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Impetigore
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Wikipedia article
'Impetigore' is a 2019 Indonesian horror film written and directed by Joko Anwar. The film stars Tara Basro, Marissa Anita, Christine Hakim, Asmara Abigail, and Ario Bayu. After Maya (Basro) is mysteriously attacked, she and her friend Dini (Anita) travel to her remote ancestral village seeking an inheritance, and find a hostile and suspicious community.
Almost a decade in development, the film was announced in 2011 but was initially shelved. Seven years later, 'Impetigore' was secured as an international co-production between Indonesian, South Korean and US-based production houses. Filming took place on location at various sites in East Java, facing challenges due to the remoteness of the main village location and Anwar being hospitalised with dengue fever.
'Impetigore' premiered in Indonesia on 17 October 2019. In 2020, it was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and began streaming in the United States on Shudder.
The film was a box office success in Indonesia and received favourable reviews internationally, with critics praising its cinematography, sound design and use of Indonesian folklore. It was selected as the Indonesian official entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but was not nominated. At the 40th Citra Awards, Indonesia's top film honours, the film received a record-breaking 17 nominations and won 6, including Best Picture, a second Best Director for Anwar, and a third supporting actress and ninth overall win for screen veteran Christine Hakim.
Plot
Best friends Maya and Dini work as tollbooth collectors in Jakarta. On a night shift, Maya is attacked by a man wielding a golok, claiming to be from a village called Harjosari and calling Maya "Rahayu". Following the inscription on an old photo from her aunt showing a young Maya, identified as Rahayu, with a couple in front of a large house, Maya and Dini travel to the remote Harjosari village to look for the house in hopes of selling it for money.
In Harjosari, the pair encounter cold, suspicious villagers. They witness funerals for children taking place daily and observe that many headstones in the cemetery belong to newborns. Dini is lured away by villagers, who slit her throat and flay her, mistaking her for Rahayu, whose parents Donowongso and Shinta owned the house. While looking for Dini in the evening, Maya spies village chief and dalang Saptadi drowning a skinless newborn infant. She finds out from sympathetic villager Ratih that 20 years ago, Donowongso, a rich dalang, was rumoured to have made a pact with the devil and murdered three girls to heal his daughter Rahayu, who was born without skin. Since then, all babies in the village have been born skinless.
The ghost of one of the murdered little girls reveals to Maya that the actual way to end the curse is to bury the slain girls' skin, which had been made into wayang kulit puppets by Donowongso, together with their bones. The ghost also reveals that Rahayu was born skinless because Saptadi's dukun mother Misni had cursed her for having been conceived from an adulterous affair between Saptadi and Shinta, who was desperate after her effort with Donowongso had been unsuccessful. Donowongso, who himself was a dukun, sacrificed three girls to cure Rahayu's skin and, in doing so, cursed the entire village. Saptadi, who had been jinxed by Misni to forget about his affair, posed as Donowongso, killed Shinta and an entire group of wayang musicians during a performance, then killed Donowongso after framing him for the massacre. Misni convinced Saptadi and the villagers that the curse can only be undone by flaying Rahayu and making puppets out of her skin. Rahayu was then evacuated by her 'aunt', who in fact was one of Donowongso's servants, and renamed to conceal her identity.
Maya and Ratih bury the puppets made from the three girls' skin in their grave and their spirits are pacified. Misni arrives with the villagers and reveals that Saptadi and Donowongso are actually half-brothers, as Donowongso's father had an affair with her. Maya begs for her life to Saptadi and tells him everything, and when Misni moves to flay Maya, the distraught and ashamed Saptadi grabs her hand and uses it to slit his throat instead. Horrified, Misni slits her own throat to join her son. As a healthy baby is finally born in the village after 20 years, Maya escapes.
One year later, a villager suffers a violent miscarriage as it is shown that Misni's ghost has extracted the foetus and devoured it.
Cast
Production
Development
', Indonesian traditional shadow puppetry, and 'dalang' (puppeteers) are a central part of 'Impetigore'.Director and writer Joko Anwar described the film's concept as originating from a story his older brother had told him as a child; that the leather for Indonesian shadow puppets came from human skin. To form the concept for the film, he combined this with the idea of a strong but intimidating maternal character (inspired by his own mother), and various Indonesian social and political issues.
In 2011, Anwar revealed a poster for the film, one of several planned films announced simultaneously. A Twitter account for the film was also created around this time. The project was later cancelled due to the large number of films produced by Lifelike Pictures, which was initially on board to produce. Anwar also said difficulties finding a filming location that matched the script and a lack of budget led to the project being shelved.
The project was revived seven years later, when Ivanhoe Pictures announced a three-film collaboration with Anwar which includes 'Impetigore', 'Ghost in the Cell', and 'The Vow'. The film was an international co-production between Indonesia's Rapi Films and BASE Entertainment, South Korea's CJ Entertainment and the US-based Ivanhoe Pictures. Anwar announced on Instagram that the film would be called 'Perempuan Tanah Jahanam' on 31 December 2018, adding that it will be different from his previous horror film 'Satan's Slaves' (2017). In February 2019, Anwar announced the cast members, including frequent collaborators Tara Basro, Marissa Anita, Asmara Abigail, Ario Bayu, and Arswendi Nasution.
Filming
contracted dengue fever on the first day of filming 'Impetigore'.The film was primarily shot on location in Banyuwangi, Lumajang and Ijen in East Java. The film crew spent three months searching for a village that matched the location described in the script. The village chosen, which was established in 1941 for workers on Dutch plantations, was so remote that the crew had to construct a path for vehicles and equipment to reach it. Many local villagers appear as extras in the film.
Filming was expected to take 29 days, but experienced difficulties when Anwar contracted dengue fever on the first day and was hospitalised for 8 days. Anwar later reflected that he had almost died during the illness, and that the shoot was "probably the most adventurous time" of his life. The film crew had to construct the village's first toilets themselves, as well as the house that was used for the main set. After filming, this infrastructure was left by the crew for use by village residents, with the house set converted into a public library with books provided by the crew.
Release
'Impetigore' was released in Indonesia on 17 October 2019. It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival on 26 January 2020, and was released in the United States on horror streaming service Shudder on 23 July 2020.
In November 2020, it was selected as the Indonesian official entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. When announcing the submission, Garin Nugroho, head of the Indonesian Academy Awards Selection Committee, cited the film's showcasing of Indonesian values and culture, as well as for its direction and script.
Soundtrack
Reception
Box office
'Impetigore' was a box office success in Indonesia. It opened in first place in the local box office with an audience of 117,000 on its opening day and attracted 700,000 admissions in its first week of release. At the end of its domestic theatrical run, it ended up with 1.7 million admissions, making it the seventh highest grossing domestic film in 2019.Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads, "'Impetigore' uses its folk horror setting as the brutally effective backdrop for a supernatural story that sinks its hooks into the viewer and refuses to let go."Dennis Harvey wrote a positive review in 'Variety', praising the film's production design and sound, calling it a "handsome and atmospheric production" and "good, sometimes grisly fun thats not terribly scary, particularly once hectic climactic events prove less suspenseful than the slow-burn buildup". However, Harvey critiqued the film's later acts, saying that the "convoluted later mix of chase scenes and explanatory flashbacks [feel] more like an awkward pileup of miscellaneous genre tropes". On RogerEbert.com, Peter Sobczynski gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, commending film's style and use of Indonesian folklore, but criticising some elements of the ending. He particularly highlighted the film's opening sequence, calling it "electrifying" and "absolutely spellbinding". In 'Screen Daily', Wendy Ide commended the film's atmosphere but critiqued its use of exposition, calling it "entertaining, pulpy horror, [that] focuses more on incorporating Indonesian cultural elements rather than delivering neatly packaged scares". 'The Independent' called the film "a must-watch for fans of scary films".
In a more mixed review, James Marsh in 'South China Morning Post' rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and said the film was "unevenly paced and fails to capitalise on its grisly premise", but praised Basro's performance. 'Al Jazeera' highlighted 'Impetigore' as part of a new wave of low-budget folk horror films bringing attention to Southeast Asia's film industry, alongside Malaysian film 'Roh'.
Accolades
See also
* List of submissions to the 93rd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
* List of Indonesian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
*Indonesian horror
References
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