The wildest kills in horror so far this year | Ghost in the Cell (2026)

If you like prison films, specifically prison films that really pit the guards against the prisoners like The Shawshank Redemption and Brawl in Cell Block 99, you’ll probably like this one quite a bit. The story revolves around a new prisoner who falls into a group of pretty tame offenders compared to a lot of the prison - scammers and burglars, stuff like that. The new guy was accused of killing his boss in an incredibly gruesome fashion. His prison friends try to steer clear of the crazy gangs and the corrupt guards, but when someone is gruesomely killed inside the prison and they start to realize there may be supernatural forces at play, everyone needs to figure out how to get out alive.

If you’re not paying attention to Indonesian cinema, there’s no better time than now. I had seen Santet back in the day on a bootleg VHS tape but like many others my age, I really started exploring more Indonesian film once The Raid: Redemption came out and I became a fan of Timo Tjahjanto - if you haven’t seen his film The Big 4, check it out, it’s an extremely fun, gory action movie from a few years ago, and Joko Anwar, who was doing some really interesting things in a bunch of genres. Anwar directed this film and, in addition to being really well directed on a technical level, it bears a few of his trademarks, including insane levels of gore along with moments of levity.

And I do want to spend a minute talking about the humor in this movie because I found it surprisingly funny. It’s not like a Marvel movie, where someone tosses in a joke after a tense moment just to calm everyone down, it feels like it’s built directly into the horror. Think, Cabin in the Woods, The Frighteners or One Cut of the Dead. The group starts to realize that the supernatural force is targeting those with really negative auras, so the prisoners start to realize they need to improve their emotional state if they want to survive. This mean hardened criminals who were beating the shit out of each other before are now trying to dance, pray and think positively. There’s a scene where the prisoners try to join a dance class with a gay instructor and watching them try to replicate his twerking is hilarious.

This film sits alongside other horror movies that have something to say, like Snowpiercer, Parasite, They Live, The Platform and Dawn of the Dead. Underneath the ghosts, fighting, dancing and mutilated bodies, Ghost in the Cell is about corruption, inequality and the justice system overall. The regular prisoners live under the brutality of the head guard, while corrupt officials are housed in an entirely different section of the prison where they have phones, TVs, and other amenities. Anwar said that the prison is meant to reflect Indonesian society, particularly the idea that even though everyone supposedly exists within the same system, they do not experience the same consequences. The phrase, “This is Indonesia, not Norway” is said a few times when talking about the expedient or non-existant trials people experience before being locked away.

Finally - if you love next level gore, Anwar totally delivers here. The ghost doesn’t simply kill people, he turns them into mutilated art projects. Bodies are mangled and rearranged into bizarre installations that are both sickening and beautiful at the same time, and I know that sounds twisted but the lighting, framing and colors used in these scenes are really interesting. There are a few things in this movie I’ve never seen before and one of the kills reminded me a lot of Bone Tomahawk, if you remember that one. If you like creative, disgusting deaths like those in the Final Destination films, Terrifier, Dead Alive, or other elaborate body horror flicks, you’ll get your money’s worth here.

Okay, top 5 list time. The first that came to mind is Top 5 Craziest Death Scenes. There’s a guy in this movie who’s a really depraved, horrible dude and you know he’s going to get it but you certainly don’t see him getting it that way. Again, I don’t want to spoil it but when you’re watching this and you see the tattooed guy walking through the showers, get ready to cover your eyes.

Second, it could easily be on a Top 5 Prison Films list alongside films like Shawshank, The Green Mile, Prison, Death House, even Alien 3 which I think I like more than most.

If you’ve seen Ghost in the Cell, what did you think of it? If you have a movie you want me to do a 5 reasons video for, email me at forcefivepodcast@gmail.com.

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