Impetigore – Shudder Review (4/5)

IMPETIGORE is a new horror movie on Shudder. It’s from Indonesia and by the brilliant writer-director Joko Anwar. He previously made the amazing horror movie Satan’s Slaves so our expectations for this new movie were huge. Read our full Impetigore review here!

IMPETIGORE is a Shudder horror movie from Indonesia. Please don’t let the fact that it isn’t in English keep you from watching it. After all, this movie is by Joko Anwar and his track record alone is enough reason to watch it.

Also, in general, movies from Indonesia do tend to have a very impressive quality level. For the movies by Joko Anwar, it’s often the story itself (along with the wonderful characters) that will draw you in immediately.

Continue reading our Impetigore review below and check it out on Shudder.

A brilliant opening scene

If you have any qualms about watching this Indonesian horror movie, then do yourself a favor and just watch the opening scene. Impetigore is off to an absolutely amazing beginning which should be more than enough to get you hooked.

Basically, the dialogue between two women at work is fast and realistic in various funny ways and then the craziness begins. This is exactly what Joko Anwar is so good at; Setting the stage and then letting the horror evolve in a way that feels almost too realistic.

After the very intense opening scene, the real story begins and things only get creepier and weirder from that point. We’re in rural Indonesia for most of the movie which leads to lots of superstition and strange rituals. This could easily be remade in the US in a similar rural (or, let’s be real, backwoods) kind of setting.

Watch Impetigore on Shudder

As mentioned already, Joko Anwar is the writer and director of Impetigore. Prior to watching this movie, we had watched his truly mindblowing horror movie Satan’s Slaves from 2017. We watched is when it was being screened at Fantasia Film Festival where it was loved by critics and audiences. Please, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Do not miss out on: Our review of Joko Anwar’s 2017 horror movie Satan’s Slaves here >

Also, he did one of the episodes of the HBO Asia horror anthology Folklore (read our review here), which was also a wonderful experience. However, I must admit that while I really enjoyed Impetigore, it didn’t quite reach the levels of Satan’s Slaves. Then again, that might have been expecting too much.

Just like with M. Night Shyamalan movies, Joko Anwar loves to include twists along the way. Obviously, this means you end up searching for these twists ahead of time. Basically, what I really want to say is that I think you should give this movie a chance.

Also, if you do like this, then please also watch his movie Satan’s Slaves because that one is a masterpiece whereas this one is more of a treat.

Impetigore is out on Shudder from July 22, 2020.

Details

Director: Joko Anwar
Writer: Joko Anwar
Cast: Tara Basro, Marissa Anita, Christine Hakim, Ario Bayu, Asmara Abigail