‘Ghost in the Cell’ Heads to Tubi FrightFest for UK Premiere

Indonesian filmmaker Joko Anwar is set to unleash one of this year’s most audacious genre offerings on UK audiences as Ghost in the Cell makes its UK Premiere at Tubi FrightFest. Fresh from creating a stir at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival, the horror-comedy blends supernatural terror, prison drama and razor-sharp social commentary into a film that promises equal measures of chaos, spectacle and biting satire when it screens in London later this month.

Directed and written by Anwar, Ghost in the Cell takes place inside a brutal high-security Indonesian prison controlled by a ruthless warden, where a succession of grotesque murders leaves inmates fearing they could be next. Bodies are discovered in increasingly elaborate displays, forcing rival factions to set aside long-held grievances as they search for the force responsible before the prison descends into complete collapse.

The film is set in a prison where the arrival of a quiet new inmate coincides with the appearance of a mysterious entity that targets those carrying “the darkest aura”. As fear spreads through the cell blocks, prisoners attempt acts of kindness in a desperate bid to survive before realising that their only genuine chance lies in working together.

While the premise embraces graphic horror and absurd comedy, Anwar has explained that the film was conceived as something far more grounded beneath its supernatural surface. In the director’s statement included in the official press materials, he says Ghost in the Cell grew from his desire to address Indonesia’s ongoing deforestation crisis and the systems that allow environmental destruction and inequality to persist. He describes the prison as another form of confinement, where power protects the corrupt while the vulnerable bear the consequences, with the ghost serving as “a reminder of consequences we choose not to face”.

Anwar has built an international reputation for fusing genre filmmaking with social themes, and Ghost in the Cell continues that approach while shifting into horror-comedy territory. According to the production notes, his films have previously premiered at Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Berlinale, while his television work includes projects for HBO Asia and Netflix.

Leading the cast are Abimana Aryasatya, Endy Arfian, Bront Palarae and Morgan Oey, supported by an extensive line-up of Indonesian performers. The production is a collaboration between Come and See Pictures, Rapi Films, Barunson E&A and Legacy Pictures, with longtime Anwar collaborator Tia Hasibuan producing.

FrightFest describes the film as an unpredictable collision of gruesome horror, offbeat humour and action, complete with spontaneous dance-offs, political commentary, ecological themes and balletic fistfights. That unusual mix helped establish the film as one of the more talked-about genre titles to emerge from Berlin earlier this year before its UK festival bow.

Ghost in the Cell will receive its UK Premiere at Tubi FrightFest on Saturday 29 August at 11.10pm. The screening takes place as part of the festival’s 2026 programme in London’s Leicester Square. For tickets, visit: frightfest.co.uk/

Ghost in the Cell trailer

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