Ghost in the Cell
Mark White
As a self-confessed horror junkie, it is always a thrill – and an admission of defeat in the face of the volume of cinematic releases each year – to find something in the genre that is unlike anything else I’ve seem, or at the very least, unlike anything else shining on the silver screen at the moment.
Ghost in the Cell is indeed unlike anything playing at the moment; while it’s ilk – the horror comedy – has been seen before, this particular flavor of it is chalk-full of bonkers gore, sharp social satire, and expert physical comedy that leaves a strong impression on viewers as much as it telegraphs cultural and political issues all the way from Jakarta itself.
Dimas is a young journalist who is sent to prison for murdering his boss at his newspaper. The last article he has submitted – mere moments before his boss’ gnarly murder – was an investigation into illegal real estate procurement of national forest territory in the name of opening up nickel mines. As the narrative abruptly shifts perspective shifts inside a prison, we meet Six (an inmate suffering intense migraines and an obvious ‘secret’), Anggoro (a valorous inmate who can’t pass up a fight for what’s ’right’ despite desperately missing his kids), Wildan (a devout Muslim inmate with a wicked sense of humor), and Pendi (a former professor doing time for surprising crimes). These men, locked up and victimized in a prison system running rampant with fraud and abuse, a nasty caste system, and the threat of death (or worse) are all seemingly decent guys; men whom have been imprisoned in the name of justice in a clearly unjust judicial system. But upon Dimas’ arrival in cell block C, inmates begin to die in the same outrageous, supernaturally violent nature as Dimas’ boss, all without perpetrator or motive.
What connection does Dimas truly have to these visceral horrors? And what is the source of the haunted malice leaving a blood-soaked trail through the cell block?
It is evident from the very beginning that Anwar is looking to make a movie that leans firmly into the horror genre, while maintaining a sharp wit and sense of levity that moves between meaningful satire and outlandish farce;
...Ghost in the Cell comes alive with as much viscera and audible laughs as one could hope for these days...
–whether it is the excruciatingly detailed crunch and pop of body parts being unnaturally rearranged, an elaborate jailhouse fistfight ala The Matrix, or a very camp finale feature ghosts and gore and twerking inmates in an access tunnel (you read that right), Anwar’s vision wrangles in horror and comedy tools to examine corruption in a national government system, the effects of greed on the soul, toxic masculinity, and a national desire for fair democracy and opportunity. And those tools are very much laced with the genre specifics: close-ups, slow and meticulous camera moments that linger on every spatter or squelch of human flesh in the murders; fast editing, comical angles below or above, and kinetic momentum for the comedy. Anwar moves the film through both genre types with expert ease.
All of this is in aide of a story that looks to shine a warped and colorful light on Indonesian politics, from failures of government in the prison system, the layered judicial inequalities affecting at economic classes, and how so much fraud and corruption goes by unpunished while those who criticize or push back at the system are broken – or even destroyed – by it.
With a very game cast and a savvy director at the reins of all technical aspects, Ghost in the Cell comes alive with as much viscera and audible laughs as one could hope for these days; the characters are lovable despite being criminals and are given enough pathos and trauma in smaller moments that the horror elicits gasps and cringes, while the slapstick and humor provide decent laughs that serve in giving enough levity that carefully guides the viewer right past the camp and the silliness to the core of the issues that set the story in motion. Some sequences may rumble and run too long with the humor and run against the drama or the horror, but it is seldom – Anwar always has his eyes on the final destination of the story, and he knows how to get each scene to lead to the next. The comedy underlines the obvious, and pokes fun at the tropes of the supernatural subplot afoot to keep the pace snappy and self aware.
It’s a wild and unusual flavor, but the comedic horror – not the horrifying comedy – of Ghost in the Cell largely juggles real world criticism of the terrifying reality of a corrupt system and shakes it up with satire. And lots and lots of blood. Some violence may turn viewers to look at the screen between their fingers, but the themes and social ideas up for examination will linger longer than any angry spirit.
Final Thought
A wildly entertaining blend of horror, comedy, and political satire.