For a directorial debut, I thought Yuriyan Retriever did a pretty decent job with Mag Mag. What I found interesting was how the film seemed to sit somewhere between an indie production and something with a much bigger budget. Some scenes had that slightly rough, independent film feel, while others looked surprisingly polished. Not quite Hollywood money being thrown around, but you could definitely see the ambition.
Story
The story follows a mysterious female spirit known as Mag Mag, who becomes obsessed with men, with rather unfortunate consequences for anyone who catches her attention. When a young woman’s love interest falls victim to the spirit, she begins looking into what’s really going on. It’s a decent premise, and there’s enough mystery surrounding Mag Mag to keep you interested in finding out more.
Now, as someone who watches a ridiculous amount of horror and is pretty difficult to scare these days, I have to give the film credit for actually making me jump a few times. Some of the scares were genuinely effective, and there were moments where I thought I knew what was coming, only for the film to catch me completely off guard.
What I also enjoyed was the comedy throughout. There were some genuinely funny moments that I wasn’t expecting, especially considering how creepy things could get. One minute you’re sitting there feeling uneasy, the next you’re laughing at something completely ridiculous. It’s an odd mix, but somehow it works. And knowing Yuriyan Retriever comes from a comedy background, it makes sense that she’d bring some of that humour into her first film.
Where Mag Mag lost a few points for me was the pacing. At almost two hours long, I couldn’t help feeling that the story was being stretched further than it needed to be. There were quite a few slow moments where I was just waiting for something to happen. And while I appreciate that horror sometimes needs time to build suspense, I don’t think every quiet moment here was necessarily adding anything.
I genuinely think this would have been a much stronger film if it had been condensed to around 90 minutes. The story was good, the scares worked and the humour gave it some personality. It just needed a bit of trimming to keep everything moving. Sometimes less really is more, especially when you’ve already got the ingredients for an entertaining horror film.
Summary
Overall, I enjoyed Mag Mag. It’s a decent first outing from Yuriyan Retriever, with some proper jump scares, unexpected laughs and an interesting story. It certainly has its moments, and I’d be interested to see what she does next. Just maybe with someone standing nearby holding a stopwatch during the editing process.
I grew up in the Blockbuster Video days, when picking a film meant judging the cover and hoping for the best. I’m not a critic by trade — I just call it how I see it, whether a film smashes it or falls flat on its face.
