Fantastic Fest 2024: The Draft

The funny, fast-paced, brilliantly scripted Indonesian meta-horror “The Draft” is a wicked, witty rollercoaster ride you’ll never see coming.

Warning: Stop reading now to experience The Draft (aka Setan Alas) in all its gloriously unexpected splendor.

Seriously, this Indonesian horror gem is best enjoyed when you’re completely unprepared for its exceedingly clever twists and turns. But if you need convincing to seek out this cinematic thrill ride, read on – I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but even the tiniest peek behind the curtain might ruin some of the fun.

Picture this: Five thinly-characterized college friends roll up to a secluded villa for a weekend getaway, ignoring ominous warnings and strange occurrences. You’re a seasoned horror fan, and you’ve undoubtedly seen this setup a thousand times, right? Wrong.

Director Yusron Fuadi gleefully sets the stage for what appears to be a generic, paint-by-numbers “cabin in the woods” flick. But it’s all an elaborate ruse, a devious ploy to lull you into a false sense of “been there, done that” before he yanks the rug out from under you with maniacal glee.

Meet our soon-to-be (maybe) victims. We’ve got a cocky alpha male, a sweet girly girl, a more rough-around-the-edges tomboy, an outdoorsy himbo, and a self-proclaimed nerdy boy and aspiring filmmaker.

Fuadi intentionally (falsely) telegraphs where he’s going by ticking off all the expected beats of a haunted house story with surgical precision.

Creepy Dutch graveyard? Check. Abandoned well? You bet. Mysterious caretaker (played with delicious ambiguity by Ernanta Kusama)? Forbidden rooms locked up tightly with a missing key? A tragic backstory?  It’s all here.

Then the characters start acknowledging how it feels like they’re in a horror movie, and you start to expect some (at-this-point-pat) metacommentary on genre tropes.

But just how meta it gets and how unexpectedly Fuadi flips the script on the “same old, same old” is guaranteed to take you by surprise.

It’s certainly not the first film to pull off a deftly self-aware shakeup of the genre, but getting it right and delivering something that feels fresh, funny, and inventive is not easy.

Just when you’re ready to roll your eyes at yet another wryly self-aware wink at the camera, The Draft shifts into overdrive. Fuadi doesn’t just coyly play with genre tropes – he dropkicks them into another dimension. This is a love letter to horror written in blood, sweat, and belly laughs.

The film pirouettes through genres, keeping you dizzy, delighted, and maybe a little terrified.

But here’s the kicker – beneath the meta-madness and gore gags beats a surprisingly heartfelt core. Fuadi gives his cardboard cutout characters actual depth, making you genuinely root for this band of misfits as they navigate the funhouse of horrors he’s constructed.

THE DRAFT isn’t just a rebellious middle finger to tired tropes; it’s a rallying cry against the boxes society tries to force us into.

It urges us to tear up those prewritten roles and expectations and forge our own paths, even if that means facing down literal and metaphorical monsters.

Mandela Majid’s cinematography ensures this mind-bender is as visually stunning as it is narratively satisfying. The score walks a tightrope between classic horror tension and playful self-awareness, perfectly complementing the film’s tonal acrobatics.

The Draft is immediately immersive, and once you realize you’re being toyed with as a viewer, you’ll be eager to writhe on Fuadi’s hook.

You’ll want to give yourself over to his clever subversion of the genre and love letter to the craft of filmmaking. When it’s over, you’ll instantly want to rewatch once you see how the threads tie together and understand the many creative ways Fuadi sets up the pieces on his chess board for a wickedly satisfying payoff.

Fuadi describes the film as his “love letter to horror, sci-fi, and fantasy film,” into which he poured his heart and soul. He attempts to honor a genre that is at times underrated and, at other times, overwrought.

Mike Chapman of Blue Finch Films, which has picked up the film for international distribution, called it “a thoroughly imaginative and original entry to the horror genre which will delight audiences worldwide.”

That seems like a pretty apt description.

I could gush about The Draft for hours, but that would rob you of the pure joy of discovering its twisted delights for yourself.

Don’t wait for the inevitable watered-down American remake; seek out The Draft now and prepare for 84 minutes of the most wildly entertaining and unforgettable cinema you’ll experience this year.