Movie review: Dukun

Lawyer Karim (Faizal Hussein) is searching for his daughter Nadia, who has run away from home.
At the same time, he is defending Diana Dahlan (Umie Aida), a self-confessed witch doctor accused of killing her client, rich businessman Datuk Jeffri (Adlin Aman Ramlie).
Diana then offers to use her 'magical' powers to help Karim find his missing daughter.
When the desperate man takes her up on the offer, he does not realise that Diana has some ulterior motive. The clueless Karim ends up heading towards self-destruction.
Director Dain Said certainly knows how to bring out the best in his cast. His lead actors, Umie and Faizal, have delivered mind-blowing performances here.
You can feel the vibes of sexiness and madness in Umie's enigmatic Diana. You are afraid of her, as well as attracted by her confidence. She is one woman you do not want to mess with.
I must also admit that Faizal has done justice to his character.
Dain loves portraying tortured souls as can be seen in his two previous movies, Bunohan (2012) and Interchange (2016).
One can see that the root of his fascination with tortured souls came from Dukun, which was originally filmed in 2006.
Unfortunately, the film is far from perfect. The pacing is slow and there are times where boredom crept in.
Too much emphasis has been given to the court scenes where the lawyers are arguing. It feels more like a courtroom drama at times than a scary thriller.
I also guessed the surprise ending that the director has in store for us. However, I will not reveal it and spoil your fun should you decide to watch the film.
All I can say is, you do not want to be in Faizal's shoes when the film ends.