers: Ambaridzki Ramadhantyo & Sidharta Tata, based on the novel RESPATI by Ragiel JP
Director: Sidharta Tata
Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment
Release Date: June 17, 2025 (VOD, home video)

Wes Craven reportedly got the basic idea for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET from Filipino stories of young men dying inexplicably in their sleep (Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome, or SUNDS). The Philippines are 1,551 miles from Indonesia, versus the much greater distance of 7,332 miles between the Philippines and Los Angeles. It seems likely that mythology flows more readily between the two Southeast Asian countries than between the Philippines and the U.S.

This is to say that it’s wholly possible that the myths that inspired SOUL REAPER (MALAM PENCABUT NYAWA), or at least its source material, the novel RESPATI by Ragiel JP, may be the same ones that Craven used, rather than SOUL REAPER being directly influenced by NIGHTMARE.

Either way, though, Craven got there first cinematically, with the result that it’s hard not to see other movies with the same general premise through an ELM STREET lens. It’s therefore hard to not run through a checklist of similarities as SOUL REAPER unfolds.

Respati (Devano Danendra) is a teenager in a pleasant Indonesian suburb, where he lives with his grandfather Giman (Budi Ros). Respati has been suffering from terrible nightmares after his parents were murdered in their car after it broke down in a bad area of town.

Giman is worried about his grandson’s heath enough to take him for regular doctor visits, which Respati thinks are futile. Giman also brings in Abdul (Fajar Nugra), an eccentric young man from Giman’s home village, to help out around the house, since Respati seems unwilling or unable.

Then Respati’s problems worsen. He finds himself dreaming from the point of view of other people, and then waking up to see news reports of these same individuals having been found mysteriously killed.

To make things worse, Respati’s best friend Tirta (Mikha Hernan) finds Internet articles about other young men like Respati who dream about other people’s demises and then die themselves.

At the same time, Respati’s classroom welcomes new student Wulan (Keisya Levronka). Wulan immediately stares at Respati. She has some issues of her own, including a past history of possibly being possessed.

There is a menacing figure in Respati’s nightmares who may be connected to the unexplained deaths. When furniture starts flying and human levitation occurs, Respati, Wulan, and Tirta decide they need to put a stop to whatever this is before it kills them.

Director Sidharta Tata, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ambaridzki Ramadhantyo, creates a suitably creepy, dark fairytale look for the forest of Respati’s dreams and some good occult set-ups in the real world. He also stages at least one unsettling transformation and some eerie images.

It’s hard to evaluate the dialogue, as the English subtitles for the Indonesian language onscreen are sometimes grammatically off enough to make us wonder what’s being lost in translation. (This reviewer appreciates how difficult it must be to do such translations and remains impressed that it’s possible at all, but here it may be that the job got turned over to AI instead of a human who better understands nuance.)

SOUL REAPER won’t strike most viewers as an especially unique concept, but it’s a decent entry to the subgenre, and brings a bit of folk horror and setting change as added bonuses.

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