Satirical Indonesian Horror Rewrites the Expectations in The Draft! (FANTASTIC)
Title: The Draft!
First Non-Festival Release: TBD
Director: Yusron Fuadi
Writer: Yusron Fuadi, Richard James Halstead, B.W. Purba Negara, Anandita Suryarasmi
Runtime: 84 Minutes
Starring: Adhin Abdul Hakim, Anastasia Herzigova, Putri Anggie
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2024.
Familiar stories of young adults venturing out into the woods have long been a staple in the horror genre. Indonesia, however, is known to champion very specific rules for its characters to overcome survival. Avoid scary wells, don’t read cursed books, and know how to find and use weapons. The Draft! sheds light on how these rules influence the stories of Indonesia.
Five friends travel to a spooky villa in the woods for vacation. Not even one night passes before they discover they are dead center in the plot of a horror movie. What’s more, the writer isn’t finished with the story. Budget cuts, creative differences, new trends, and picky studios play a role in their fates. As they group waits in their permanent purgatory, they hatch a plan to beat the odds and survive an Indonesian horror film.
The Draft! is a creative and thoughtful satire that deconstructs Indonesian horror tropes.
How do you survive a horror movie when the writer hasn’t even finished the story? What better way to surprise the audience than never letting them get comfortable with what kind of movie is playing. The constant shifting of what antagonist the crew is facing allows The Draft! to hit on multiple Indonesian horror cliches and keep the action feeling fresh. With its meta narrative, it would be difficult to be as punchy if it didn’t have the flexibility to comment on multiple elements of horror. Thankfully, the conduit for these changes works perfectly. A frustrated director at his wits end with crafting a story that fits his vision allows the scenes to play out as if he is writing it in real time, offering plenty of comedic moments too.
Ill-defined characters get fleshed out when the writer takes breaks from tormenting the surviving crew. Not only do the characters in The Draft! not realize they are in a horror movie until it is too late; they don’t even know who they are. Their motivations and defining traits fluctuate during that first half while playing true to archetypes familiar in Indonesian horror cinema. It goes so far that at one point, a character turns to another and reveals they don’t even know their parent’s names. World building by intentionally leaving the characters as blank canvases makes for a hilarious consistency while also serving as a foundation for their development through the ordeal. Once the characters decide to develop agency and fight back, their true colors show to not only each other but also the writer. Their tenacity and creativity mirrors that of the writer, even if their survival is at odds and looks different than the other’s.
Clever writing and a knack for subverting tropes allows the creative genius of The Draft! to shine through. For those familiar or not with Indonesian horror cinema, The Draft! does a great job delineating the key tropes that pop up throughout history. While they don’t all play into the story, they harken to other rules-based horror films and make the film feel larger than it is. Furthermore, the development process feels fully integrated into the story. Actor swaps, budget constraints, and changing trends all contribute to the script and its ever-changing story. Every time the action gets stale or the story hits a dead end The Draft!, much like a struggling writer, finds a way to keep the action going.
While novel in many ways, its rushed pacing dampens the charm of the indie film’s premise. Perhaps more of a feature than a bug due to the chaotic energy of the film, The Draft! speeds through its inciting incident before stalling with the characters unsure of what to do next. From there, the film trades between stretches of exposition and short bursts of action and horror. While it does mimic the writing process splendidly, the tradeoff becomes the film’s ability to build tension.
Horror satire is difficult to pull off, but The Draft! does a solid job of keeping audiences guessing at what zany contrivance it’ll pull out next. Its pacing issues make the horror hit a little less hard but that doesn’t stop The Draft! from doing what it sets out to do. Writer/director Yusron Fuadi and co-writers Anindita Suryarasmi, Richard James Halstead, and B.W. Purba do a great job of detailing the difficulties of creating art and all the obstacles that arise while showcasing the excitement and freedom of breaking free from conventions.
Overall Score? 7/10
