Impetigore: An Indonesian Skin-Crawler

Platform: Shudder

Release: July 23, 2020

Impetigore is an Indonesian horror film directed by Joko Anwar and stars Tara Basro as the lead, as well as Marissa Anita and Ario Bayu in supporting roles. While I know you are not likely to recognize those names, I sure as hell didn't, I like to make sure to give recognition to those deserving. This is a good horror film and better than most of the offerings from the past couple of years. The film is, unsurprisingly, shot natively in Indonesian and Javanese.

Man, I don't even remember how I came across this film as a recommendation. While I have never been adverse to subtitles, I have tended to lean away from them more as the years have gone by, for all the wrong reasons. I like the ability to multi-task (e.g., not pay attention, go to the kitchen, play on my phone) and am not able to do that if I can't understand what's being said without reading the screen. While I hate that technology results in less focus on many films at home, subtitles do help maintain focus and allows me to get into the movie more. A bonus of foreign horror films is that much of horror's laurels rest on setting a certain tone/atmosphere, and while the dialogue can help support that, it is typically secondary to other aspects.

This movie opens with a set of events that I found to be absolutely gripping, as our main character, Maya, works in a toll booth and is terrorized by an unknown man. During this attack, Maya learns some information that sparks an interest in her past and she seeks to explore more about her birth parents. Oh, and in hopes of finding that she inherited a large house off which she could make money, that was important too. Maya and her best friend find themselves in a remote village called Harjosari and it turns out to be quite strange. Like any remote village in the middle of nowhere without electricity or any sense of modern, or even semi-modern, society, superstitions reign supreme.

As the girls explore the town, they discover that the village cemetery has a fair amount of small graves (yes, they are for babies). What ensues is the discover of heinous acts against newborns in the village due to a 20 year curse that involves a pact with the devil and skinless children. The curse is directly tied to Maya's family and Maya herself, as she learns the dark history of her family's influence on the village. As the villagers grow suspicious of the girls, they become targets to fulfill the requirements to end the curse. But while the town's leader believes he is protecting his villagers from the damages caused by the curse, he is unknown to his own family's connection to Maya's and the truth of horrendous events that occurred 20 years prior.

There's a lot of subtle creepiness going on in this movie. There is a strong sense of horror in the weirdness of the village and the villagers, as well as their stoic expressions while practicing their traditions (specifically their post-birth ritual...). Two strangers trying to navigate an unknown and impoverished village set to the darkness of night with candles lighting the huts sets such a ominous tension of what trouble the girls will encounter. The color scheme for the film maintains a lot of reds and oranges, giving this sense of bloodiness and flesh throughout. There is a dual sense to the horror though, which not just what's presented in the movie, but also the recognizing that places like this still exist. Both physically and in regards to the odd superstitions and practices that modern society would peer at with wide eyes. It's hard to judge the acting when the characters don't speak your language, but I thought the village leader and his mother had good mannerisms and facial expressions that really sold me on their characters and kept me wondering about their intentions.

Two gripes I had with the movie was the discovering of the truth behind the curse and the choice of ending. When Maya discovers the truth about her family, the circumstances of her childhood, and the origins of the curse, it is done so through a possession scene. I think that the origin story was too clunky and the amount of information was too much for a movie that had been built with such subtleties and simplicity. Even worse, though, was that this chain of events took place while the movie was building to it's climax, practically halting the tension and pulled me out of the moment. Then came the ending. You first have the traditional ending of the movie, which was fine, but then you have an epilogue ending that is set one year later. This scene is loosely connected to the evolution of the curse, but feels like a different movie altogether and was just so odd that I can't conceive how someone thought it was a good idea. Even with those gripes, the rest of the film offers some visuals that would be way too taboo for an American film and helps build an effective level of disgust towards the natives of the village and pushes you towards cheering for Maya and her friend.

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RATING: 💀 💀 💀 1/2