Horror movies save Indonesia's film industry

The Indonesian film industry is rising from the dead, thanks to horror movies. According to the Indonesian Film Board (BPI), in 2024 60 percent of the nation's films were horror, accounting for 70 percent of the total audience, 54.6 million tickets.

The country's film datacentre, Sinematek Indonesia, records that out of 456 films, merely 37 Indonesian horror films were produced from 1990 to 2000. Since then, however, they've made up 25 percent of the country's movie output, earning the 2023 Guinness World Record for the industry most focused on the horror genre.

Indonesia has a longstanding fascination with the supernatural, with ghosts and monsters forming part of people's heritage. The movies' plots frequently have echoes of creepy tales rooted in Indonesian culture. Nevertheless, Film Studies lecturer Ekky Imanjaya is convinced these movies have wider 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."

Indonesian films are meeting popular demand within Asia, and have been released in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Additionally, Indonesia established its own film market at the end of 2024, giving local producers the opportunity to promote and sell their works internationally.

Anggy Umbara, a film director, now expects the Indonesian movie business to expand into western markets.

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 booming business is having a great impact on the country's economy and also employment. As the demand swells abroad too, film experts are on the edge of their seats. View Less