Impetigore (2019) Review: Joko Anwar's Blood-Soaked Folk Horror

Is Impetigore worth watching?

Yes — if you can stomach it. Impetigore holds a 90% Critic Score, 76% Audience Score, 78 Metascore, 3.8 on Letterboxd, and 6.9 on IMDb. Joko Anwar’s follow-up to Satan’s Slaves premiered at Rotterdam and became Neon/Shudder’s proof that Indonesian horror travels when it refuses to soften its politics or its gore.

What is Impetigore about?

A Jakarta designer inherits a remote village house and discovers her family’s link to a slaughterhouse curse that treats outsiders as livestock. Arawinda Kirana leads a cast trapped between urban aspiration and ancestral sin; Marissa Anita and Tika Bravani populate a community whose hospitality masks ritual violence. The title references impetigo — skin disease as metaphor for corruption spreading through generations.

Should you watch Impetigore after Satan’s Slaves?

Yes — the two films share DNA but diverge in temperature: Satan’s Slaves mourns; Impetigore eviscerates. Continue to Joko Anwar’s Netflix anthology Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams for how his social fury scales episodically. Compare with Awi Suryadi’s commercial KKN di Desa Penari — same nation’s horror boom, opposite audience contracts.

How does Joko Anwar fuse folk horror and class critique?

By making the village economy literal — tourism, textiles, and slaughter are one supply chain feeding an entity that protects locals by devouring strangers. Anwar’s set pieces are infamous for their brutality, but the film’s lasting power is structural: the protagonist’s return is not redemption but reckoning with complicity. Kaiser Khan’s read: pair with Kevin Ko’s Incantation from Taiwan for folk curses at different aesthetic registers.

Where does Impetigore rank in the Asian decade?

Among the most internationally acclaimed horror exports from Southeast Asia — the title that made programmers take Indonesian genre seriously at Rotterdam. On Best of Asia 2016–2026 it sits beside Banjong Pisanthanakun’s The Medium and Kevin Ko’s found-footage breakout. Shudder streams in many territories; IMDb tt10343868.

Who should skip Impetigore?

Viewers sensitive to graphic violence or animal cruelty — Anwar does not blink. If you want Indonesian horror with more restraint, start with Satan’s Slaves. If you want commercial jump scares, KKN di Desa Penari delivers without Impetigore’s nihilism.

Where can I watch Impetigore?

Shudder remains the primary international home; availability varies by territory outside Indonesia. IMDb tt10343868. Watch after dark with subtitles that preserve village dialect — the language barrier is part of the isolation. Pair the viewing with Joko Anwar’s commentary interviews if you find them; his explanations of folk belief deepen the slaughterhouse metaphor without defanging the scares.

Why did Impetigore split audiences on violence?

Because Joko Anwar refuses tasteful off-screen implication — slaughterhouse logic demands visibility, and some viewers wanted metaphor without viscera. Festival programmers embraced that commitment; mainstream platforms labeled it extreme. The violence serves class critique: tourists and outsiders literally become product. Understanding that thesis helps endurance through hardest sequences.

Verdict

Impetigore is Joko Anwar’s razor — Kaiser Khan’s pick for the folk horror that proved Indonesia could export rage as effectively as grief. Not for every stomach, but essential for understanding why Anwar dominates Indonesia genre cinema. Browse the country hub and return to Best of Asia 2016–2026.