Joko Anwar (director)
(studio)
18 (certificate)
106 (length)
26 October 2026 (released)
9 h
Opening as it means to go on with a very violent supernatural murder, Ghost in the Cell is one of those rarities a horror comedy that has both.
Convicted of the murder of the owner of the publishing company that opens the film journalist Dimas (Endy Arfian) finds himself in a maximum-security prison. The security is routine brutal though for Dimas his main concern is his cell buddy Tokek (Aming Sugandhi) who is promising horrible things for his pleasure if not Dimas.
However this doesn’t quite work out as Tokek is violently murdered and his body put on display a la Silence of the Lambs and the TV series Hannibal. A few more of these and it starts to dawn that this spirit arrived with Dimas and has a grievance.
An inmate that can see the prisoners’ auras suggests that good vibes could keep the ghost at bay. This results in rival gangs working together to outdo the demon with some amusing attempts to tolerate each other. Needless to say it doesn’t quite work and the arty killings continue.
Scratch below the surface of the comedy and violence of Ghost in the Cell and writer and director Joko Anwar has produced a pointed film about abuse and corruption. The ghost is a vicious killer looking for vengeance with Dimas in the middle of it because of a previous job.
That is an interesting undercurrent to the film but the attraction (or not) is the violence and elaborate killings. There’s an uninterrupted jokiness throughout the film yet that doesn’t provide much relief from the brutality of the murders. All filmed with a deft touch with some excellent fight scenes.
Character development is kept to a need to know and relevance so there’s quite a lot on Dimas, and little about the rest of the inmates. The villains do get a trifle more as their background is essential in understanding the case and the motives of the ghost.
Whether that’s enough to elicit any sympathy for the murdering ghost will be down to the individual watching.
Ghost in the Cell will be on digital platforms in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand on 26 October 2026.
