Guna Guna Istri Muda is an Indonesian supernatural horror film recently released on Netflix for a global audience, though I find it a bit confusing as to why it was made. While most Indonesian horror films don't live up to global or Asian standards, many offer us a brief glimpse into the life and culture of the island nation, no matter how imperfect or outdated that glimpse may be. Unfortunately, Guna Guna Istri Muda doesn't even achieve this, as it tells the uninteresting story of a young wife who curses her new husband out of greed for his wealth, and is a film everyone should avoid.
Guna Guna Istri Muda begins in a gym, where a group of women are seen dancing as part of their workout routine. Among them are two best friends, Angel and Mayang, who are extremely close to each other and share everything about their lives. After training, Angel excitedly meets her new boyfriend, Leo, and while Mayang is happy for her friend, a third woman in the group, also close to them, is a little surprised. The friend tells Mayang that she dated Leo in the past and that it was a horrible experience, as the man was only with her for money.
Director: Razka Robby Ertanto
Writers: Ackyl Anwari, Alim Sudio, Titien Wattimena
Stars: Anjasmara, Lulu Tobing, Carissa Perusset
She asks Mayang to warn Angel about Leo's strange habits, particularly his belief in black magic, and then heads to the bathroom alone. Inside, the woman begins to feel an insatiable itch all over her body, causing her to violently scratch the skin on her neck before vomiting maggots and blood. As she falls to the ground, tormented by this supernatural itch, she drowns in a pool of viscous liquid and seemingly dies.
In another part of the city, a woman named Vivian Sasmita opens a new school, to which she and her husband have donated a considerable amount of money. Vivian's husband, Burhan, owns a profitable family business, and she also participates in its management, primarily by taking care of philanthropic activities. In fact, Vivian has been donating to various educational institutions, such as schools and training centers, to help the citizens of her country prosper. However, she has recently gone through a personal crisis, as Vivian discovered that Burhan is having extramarital affairs. Since Burhan also knows that his wife has practically found out, he devises an ingeniously convenient plan: end the secrecy and officially marry his girlfriend to make her his second wife.
Burhan's logic behind this decision is that he and his girlfriend (and perhaps even Vivian; I don't understand how this religious morality works) have sinned by having an extramarital affair (or by supporting it, in Vivian's case), and all of this will be absolved if they officially marry. So, Burhan excitedly calls his much younger girlfriend to inform her that Vivian has given him permission to marry her. It turns out the bride is Angel, the same young woman she had seen hugging Leo earlier, and who had just spent some intimate time with him. Although Angel is dating Leo, she has also been seeing other men, including Burhan. Since Burhan has a lot of money and influence, Angel immediately accepts the marriage proposal and soon leaves Leo to undergo the official ceremony, unaware that Leo has easy access to dangerous black magic.
When Angel leaves Leo, he is still in love with the young woman and therefore unwilling to leave her. Following Mayang's advice, Angel also searches Leo's belongings in his hotel room, only to find some objects used in black magic, confirming that Mayang and her friend were right to suspect him. In particular, a photograph of Angel was carefully tucked away inside a wrapped banana leaf, along with some strands of her hair and a bottle of liquid, making it clear that Leo had used black magic to woo her. Unfortunately for her, Leo enters the room just as she makes these discoveries and immediately attempts to seize the totem to prevent Angel from abandoning it. She therefore has to break the bottle of liquid and then push Leo, causing him to fall on the glass shards and severely injure his eye.
In addition to feeling physically and emotionally hurt, Leo's ego is also deeply offended, so he decides to do whatever it takes to ensure Angel is punished for abandoning him. He returns home to his mother, Sumi, who happens to be a shaman skilled in black magic, and therefore it was she who helped Leo fall in love with Angel. In fact, when the young woman mysteriously dies at the beginning of the film, it's clear that it was also Sumi's doing. It's mentioned that the woman also abandoned Leo due to his unpleasant temper, so he must have decided to seek revenge. He must have turned to his mother, like now, and Sumi must have unleashed the full power of her dark powers on her to terrorize and kill her.
Although Sumi is a terrible mother for teaching her son to use black magic on women instead of teaching him the social skills to be a nice person, she is very protective of Leo. Therefore, she is enraged to see her son so horribly injured and asks who is responsible for his condition. When Leo tells his mother what happened and says he wants to ensure Angel and her new husband, Burhan, can never be happy, Sumi doesn't hesitate to help him. She orders him to collect saliva from both individuals he's trying to harm in order to make voodoo dolls to use for torture.
Leo has no difficulty obtaining the saliva samples, first attacking Angel and intentionally annoying her so that she spits in his face in disgust. He then heads to the construction site where Burhan has been supervising the work, which also has a cemetery on one corner, which needs to be spiritually cleansed before starting any new project. Leo poses as a shaman and asks Burhan to spit into a container, which would apparently cleanse the cemetery very effectively. So, he obtains the necessary materials, the rest of which his mother already had at her disposal, and Sumi prepares the two voodoo dolls representing Angel and Burhan.
When Leo is asked to bury the voodoo dolls in the homes of the two individuals he intends to harm, the young man only manages to complete half of the task. Burhan's mansion is vast and relatively unprotected, so Leo can easily dig a hole and bury the doll. On his way to Angel's house—or rather, the house Burhan gave him after their marriage—he attempts to bury the doll, but is discovered by two of her friends, who happened to be there at that very moment. As a result, Angel discovers the plot against her and immediately captures Leo with the help of his friends.
Angel quickly turns the tide in his favor, first torturing Leo to find out who the shaman he'd been using, his mother, was, and then going to his house. Angel knows that although Burhan's first wife, Vivian, has allowed him to marry her, she and her children will still receive a significant portion of the man's money. Furthermore, Angel fears that Vivian won't allow Burhan to visit her often, so she knows she'll have to resort to black magic. However, she has an even more important mission: to seduce Burhan's nephew, Roy, a young man to whom she feels attracted. Since Roy has been ordered by his uncle to stay with Angel and attend to his needs in the house, she initially attempts to seduce him, but Roy completely rejects her advances.
Therefore, Angel now needs the help of black magic to get the man she desires and also to demonstrate to Mayang her ability to attract men. Angel has been portrayed as an evil and depraved woman, both morally and religiously, willing to do anything for money and status. It's no surprise that she goes to Sumi and orders her to prepare a potion with black magic that will make Roy fall in love with her. Although Sumi has her limits when it comes to accepting clients, and doesn't want to serve the same woman who shattered her son's heart (and right eye), she ultimately has no choice. Angel keeps Leo captive, and his two friends beat him while Sumi reveals everything via video call. Therefore, the shaman has no choice but to work for Angel, just to ensure her son's safety.
Although Angel manages to make Roy her lover, Mayang eventually turns on her, wanting to be with the young man, so she sends a photo of Angel and Roy in bed to Burhan. As Burhan is already very ill due to the horrific effects of the voodoo curse, it is Vivian who sees the photo on his phone and reacts by catching the extramarital lovers red-handed.
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