'The Draft!': Indonesian Film Pokes Fun At Horror Film Scripts (Fantastic Fest 2024)

"You slam your phone down like that again, and I'll replace you with Joko Anwar."

Directed by Yusron Fuadi, The Draft! (Setan Alas!) is a meta, horror comedy about 5 friends who decide to spend their vacation at a villa deep in the woods. But when they arrive, things start happening that make them realize things are not as they seem.

The film starts out how you'd expect from every other horror film to start that is about people venturing out to a cabin in the woods. But Fuadi flips expectation on its head and you realize that this is nothing at all what you might have been expecting. He gives us all the elements of Cabin in the Woods (2011) and Shaun of the Dead (2004) but with his own flair.

Ani (Putri Anggie), the feminine one, and her boyfriend, Budi (Ibrahim Allami), the alpha male, and their friends Wati (Anastasia Herzigova), the tomboy, Iwan (Adhin Abdul Hakim), the outdoorsy type, and Amir (Winner Wijaya), the wannabe filmmaker or nerd, all find themselves in situations that can only be happening if they were in a horror film.

Without spoiling too much, where meta-horror films often come off at cheesy and over the top, Fuadi's film cleary expresses love and care for the genre. It pulls in the audience and makes us feel like we are apart of helping this group survive. And he pulls out all the stops. There is a moment, a shift almost, that happens and you know instantly that something is not right here. Coupled with the intentional music choices and cinematography, Fuadi elevates the approach to meta-horror to an entirely new level. I can already forsee other studios right now ready to utilize this concept.

The Draft! is fun and unexpected. While it may comes off as Fuadi is throwing everything at the wall, it's all intentional. "The Draft! is my love letter to horror, sci-fi and fantasy film. Being a love letter, naturally I put all my passion, anger, lust, protest and obsession to this slightly underrated and somewhat overdone genre.” -Yusron Fuadi