Luna Maya
Suzzanna
Suzzanna: Kliwon Friday Night
2023
2h 12m
17+ · IndonesianDirector: Guntur Soeharjanto
Overview
After a shaman casts a curse on her, a woman is killed by dark sorcery and resurrected as a wrathful spirit who seeks to reunite with her newborn baby.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
7 min readThe Ghost Who Wouldn’t Stay Buried
I keep thinking about the moment Suzzanna’s head pops off. Not because it’s particularly terrifying—though the practical effect is impressively grotesque, with veins still twitching as the decapitated skull rolls across the floor—but because it feels like the film’s entire problem in miniature. Here’s a movie that wants to be both a loving tribute to 1980s Indonesian horror and a modern splatterfest, and in that split second, it reveals how hard it is to do both at once.
The head shouldn’t be funny, but it is. The scene shouldn’t feel like a callback, but it does. And just like that, the spell is broken.
Suzzanna: Kliwon Friday Night (2023) is the second entry in what’s being called the "Suzzanna New Generation" trilogy, a series of films reviving the late horror icon Suzzanna Martha Frederika van Osch, who became a legend in Indonesia for playing vengeful spirits in the 1980s. This installment, directed by Guntur Soeharjanto, leans heavily into the lore of Malam Jumat Kliwon—the "Friday Kliwon Night" when the supernatural bleeds into the mortal world.
It’s a premise ripe with potential: a woman murdered by dark magic returns as a wrathful spirit to reclaim her newborn child, her body a vessel for both grief and vengeance. The film knows this. It wants to be eerie, tragic, and cathartic.
But too often, it settles for being merely familiar.
Soeharjanto and his team go to great lengths to recreate the aesthetic of classic Indonesian horror. The film’s art direction is steeped in 1980s nostalgia—fog-choked alleys, flickering neon signs, and the kind of practical effects that harken back to the era before CGI. There’s a scene early on where Suzzanna’s corpse is prepared for burial, her body wrapped in white cloth, and the camera lingers just long enough to let the weight of the moment sink in.
It’s the kind of slow, deliberate horror that the original Suzzanna films excelled at, where dread builds not from jump scares but from the creeping realization that something is wrong with the world. For a while, it works. The film feels like a love letter to a bygone era of Indonesian cinema, one where horror was as much about atmosphere as it was about scares.
But then the head pops off.
It’s a moment that’s meant to shock, and in a way, it does. The practical effects are undeniably impressive—there’s a tactile quality to the gore that CGI often lacks. But the scene is also played for laughs, with a bumbling side character reacting in over-the-top horror, and suddenly the film’s tone lurches from eerie to unintentionally comedic.
It’s not the only time this happens. Kliwon Friday Night is full of these tonal whiplashes, where the film can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be a serious horror-drama or a campy splatterfest. The result is a movie that feels like it’s constantly tripping over its own feet.
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsLuna Maya Returns as Suzzanna in Kliwon Friday Night—But Is the Horror Revival Worth the Hype?
Indonesian horror icon Suzzanna gets another big-screen revival in Suzzanna: Kliwon Friday Night (2023), the latest chapter in a franchise that refuses to stay buried. Directed by Guntur Soeharjanto—no stranger to the genre after helming Suzzanna: Buried Alive (2018)—this installment leans into the eerie folklore of "Kliwon Friday," a Javanese superstition where the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest. With Luna Maya reprising her role as the vengeful ghost, the film promises a mix of drama and horror, latestnetflix.com argues, but early buzz suggests it’s walking a familiar path—one that might leave fans divided.
A Familiar Face (and Fright) Returns
Luna Maya’s return as Suzzanna cements her as the modern face of Indonesia’s most famous horror legend. The character, originally portrayed by Suzzanna herself in 1980s classics like Sundel Bolong, has become a cultural touchstone, blending tragic romance with supernatural terror. Maya’s previous outing in Buried Alive was a box-office hit, proving that the undead star still has drawing power. This time, she’s joined by a cast of familiar faces, including Achmad Megantara, Sally Marcelina, and Ence Bagus, who bring a mix of fresh energy and veteran gravitas to the story.
But is nostalgia enough? The original Suzzanna films thrived on practical effects and slow-burn dread, while modern Indonesian horror often leans into CGI and jump scares. Kliwon Friday Night reportedly straddles both worlds, though early details on its visual style remain scarce. If the film plays it safe, it risks feeling like a retread rather than a reinvention.
Behind the Scenes: A Franchise in Limbo?
Despite the franchise’s popularity, Kliwon Friday Night arrives without the same pre-release hype as its predecessor. Buried Alive benefited from a wave of 2010s Indonesian horror revivals, but the landscape has shifted since then. Streaming platforms now dominate, and audiences have grown more discerning about recycled tropes. Soeharjanto’s direction is a known quantity—he’s delivered crowd-pleasing horror before—but whether he can elevate the material beyond fan service is an open question.
One unconfirmed rumor suggests the film faced production delays, possibly due to budget constraints or script rewrites. Neither the director nor the cast has publicly addressed these claims, but the lack of promotional buzz compared to Buried Alive is noticeable. If true, it could explain why Kliwon Friday Night feels like a quieter affair, banking more on the Suzzanna brand than bold new ideas.
Critical Reception: Too Soon to Tell?
As of now, Suzzanna: Kliwon Friday Night lacks a substantial critical footprint. Rotten Tomatoes lists the film, but reviews and audience scores are either sparse or yet to be aggregated, leaving its reception an open question. This silence is unusual for a franchise installment, especially one tied to a beloved character. It’s possible the film is still rolling out in select markets, or that distributors are holding back on wider releases until word-of-mouth builds.
For now, the biggest selling point remains Luna Maya’s return. If the film delivers on its horror promise—especially the atmospheric dread of "Kliwon Friday" folklore—it could still win over purists. But if it leans too heavily on nostalgia without adding fresh scares, it might struggle to stand out in Indonesia’s crowded horror scene.
The Verdict: A Safe Bet or a Missed Opportunity?
Suzzanna: Kliwon Friday Night isn’t breaking new ground, but that might not be the point. For fans of the franchise, it’s another chance to revisit a classic character in a new setting. For everyone else, it’s a test of whether Suzzanna’s legacy can survive yet another revival. With limited details on its creative choices and no clear critical consensus, the film’s success may hinge on whether audiences still crave the old-school chills—or if they’re ready for something darker.
One thing’s certain: Suzzanna isn’t staying dead anytime soon.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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