THE BOOK OF SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN (aka KITAB SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN, 2025)

Streaming on Shudder from Rapi Films!
Directed by Hadrah Daeng Ratu.
Written by Lele Laila, Ersan Özer.
Check out the trailer here!

After her parents are violently killed by what seems to be witchcraft, Yuli (Yunita Siregar) is adopted into an abusive family who calls her a bastard and makes her the brunt of all their frustrations. Fed up with this treatment, Yuli seeks out the help of a local shaman to cast a death curse upon the family. Yuli is instructed how to perform the ritual, but must do it herself for it to work, so she exhumes a dead body and casts some gnarly spells with it to take her revenge.

THE BOOK OF SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN is an Indonesian film and if there is one or two things I know about Indonesian films, it is that they know how to depict black magic in tactile and horrifying ways, and always, always, there are centipedes. Religion is something I have always failed to grasp. The utter belief in something one cannot touch and feel is just something my mind cannot wrap itself around. While I respect those who can devote their lives to religion, it just doesn’t work for me. Still, I find it fascinating that, while the concept of religion proves to be somewhat of a dated concept in modern American cinema, the belief in a higher power is alive and well in foreign films such as THE BOOK OF SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN. Here the question is not, is there a god? It is just a given that a higher power exists. So, I guess that’s why films such as these are so effective. They don’t waste their time asking why. A higher power just is and there is no arguing with that.

I bring up this theological discussion because all the way through THE BOOK OF SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN, I found myself amazed at how effective the film is compared to American horror films centering on religion. Religion is just a normal way of life and just as a more positive power exists, so does the power of Black Magic. For some reason, most likely due to our apathetic nature, this type of magical thinking is rather goofy or old timey in American films. But in this movie, it feels as real as anything one can see or touch. Black Magic is no laughing matter here, as evidenced by the tactile and often disturbing way the film depicts it. As explained in the film, THE BOOK OF SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN are a pair of books the angels and devils own that contain all the good deeds and all the sins people have done through the years. It’s basically a running tally of one’s life and whatever it all totals up to in the end signifies one’s fate. Described that way, I get it, at least for a basis to build a film on.

The black magic in this film is also tactile as it involves spit, blood, and flesh. We see Yuli dig up the corpse and sew spikes through the flesh of the corpse while chanting. It’s disgusting and in your face (as well as in the corpse’s face as the spikes are literally threaded through the body’s cheeks) and I am not entirely sure how they pulled off such realistic effects. I probably don’t want to know, but the way this magic is presented is terrifyingly effective.

Also adding to the way this film really burrows into your brainpan is how much hatred and frustration Yunita Siregar shows in her performance as Yuli. It’s a wonderfully rich character. You feel awful for her as she is treated horribly by her adoptive family and it is understandable that she is pissed about it all. But that immense discord takes over Yuli making her a vile villain and while I felt for her in the first half, it’s hard to root for her as the bloodlust and black magic takes her over. It’s a complex performance and Yunita Siregar performs it extremely well.

Aside from the tactile and gross black magic rituals going on, there is an abundance of gore going on in THE BOOK OF SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN. Most of it comes in the form of people being compelled to do harm to themselves, which could be triggering for some. Still, these are no throwaway kills. Yuli meticulously picks off the family one by one in soppingly gory ways. It all culminates with an exorcism of sorts, cut between two locations – Yuli’s black magic den and a holy temple. While a lot of the exorcism is similar to most exorcism films, the fact that it is steeped in Muslim faith and involves some interesting wire-work and some nauseating grossout effects (including a centipede or two) make it stand out from most possession movies.

As a cultural piece, as a showcase for a religion from a foreign land, as a multi-layered drama about familial abuse passed down from one generation to the next, and most importantly as a horror movie with gore, scares, and suspense, THE BOOK OF SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN works. This is one of the better horror exports from Indonesia released this year and if international horror is your thing, you’ve got to check this one out!