Impetigore (2019) Review

“Impetigore” Theatrical Poster

Director: Joko Anwar
Cast: Tara Basro, Ario Bayu, Marissa Anita, Christine Hakim, Asmara Abigail, Zidni Hakim, Afrian Aris, Kiki Narendra, Faradina Mufti, Abdulrahman Arief
Running Time: 107 min.

By Henry McKeand

Modern supernatural horror films seem to be split into two camps. In one camp are haunted house rollercoaster rides designed to pack in as many jump scares as possible. Think The Conjuring or most films produced by James Wan. In the other camp are the “metaphor first” horrors that emphasize slow burns and use ghosts as thinly disguised representations of emotional distress and social ills. Many of the recent films in this camp have been described, both positively and negatively, as “trauma horror.” There have been great films to come out of both camps. Some, such as this year’s Smile, combine the immediate shocks of the first with the allegorical focus of the second.

But there’s another kind of ghostly narrative that seems to have fallen in popularity: the supernatural mystery. These films focus on characters trying to uncover the truth behind curses and possessions. The Innocents, The Changeling, and Don’t Look Now fit in this category. These are movies that are too plot-focused to work as non-stop scare fests and too literal to function as allegories. Instead, they use supernatural plot elements to heighten character-focused melodrama. 

Joko Anwar’s Impetigore harkens back to this tradition. The Indonesian director’s previous horror film, a remake of 1980’s Satan’s Slaves, prioritized frequent jump scares to great effect, but Impetigore is more deliberate in its storytelling. Anwar further explores the themes of unwanted inheritance and communal distrust that Satan’s Slaves touched on in its quieter moments, creating a film that works as both horror and drama. 

Anwar’s muse Tara Basro plays a woman named Maya who travels to a small village with her best friend Dini, played wonderfully by Marissa Anita, to claim a house left behind by the dead parents she never knew. Soon, the two friends realize that there’s more to her inheritance than they realized, and their interactions with the locals grow more and more hostile. To make things worse, the spirits of three little girls seem to be haunting Maya and her parents’ house. 

The motivations of the mysterious villagers seem easy to guess at first, but things become less straightforward after layers of backstory are peeled back. While there are scenes of violence and dread, most of the drama comes from simply uncovering the truth behind the village’s history. Central to the mystery is the imposing town puppeteer, played by Ario Bayu with a simmering intensity. His presence gives the film a grounded menace that was missing from Satan’s Slaves.

This plot-centric approach works because the characters are engaging even in small, dialogue heavy scenes. In fact, these smaller moments are the true highlights. The first scene, which shows Maya and Dini talking about their mundane lives during their work as toll booth operators, is compelling even before a strange man with a machete appears and kicks off a fun and unique thriller sequence. Conversations move at a confident, natural pace that is rare in most horror movies, and every character is well-drawn. 

The scares themselves are solid even if they’re used sparingly. Because the central characters are so likable, the suspense is significant when they’re threatened. The bloodshed isn’t as extreme as that found in other Indonesian genre fare, but the rare moments of violence feel real because the characters do as well. With Satan’s Slaves, Anwar proved himself to be a master of the jump scare, using smooth pans and tilts to guide the helpless viewer’s focus. In Impetigore, his devious tricks have been toned down. His seamless camera movements are used a handful of times, each with excellent results, but the film is trying to tell a story that doesn’t have room for nonstop set pieces. 

For the most part, this is good news. The folk horror angle is interesting, and a lot of attention clearly went into crafting the village’s dark history. However, the film falters when it screeches to a halt in the final stretch and offloads an extreme amount of exposition. It feels as if Anwar had a miniseries worth of plot in his head that he didn’t know how to organically communicate through suspense and drama. These climactic twists aren’t bad, but they’re delivered with the blunt energy of an exhausted parent rushing through a bedtime story. 

Third act clunkiness notwithstanding, Impetigore is worth your time. It isn’t everyday that a horror film has too many narrative ideas for its own good, and it’s even less common for one to have specific, fully realized characters who aren’t ciphers or symbols. This mature approach makes for a dark fairy tale that combines modern intensity with an old school ghost story appeal. 

Henry McKeand’s Rating: 7/10