Indonesian horrors gain traction - 5th May 2025

The movie business is no longer at death's door in Indonesia, owing to its thriving horror genre. The Indonesian Film Board (BPI) states that last year, horror films comprised 60 percent of the country's entire film yield, equivalent to 70 percent or 54.6 million box office sales.

Movie data and record centre Sinematek Indonesia confirms that between 1990 and 2000 a mere 456 films were created, with only 37 being horror. Yet since that point, they've accounted for 25 percent of the overall film output, gaining Indonesia the 2023 World Record for leaders in the genre.

Indonesia holds a deep-rooted cultural fascination for the supernatural and movie plots customarily echo spine-tingling tales reminiscent of local folk legends and myths, populated by monsters and spirits. Despite this, Film Studies lecturer Ekky Imanjaya trusts the films offer mass appeal.

Ekky Imanjaya: "Indonesian fil-, horror films, they offer a 'glocal' approach. 'Glocal' means local in story but global in cinematic language-, languages. So in, as in, you know, so, the western people, they understand what happens because we have the same film, film languages."

The burgeoning interest in Indonesian horror films can be witnessed by the latest movies being screened in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Furthermore, the launch of Indonesia's first movie market at the end of 2024 opens up golden opportunities to market and export domestic films internationally.

Anggy Umbara's a film director who forecasts that the Indonesian film industry will continue its meteoric ascent.

Anggy Umbara: "Indonesian cinema can be accepted all over the world. I mean, it's starting at the moment. It's starting to rise at the moment. I mean, like, our movies are already wanted in Southeast Asia, in Asia. Some of them are travelling to the western world. And we hope that our audience getting bigger and bigger."

The international audience's growing appetite for Indonesian films, specifically horror, together with the national passion, has yielded dramatic economic and employment-related benefits. Experts are waiting with bated breath to see how the story unfolds.