Angkerbatu

2007 Indonesian horror film

26 April 2007 (2007-04-26)

Running time

87 minutes^[1]CountryIndonesiaLanguageIndonesian

Angkerbatu (lit. 'Haunted Rock') is a 2007 Indonesian horror film directed by Jose Poernomo.

Plot

The film is set in the eponymous fictional town of Angkerbatu and follows Indonesian crew members of a Korean television broadcasting network. They set out to investigate the disappearance of two colleagues during an assignment in the town.^[2]

Cast

Mieke Amalia as Kanaya: A television news reporter and member of the crew investigating the disappearance of her colleagues^[1]
Susilo Badar as Warno: A television producer and member of the crew investigating the disappearance of his colleagues^[1]
Yama Carlos as Yudha: A driver for the television crew^[1]
Imelda Therinne^[3]
Dan Kim
Nuri Maulida as Manda: A reporter who disappeared in Angkerbatu^[1]
Bayu S. Virguna as Rino: A cameraman who disappeared in Angkerbatu^[1]
Evi Tamala

Development

Angkerbatu is an adaptation of a novel of the same title by Ruwi Meita.^[4] Director Jose Poernomo labeled the genre of the film as "atmospheric horror". He also noted that the novel tells the story of the film in greater detail.^[2] The film received a premiere screening on 21 April 2007,^[3] and it opened in theaters on 26 April.^[2] It was one of a "deluge" of Indonesian horror films released in 2007.^[5]

Reception

Unlike Jose Poernomo's 2001 film Jelangkung, whose success was credited with reviving the Indonesian horror film genre,^[6] Angkerbatu was panned by critics, who were not impressed with the film despite it being promoted as having the same production team as Jelangkung.^[7] Public opinion of Angkerbatu prior to its release was negative, calling the film "cheesy" and accusing it of piggybacking on the popularity of horror films.^[3] Film critic Ekky Imanjaya lamented the absence of religious elements from the film, such as a religious teacher or prayer to ward off demons, a contrast to Jelangkung.^[8] He noted that the film reintroduced the recurring comic relief character Bokir, which had been absent from Indonesian films since 2000.^[9]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Angkerbatu (2007)" (in Indonesian). Film Indonesia. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Sutradara 'Jelangkung' Hadirkan 'Angkerbatu'" ['Jelangkung' Director Presents 'Angkerbatu'] (in Indonesian). detik.com. 19 April 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Imelda Therinne Dari Model ke Film" [Imelda Therinne, from Model to Film] (in Indonesian). KapanLagi.com. 23 April 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
^ Sugihardiyah, Rita (20 April 2007). "Angker Batu" (in Indonesian). KapanLagi.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
^ Imanjaya 2019, p. 26.
^ Barker 2019, pp. 92–93.
^ "Angkerbatu: Misteri Kota Keramat" (in Indonesian). detik.com. 25 April 2007. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
^ Imanjaya 2019, pp. 34–35.
^ Imanjaya 2019, pp. 35–36.

Bibliography

Barker, Thomas (2019). Indonesian Cinema After the New Order: Going Mainstream. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-988-8528-07-3.
Imanjaya, Ekky (2019) [First published 15 July 2007 in Koran Tempo]. "Film Horor yang Sebenarnya" [True Horror Films]. Perkembangan Film Horor Masa Kini [Development of Contemporary Horror Films] (in Indonesian). Vol. III. TEMPO Publishing. pp. 26–36. ISBN 978-623-344-371-5.