An Okto Channel's original production, Pulau Hantu revolves around a 6-men platoon from the Singapore Armed Forces, conducting a search mission for missing soldiers on the ominously named island ('Pulau' and 'Hantu' is the Malay translation for 'island' and 'ghost' respectively).The story began with an interrogation which was followed by an account of the ill fated patrol. As soon as they landed onshore, strange things began to happen. The platoon gets shot at. Within minutes, one of them was killed by a mysterious force. The platoon then chance upon a dilapidated attap house where they found a young girl who is obviously not human. When the platoon finally encounters the cinematically overused Long Hair Lady Ghost, you can pretty much figure the final act of the movie.
Carl Ng headed the cast as 2nd lieutenant Heng Ing How, a playboy socialite who had just been recalled for the search mission and spoke with a distinct British accent as dense as the forest of Pulau Hantu. He is aided by no-nonsense career soldier, Master Sergeant June Fong (Pamelyn Chee), the sole female of the party .
The rest of the cast include Corporals Fernandez (Shane Mardjuki) & Subramaniam (Vijay Madhavan) who, other than being catalyst to the platoon's fearful hysterics of cowering and blind discharges of weaponry, played near-zero significance to character and plot development.
There's also the panic stricken Corporal Abdullah (Sani Hussein) who does nothing but uttered spooky warnings and was himself very spooked. Corporal Frankie Low is the typical Hokkien peng stereotype (portrayed by John Cheng), however genuine to character nature, is an act fast getting old and truthfully, seem out of place within the context of the movie.
Lost Patrol: The cast of Pulau Hantu includes (L-R):
Pamelyn Chee, Sani Hussein, Subramaniam, Shane Mardjuki, Carl Ng & John Cheng
Sadly, Adrian Phang had cameo appearances as an investigating officer when he could have been a better candidate for Carl Ng's role.
With such uninspiring cast, Pulau Hantu's screenplay also collapses into a uninspired routine of actions and mannerisms, boring a semblance of stage actors rushing through scenes as time draws to an end. Characters tend to react too early or talk too much within the initial act of the film, no thanks to the absence of good pacing. Master Sergeant Fong, whose most probable contribution to the film is to balance the gender equation as well as initiating sexual tension with Second Lieutenant Heng, failed to generate much chemistry with the protagonist. You wonder if there's ever a need for her anyway.
The film is also let down by fuzzy editing, unconvincing visual effects and absurd colour composition. Notable is a poorly executed montage of scenes which left me unsure whether one of the characters had actually died and returned as a ghost. Other sore eyes appeared in the form of some scenery scenes, superfluously illustrated by a red-tinted sea and fiery, dark clouds in the sky, as blatant reminders to viewers that Pulau Hantu is indeed an evil place.
In one of the early scenes, 2nd Lieutenant Heng (Carl Ng), in distinctive British accent, sarcastically announces, " Welcome to Pulau Hantu."
Pulau Hantu's earliest flaw would have lie with believability. For example, it's common knowledge that Pulau Tekong, another one of Singapore's islands, has always been the prime offshore destination for military training. So why three soldiers would get lost in Pulau Hantu was never decently explained. Neither is there any rationale for the army to sent a small squad in an aged speedboat to captured the alleged AWOL personnel. Incidentally, some years back in real life, a manpower of several company sized units from the army and police were dispatched when three robbers escaped from Malaysia and accidentally landed on the nearby Pulau Tekong.
But such believability issues could have been gotten around with a neat screenplay and decent cast. Pulau Hantu had none of those and the amateurish approach to the horror genre by director Esan Sivalingam only made it one of the most forgettable horror flicks, even by telemovie standards.
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