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‘Roh’ Review: I See Dead People

This atmospheric and grisly horror movie from Malaysia sees a single mother and her children rattled by the arrival of mysterious strangers.

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By Beatrice Loayza

When a ghoulish little girl caked in mud suddenly appears near the isolated hut of a single mother, Mak (Farah Ahmad), and her two children living in the Malaysian jungle, things take a turn for the sinister. Not that the family — impoverished and in denial of their father’s death — was doing particularly well before the arrival of the lost child, who rattles them with a morbid prophecy then slashes her own throat within the first fifteen minutes.

Emir Ezwan’s feature directing debut, “Roh,” which translates to “soul” in Malaysian, belongs to a wave of homegrown, folklore-inspired horror films taking Southeast Asia by storm (see “Two Sisters,” also from Malaysia, or “Satan’s Slaves,” from Indonesia).

A grisly ghost story set against a backdrop of scraggly, claustrophobic vegetation given an eerie vibrancy by the cinematographer Saifuddin Musa, “Roh” isn’t big on the details. The story unfolds at some unspecified point in the past as a distant war rages on, and Ezwan relies on vivid imagery — burning trees, mushy piles of blood — over a concrete narrative, which renders the entry of two additional strangers disorientingly opaque if acutely unsettling.

As the indeterminate evil spreads, Mak’s children take cues from “The Exorcist” and a beguiling neighbor begins to wield inordinate levels of influence over the increasingly aghast mother. Symbolism overshadows characterization, or any sense of motive for that matter, nevertheless “Roh” succeeds as a spine-tingling baffler, hitting at nerves we can’t quite articulate but feel all the same.

Roh Not rated. In Malay, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes. On virtual cinemas and available to rent or buy on Apple TV , Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.

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‘Roh’ Review: A Disquieting Rural Malaysian Folk-Horror Tale

Emir Ezwan’s debut feature chronicles a Malay family’s supernatural peril with eerie, poetical simplicity.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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Though horror movies have increasingly gravitated toward jump scares and computer-generated FX, often the genre’s most unsettling exercises eschew such tricks for quiet, unadorned menace. That’s certainly the case with “Roh,” which was Malaysia’s submission for the best international feature Oscar last year. Belatedly getting released to U.S. virtual cinemas, VOD and digital formats on Oct. 29, Emir Ezwan’s directorial debut is a spare, eerie tale rooted in folk superstitions that are rendered credibly vivid by its thick yet subtle atmospherics.

After a wordless opening sequence in which we see her incongruously presiding over some fiery nocturnal burial rite, a filth-covered, knife-clutching little girl (Putri Nurqaseh) wanders from the jungle to a small hut. There, husband-abandoned Mak (Farah Ahmad) lives with teenage daughter Along (Mhia Farhana) and younger son Angah (Harith Haziq). They take in the stray, assuming she got lost on an outing and needs returning to a village across the river. But once this wraithlike wee visitor finally speaks, she says, “When the moon is full, all of you will die,” then makes a very dramatic, terminal exit.

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Shaken, wanting to invite no further trouble, the small family buries the body nearby. Soon their isolation is disturbed again by an older herb-gathering woman called Tok (Junainah M. Lojong) who claims to live on a hill some distance away. She warns of ill omens, offering assistance should further trouble occur. Later, there’s yet another visitor: A half-blind man (Namron) searching for his missing child.

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But one of these strangers is not what they seem. And trouble does indeed keep coming, as Mak’s unlucky little clan falls prey to mysterious illnesses, nightmares and other woes. Whatever evil power is at work here, it will not stop until it has extinguished any life it comes across.

Beginning with an on-screen Quran passage about Satan, “Roh” (which means “soul”) uses the forest much as the original “Blair Witch Project” did, albeit mercifully minus the found-footage aesthetics. Even in daylight, the environ here seems untrustworthy, a trap for unwary, vulnerable humans. This is a film about witchery of a sort, though Ezwan has no interest in the kind of over-the-top content usually associated with Southeast Asian films about malevolent spirits. Instead, his script and direction aim for a simplicity that is elegant as well as sinister. The ordinariness of the well-played central characters, who are neither especially sympathetic nor quick to grasp their peril, underlines the arbitrary cruelty of the forces they’re up against.

There’s an unshowy poetry to DP Ahmad Saiffudin Musa’s imagery, echoed by other thoughtful design contributions and an editorial pace simultaneously lulling and tense. Reinchez Ng’s original score provides discreet doses of ominous ambience — but also knows when dead silence will prove even more effective.

Reviewed online, San Francisco, Oct. 27, 2021. Running time: 83 MIN.

• Production: (Malaysia) A Film Movement release (U.S.) of a Kuman Pictures production in association with Entropy. Producers: Elise Shick, Shizreen Saleh. Executive producer: Amir Muhammad.
• Crew: Director, writer: Emir Ezwan. Camera: Ahmad Saiffudin Musa. Editor: Safwan Salleh. Music: Reinchez Ng.
• With: Farah Ahmad, Mhia Farhana, Harith Haziq, Namron, Junainah M. Lojong, Putri Nurqaseh.

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• Cast & crew

User reviews

Creepy but confusing

• Dec 27, 2021

Bringing new blood to Malaysian horror

• Sir_AmirSyarif
• Nov 16, 2020

Simple and creepy

• youngcollind
• Jul 28, 2022

What could go wrong deep in the Malaysian forest...

• Howling_at_the_Moon_Reviews
• Jun 15, 2022

A Creepy & Confounding Malaysian Folk Horror

• CinemaClown
• Nov 12, 2021

Simple Horror Movie with Thrills & Suspenses

• sibertoothtiger
• Jun 7, 2021

Folk Horror Archetypes

• Jun 12, 2021

Only cinematography is on point

• syuhanaz-saharudin
• Jun 5, 2021

Refreshing Grim Tale for the Soul

• Nov 4, 2020

Pretty good

• alteregoadamseth
• Aug 15, 2024
• Nov 9, 2020

Malaysian "The Witch"

• Come-and-Review
• Jun 26, 2020
• bayuvevo-98059
• Nov 11, 2020

What a waste.

• vmanson-49017

Masterpiece

• Aug 8, 2020
• Jun 15, 2021

CREEPY ATMOSPHERE.

• andrewchristianjr
• Feb 16, 2021

Movie review

• zubaidahibrahim
• Apr 5, 2022

ROH stands out as a unique addition to the horror genre, offering solid horror elements that make it a must-see for fans of the genre

• kevin_robbins
• Jan 28, 2024

Very bad movie

• secko_007-299-262616
• Feb 2, 2021

Slow burn horror with an eerie atmosphere

• Jul 4, 2021

Had potential

• Feb 21, 2024
• alexanderespagne-27999
• Mar 12, 2024

"Humans thrive and perish with nature."

• morrison-dylan-fan
• Mar 20, 2021

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Roh Reviews

Richer with symbols than with plot points, Roh creates its horror primarily out of the unknown.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 20, 2024

Lathered with earthen tones by day and pitch black by night, Roh tantalizes under the direction of its cinematographer Saifuddin Musa.

Full Review | Jun 3, 2022

It will appeal to those curious about the international horror scene and fans of slow-burn, atmospheric terror, even if it doesn't add up to much storywise.

Full Review | Nov 18, 2021

Malaysian horror film ROH from Emir Ezwan (the country's Oscar selection) ROH channels atmospheric Val Lewton films.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Oct 29, 2021

Emir Ezwan has written compelling characters who are easy to empathize with while keeping the tension high, ably capturing the isolation of the forest setting.

Full Review | Original Score: 9.5/10 | Oct 28, 2021

"Roh" succeeds as a spine-tingling baffler, hitting at nerves we can't quite articulate but feel all the same.

Full Review | Oct 28, 2021

People who are used to the beats of typical Hollywood horror may be frustrated by the slow pace of Ezwan's tension-building. But for Halloween weekend, Roh isn't a bad mood-setter.

Full Review | Original Score: B-minus | Oct 28, 2021

"Roh" [is] a technical triumph from both visual and aural perspectives, [where] Emir made good use of its deliberate pace to evoke an ominous sense of dread and fear of the unknown rather than the obligatory jump scares.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 17, 2021

Soul otherwise relies on generic mimicry of the formula and imagery of better horror efforts.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2021

‘Roh’ review: masterfully minimalist folk horror from Malaysia

Emir Ezwan’s directorial debut goes heavy on atmosphere and symbolism, marking another high point in Southeast Asian horror

Micro-budget production house Kuman Pictures has been a breath of fresh air in the Malaysian horror scene in recent years. Through its internationally acclaimed 2019 debut Two Sisters , the studio proved that its cost-effective and creatively challenging ethos could produce interesting alternatives to a genre inundated in the Southeast Asian mainstream by schlocky, jump-scare-driven efforts. And nowhere is that more evident than Kuman Pictures’ sophomore offering, Roh (Malay for ‘soul’), which made its mark as Malaysia’s official submission for the 93rd Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category.

Filmed in just two weeks on a tiny budget of RM360,000 in the Dengkil forest of Selangor, this feature film debut from director Emir Ezwan is a thematically rich, slow-burning folk horror in the vein of Robert Eggers’ The Witch . Set in an indeterminate past, Roh follows an isolated family living in a barren hut deep in the jungle. Quickly, we gather that the single mother (played by Farah Ahmad) is distrustful of outsiders and prefers to raise her son Angah (Harith Haziq) and daughter Along (Mhia Farhana) in seclusion.

One day, their simple life is up-ended when they decide to take in a mud-caked little girl (Putri Syahadah Nurqaseh) lost in the forest. After they clothe, clean and feed her, the child suddenly prophesises that they will all die by the next full moon, before slitting her own throat.

The spooked and shaken family is soon beset by a series of frightening supernatural misfortunes, punctuated by visits from two other strangers. One is a kindly shaman healer (Junainah M. Lojong) offering assistance, while the other is an imposing spear-wielding hunter (Namron), who is tracking the mysterious aforementioned child. The family, and the audience, is at first unsure of who to trust –- which plays into Roh ’s key themes of paranoia, pride and the primordial human instinct that anything unfamiliar in the wild, seen or unseen, is a potential threat.

Going light on plot and dialogue but heavy on symbolism and metaphor, Emir does a fantastic job of crafting ominous imagery from the film’s natural surroundings. The director and his cinematographer Saifuddin Musa envelope viewers in a sense of desolate isolation – subtly compelling the idea that there’s a presence, a person, a creature, a something , just behind the abundant foliage.

This effect is greatly aided by Reinchez Ng’s foreboding score as well. Roh eschews cheap scares to meticulously craft a thick atmosphere of suspense, which makes the occasions when the film does choose to frighten you with brutally unsettling sequences all the more haunting and horrific.

Recommended

Roh preys upon deep-rooted superstitious fears of falling victim to sinister influences. Its opening quotation of a Quranic verse about the crafty nature of Satan’s evil is the closest the film comes to spelling anything out for you. Instead, Emir relies on recurring religious motifs of fire, clay and blood – from burning trees and the charcoal that becomes the family’s subsistence, to characters constantly covered in mud, to the copious amounts of spilt blood.

The ways Emir uses these tableaux of brown and red amid verdant green, signifying the inescapable intertwining of danger and life, offers the visual cues needed to decipher this chillingly dark fable. Casual horror fans looking for faster pacing and more visceral thrills may not necessarily enjoy Roh ’s ambiguous allegories.

Nevertheless, the global success of this film instantly announces newcomer Emir Ezwan as one of Southeast Asia’s premier genre filmmakers, standing alongside the likes of Indonesia’s Joko Anwar and the Philippines’ Mikhail Red. Roh is the kind of subtly layered, dread-laden, minimalist horror that lingers in your mind long after the credits have rolled, proving that the future of Malaysian horror is bright thanks to a new generation of storytellers and studios that are unafraid to take risks and go against the grain.

• Director: Emir Ezwan
• Starring: Farah Ahmad, Junainah M. Lojong, Namron
• Release date: June 1 (Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar in Malaysia)
• Related Topics

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October 31, 2021 ·

Movie Review: ROH, an Atmospheric Folk Horror Tale that will make you fear the forest

Now available on virtual cinema, VOD (video on demand) and digital, is the creepy horror movie, Roh.

The film stars Farah Ahmad, Mhia Farhana, Harith Haziq, June Lojong, Namron, and a very frightening Putri Qaseh.

If these names don’t sound familiar with you, that is because Roh is an independent film from the country of Malaysia.

“Roh” is the word “soul” in Mayla (assuming that is the language they are speaking in the film).

This film is not in English, however, there are English subtitles.

Cut off from civilization, a single mother puts her children on high alert when they bring home a strange young girl caked in clay. She tells of spirits and spirit hunters and after spending the night she delivers an ominous prophecy: the family will all soon die. As strangers begin to show up on her doorstep, and terrible events crop up around them, she quickly finds another reason to fear the forest. This eerily atmospheric folk horror tale marks the stunning directorial debut of seasoned visual effects artist, Emir Ezwan. From the ominous lighting, off-kilter tone, isolated locations and strange goings on,  ROH  is a visceral, spine-tingling revelation.

I had the opportunity to screen the film. Based on the trailer, it looked terrifying. And seeing as how October is “spooky season,” and I love horror films, it just made sense to review this film.

The acting in this film was pretty decent, most especially from the little girl, Putri Qaseh, who played the role of Adik (her name was not mentioned in the film – I read that on IMDB). If I saw her following me in the forest, I would RUN! I don’t think I’d want her following me home.

The cinematography plays an important role in this film. It helped to emphasis just how isolate this family was, and how helpless they were in the middle of the forest You almost didn’t need a story to feel a sense of dread just from the images of the forest.

The story was a bit confusing to keep up with. Some parts made sense, others didn’t. Even though there is a limited cast, there is a lot going on in this film. The take from this film is that the family had a curse of sorts put upon them, and a lot of bad things happened to them as a result.

I’m not proficient  in reading subtitles, but I think I do fairly well (I am a fan of K-dramas). I found that these subtitles went on/off the screen too quickly. I had a hard time keeping up with the dialogue happening on screen. A few times I had to stop the movie, go back and re-read what was just on the screen to pick up stuff that I missed the firs time.

There are some interesting special effects in this film. I found that very surprising seeing as how most of the film is fairly simplistic. It’s mostly a wood hut and the forest.

There is some gore and self-inflicted wounds that was pretty brutal to watch.

I’m a horror movie “snob,” so it takes a lot to impress me. I didn’t find this film scary for ME, however, others (especially those who are easily frightened) might find this movie to be scary. As I mentioned previously in this post, the setting of the film (the isolated forest) was probably the creepiest part of this film (that and the little girl).

Below is the film’s trailer for your entertainment.

*I received a free screener link in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way. 

About Kimberly

Kimberly Vetrano resides in the suburbs of New York City with her family and "mini zoo" consisting of five cats, a dog and a Goldfish. Kimberly is a teacher's assistant for a Kindergarten class. When she is not working or blogging, Kimberly enjoys taking photos of nature and hanging out with family and friends.

Reader Interactions

October 31, 2021 at 11:55 PM

Great movie.

November 2, 2021 at 2:56 PM

This looks like a good movie.

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