(Perempuan Tanah Jahanam)
Written and directed by Joko Anwar
Starring Tara Basro, Marissa Anita, Ario Bayu and Christine Hakim
Running time 1 hour, 46 minutes
Not Rated – violence, language, brief nudity
Language: Indonesian

by Audrey Callerstrom

I love curses. Don’t you? In films, I mean. Drag Me To Hell was a fun one that was exceptionally clever with the boundaries of its PG-13 rating. It Follows was a game-changer, with its bellowing soundtrack and modest budget. A curse is a good explanation for Why Strange Things Occur. We don’t have to be weighed down by exposition or motives or contemplate whether the supernatural exists. It’s a curse, and it’s going to be bad.

Impetigore is about a curse, and I hesitate to explain what the curse is. The film opens with a traumatic attack against young toll booth operator Maya (Tara Basro). A man comes after Maya with a machete, addressing her as “Rahayu,” until he is stopped and killed by police. Fast forward a few months, and Maya and her best friend Dini (Marissa Anita, who provides the film’s few moments of levity) are struggling with their clothing shop in the city and decide to venture to Maya’s early childhood home in the village of Harjosari, Indonesia. They lie to the locals that they’re university students studying shadow puppetry. The film fumbles a little on how to plausibly get Maya and Din to the village, but ultimately both women are about 25, and it seems reasonable that an inherited house in a far-away village would be a good last-ditch effort to make money. Nevermind that the people are strange, Maya is oddly missing from family photos, and the village holds daily funerals. Din is confident that their plan to pose as university students is solid, because “nobody kills students.” Oof.

It’s a satisfying, slow-boil; nothing is mentioned or alluded to that isn’t brought up later in the film. In Indonesia, there is a tradition called wayang kulit, shadow puppetry that is performed with puppets made from animal hides. It’s fascinating to watch a performance of wayang kulit in Impetigore. It draws you in with these thin, beautiful handmade puppets, but then the film adds a gruesome element to the art. It’s also beautifully shot; daylight scenes showcase the green, low-hanging trees and high grasses, whereas the night scenes all have a red, dusty haze to them.  Once the nature of the curse is revealed nearly an hour into the film, Impetigore boasts some impressive makeup effects.

Basro is a good lead, although the film could have spent a little more time establishing her character, which would add a more personal dimension to her plight. A sequence about the origin of the curse, told without dialogue, is a little disorienting, but ultimately it works. I would recommend Impetigore with a disclaimer. Once the violence starts, things turn extremely morbid, and there are multiple unsettling scenes of violence toward children. So, viewer be warned – schedule something comforting for afterward.

Available to watch exclusively on Shudder, July 23.