Indonesian horror movie industry rises from the grave

This picture taken on March 25, 2025, shows an actor portraying a 'pocong' (a ghost widely known in Indonesia) at a horror entertainment venue at a mall in Jakarta. - AFP

JAKARTA: Crunching popcorn and screaming, Indonesians are flocking to watch homegrown horror films in cinemas that draw on the country's penchant for ghost and monster stories.

The genre now dominates Indonesia's theatres after this folklore helped the industry rise from the grave at the start of the century, when almost no horror films were produced locally, compared to scores last year.