Ghost In The Cell Review: Joko Anwar Turns A Jakarta Prison Into A Gore-Filled Laugh Riot

Ghost In The Cell (M18)

Starring Abimana Aryasatya, Endy Arfian, Bront Palarae, Morgan Oey, Lukman Sardi, Yoga Pratama

A wimpy reporter, Dimas (Endy Arfian), is sent to a Jakarta prison for the gruesome murder of his editor. Get this — the poor sap's mutilated body is perched on a ceiling fan like a morbid, ritualistic art piece.

Basically, with this bonkers, funny, dig-at-politicians horror-comedy, prolific writer-director Joko Anwar, Indonesia's premier gore-meister, is now a museum exhibitor too.

FYI. You haven't seen sicko skin craft until you see his icky-grisly Impetigore (2019).

Dimas previously investigated illegal deforestation and similar vicious killings in Kalimantan. Useful tip — if it's from the jungle, it sure as hell does not stay in the jungle.

His new bunkmates, led by do-gooder fighter, Anggoro (Abimana Aryasatya), are a motley bunch alternating between lockup-tough and spooked-out goofy. Because, unbeknownst to everyone — brawling convicts, nasty guards, crooked warden — a terrifying eco dark spirit has followed Dimas straight into the cellblock to kill folks who get pissed off really, really easily.

Moral of the story: if you're prone to extreme anger, the tree guardian will rip you to shreds extremely.

Man, I promise to recycle even my kitchen sink from now on. I mean, wussy green-tards aren't supposed to be so crazy-scary, right?

Director Anwar, in a Q & A session in Singapore, asked why, metaphorically-speaking, people in Indonesia get mad so easily on the roads, traffic stops, etc. (Abang, we over here in Bad Mood Central totally get you.)

So this deal is sorta like a Shawshank Demonic Redemption payback. The demon is so vengeful in cleaning house it even beheads a poofy gay dancer. What sick freak does this?

One cell resident, Six (Yoga Pratama), possesses the third-eye ability to see a toxic “red aura” forming around the squabbling prisoners just before the entity zeroes in to feed off the negative energy. A cook losing his temper is boiled to death. An angry corrupt fat cat gets chopped up to be put on dinner plates.

Calming down quickly to save their lives, hence, the convicts suddenly stop fighting and start dancing. Courtesy of prisoner-enrichment dance classes.

Hilarious.

Six, watching their vibes in the slugfests change to Disney-friendly, informs the inmates that — whew — they're safe. For now. As they figure out just what the heck is going on.

Okay, many pics have been made about an unseen terror running loose in a confined space. This unstoppable thing pops up as a homicidal monstrous lookalike of the victim. Like being torn apart by your own demented identical twin. Wicked.

But few flicks have turned this super supernatural idea into such an eye-opening — think metal rods shoved right into eyeballs — wild, loony and terrific time about its specific setting than this Indon laughter-chiller.

The smaller locale is, of course, the prison itself. Besides our heroes, there are also sections for celebs and mightily corrupt politicians who get special VVVIP treatment with the fawning warden sucking up to giant vacuum-cleaner level. But, funnily enough, no actual thugs chill here because in Indonesia, the gangsters are all in “community organisations”.

Which makes the bigger setting in this sharp satirical tale being the state of the Big Country itself.

Director Anwar is a very astute social commentator who cleverly encapsulates this hemmed-in, strictly regulated setup into a microcosm of a wider malaised society. He touches politics, environment, religion, philosophy — one fella drops Aristotle and Kierkegaard like Pokemon names — and even, well, the Indonesian penchant for dance to ward off evil.

All the helmer's previous gore stuff, folklore references, societal criticism in earlier films have come together effectively in this single pic where the visceral and the comical juxtapose really easily with the macabre.

You laugh at the prisoners warbling all kinds of religious chants to calm the hell down to escape the hell beast. You're thrilled by the vile demon taking on an equally vile human demon who's the scourge of the cellblock in a great man-vs-monster showdown.

That scene, basically, comes out of the local scenery.

“This is Indonesia. You think we're in Norway or something?” one inmate quips amusingly.

In Ghost In The Cell, Joko Anwar reminds us, superbly, exactly where we are. (4/5 stars) in cinemas now

Photos: GV Pictures/Purple Noon