Monsters borne of fearful society
There is no slow-burn waiting game here. Arum, played with unsettling precision by Saskia Chadwick, is a menace in pigtails. Her unholy episodes are the stuff of pure nightmare fuel, laced with physicality and unpredictability that keep everyone on edge. Whether it is the flickering eyes, bizarre convulsions, or just the way she stands in a room, she is the thunder before the storm.
So no, it is not boring horror. The only thing slow about the film is how long it takes before everything finally clicks into place emotionally and thematically.
Everything comes together
There is a specific moment just past the hour mark where Jalan Pulang shifts. Not in tone (because it has been creepy since minute one), but in meaning. Suddenly, all the strange rituals, tense glances and spiritual detours begin to make sense. The story finally lays its cards on the table and when it does, it is not just good, it is tragically brilliant.
That is when the cinematography by Mandela Majid really starts to shine, too. Java's sprawling landscapes turn claustrophobic, traditional rituals look alien and the line between myth and metaphor becomes harder to define. Luna Maya (as the emotionally fraying mother Lastini) delivers her most powerful work here, channeling a mix of love, guilt and desperate hope that anchors the madness around her.
The real horror
Underneath the demonic theatrics, the film quietly tells a much sadder story, one that hits harder once the reveal arrives. Arum is not just cursed. She is treated like a curse by others. The people around her are quicker to blame than to understand and her increasingly disturbing behaviour becomes a symbol of how society deals with those who are different, especially disabled or neurodivergent children.
There is a biting layer of commentary here. Arum is isolated, misread and eventually scapegoated. Her condition becomes a magnet for suspicion, leading to decisions rooted in fear rather than care. The tragedy is not just what happens to Arum, it is what was allowed to happen because no one bothered to see her as more than a problem to be fixed or feared.
It is a gut punch disguised as a ghost story.
Some seriously disturbing moments
Jalan Pulang could have taken the easy route: creepy kid, jump scares, spooky woods, done. But it does not. The story spirals deeper, revealing layers of trauma, vengeance and generational pain. There are shamans, ancestral spirits and cryptic visions but the real evil is not always supernatural.
There is revenge bubbling beneath the surface, a slow-boiling rage that ties into the film's central theme: what happens when the people meant to protect end up being the ones who judge, isolate, or betray?
And yes along the way, Arum continues to do things that no child should ever do outside of an exorcism scene. So maybe do not bring snacks.
J alan Pulang is an emotionally heavy, culturally dense and at times downright scary watch. But it is also deeply tragic, the kind of film that lingers. Watching it with someone makes it easier to unpack all that pain, all those metaphors and all the questionable spiritual detours.
Plus, it helps to have someone nearby when Arum starts levitating.
Disturbing, thoughtful and devastating
Jalan Pulang is more than just a creepy-kid horror flick. It is a cautionary tale about what happens when fear overrides empathy. The film may begin with the death of a man and the possession of a child, but its real horror lies in society's cruelty toward those who do not conform and the irreversible consequences of looking away.
Cultural horror meets real-world pain and by the end, what lingers is not the demon but the damage.
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