Ghost Writer

Bene Dion Rajagukguk's 2019 Indonesian film is about a novelist who has not been able to write for three years. Naya finds an old diary in the house she moves into, and the dark secrets in it look like perfect material for her next novel. Then the diary's owner turns up. The film runs horror and comedy together and mostly holds the balance. The ghost here is stubborn rather than frightening; she wants what has been written corrected and negotiates about it. That idea departs clearly from the serious tone usual in Indonesian horror. In the second half the film changes register and turns to the ghost's past, dropping the comedy entirely. The shift is abrupt but it works; the real story is about suicide and a family's silence. Who it's for: those who like horror comedy and are curious about genre mixing in Indonesian cinema. Who it's not for: viewers who do not want to approach the subject of suicide; the second half addresses it directly.