Indonesian horror has given us some truly eerie classics—films soaked in folklore, dripping in atmosphere, and brimming with enough supernatural mayhem to keep you awake long after the credits roll. Lentera Merah, however, is not one of them. Instead, Hanung Bramantyo’s 2006 ghost story about a cursed campus magazine feels like the cinematic equivalent of an unfinished term paper: long-winded, confusing, and likely written at 3 a.m. on too much instant coffee.
This is a film that thinks it’s delivering a clever blend of political history, campus drama, and supernatural revenge. What it actually delivers is 100 minutes of ghosts with questionable motives, students making bad choices, and an ending that feels less “horror climax” and more “random shrug.”
The Setup: Journalism Students, But Make It Fatal
The movie takes place at the University of Indonesia, where the student magazine Lentera Merah (Red Lantern) has been around for decades, supposedly famous for its “critical and bold writing.” Apparently, “bold” means recycling articles, because the first major conflict is that Wulan (Firrina Sinatrya) is accused of plagiarizing a 20-year-old piece. Forget ghostly possession—nothing terrifies a writer like being called out for plagiarism.
Enter Risa (Laudya Cynthia Bella), a mysterious new recruit with the kind of vague backstory that practically screams “secret ghost.” She’s quiet, she’s analytical, she never smiles—and yet the male seniors fall over themselves to defend her. Which goes to show: even in the afterlife, being hot gets you far.
But don’t get too comfortable, because Risa’s presence kicks off a string of deaths. Students get hung in the library, stabbed in the stomach, or otherwise killed off in ways that are neither scary nor creative. Every body comes with a cryptic “65” scrawled nearby, a subtle nod to the country’s bloody political past that the film handles with all the grace of a drunk elephant on roller skates.
The Ghost Rules: More Confusing Than Student Loan Policies
Here’s the problem with Lentera Merah: the ghosts make no sense. Are they haunting the magazine? The library? The initiation process? The bloodline of the students? The answer is apparently “all of the above, sometimes, depending on the scene.”
One minute, Risa is strangling people because she’s mad about her unjust death. The next, she’s leaving vague numbers as clues like some kind of spectral math tutor. Then she suddenly decides that what she really wants is a proper burial, which feels less like revenge and more like an overdue errand.
It’s as if the film can’t decide whether it wants to be The Ring, Final Destination, or a PSA about how to handle archives responsibly.
The Initiation Night: Because Nothing Says Fun Like Dying in a Library
The big centerpiece is the initiation night, where students sneak around campus looking for the “lantern of truth.” Unfortunately, the lantern of truth reveals that the truth is boring. The supposed suspense of wandering through dark corridors and searching for objects falls flat when you realize the ghosts are about as threatening as a librarian telling you your overdue fines.
Yes, people die. Yes, there are attempts at jump scares. But the pacing is so uneven that you stop caring who lives or dies. By the time Rio, Dinda, and the others start dropping like flies, the deaths feel more like a mercy killing for the audience than actual horror.
The “65” Problem: Ghosts as Political Commentators
The number 65 pops up repeatedly, referencing Indonesia’s traumatic 1965 anti-communist purge. On paper, that’s heavy, fascinating material for a horror backdrop. In execution? It’s shoehorned in so clumsily that it feels exploitative rather than meaningful.
Instead of engaging with the politics of censorship, trauma, and state violence, the movie reduces “1965” to a Scooby-Doo-style clue for the students to solve. Imagine turning the mass killings of the mid-60s into the equivalent of “X marks the spot” on a ghost treasure map. Tasteless doesn’t even begin to cover it.
The Characters: All the Personality of a Wet Noodle
Let’s be honest: horror movies often rely on thinly sketched characters just waiting to be slaughtered. But even by genre standards, Lentera Merah is impressive in how forgettable its cast is.
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Iqbal (Dimas Beck): The generic male lead. His defining trait is “occasionally worried.”
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Arif (Teuku Wisnu): The second generic male lead. His defining trait is “occasionally stabbed.”
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Wulan and Dinda: Exists mostly to die, prove Risa’s ghostliness, and pad the runtime.
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Risa: Our ghostly femme fatale. Starts out mysterious, ends up… slightly less mysterious.
The performances aren’t terrible, but the script gives them nothing to work with. Everyone spends their time running, whispering about lanterns, or dramatically gasping when yet another ghost shows up.
The Ghost Twist: So Predictable You’ll Yawn Before the Reveal
The big reveal is that Risa is actually a ghost, killed decades earlier by her seniors for being too idealistic. Shock! Horror! Except, of course, it’s not shocking at all. From the first time she appears on screen with her ethereal glow and “I’m totally not suspicious” aura, you know she’s dead.
By the time the students stumble across her archive and grainy old videotape, the audience has already moved on to wondering what’s for dinner. A twist that everyone sees coming isn’t a twist—it’s just narrative filler.
The Ending: Bureaucratic Ghost Closure
After 100 minutes of wandering corridors, repeating numbers, and half-hearted deaths, the finale finally arrives. The students find Risa’s hidden grave, bury her properly, and—poof—she vanishes in peace. Except not before strangling Iqbal’s dad, because apparently closure comes with a side of patricide.
The Red Lantern building gets shut down, Iqbal runs away to Semeru to cope, and the credits roll. That’s it. No big showdown, no lasting sense of dread—just the cinematic equivalent of filing ghost paperwork and calling it a day.
The Horror: Or Lack Thereof
The biggest sin Lentera Merah commits isn’t its clunky politics or its flat characters. It’s that it simply isn’t scary.
There are no memorable visuals, no lingering dread, no images that stick with you after the lights come on. Instead, you get recycled tropes: library hauntings, ghost girls in white, and a few cheap jump scares. Even the deaths feel uninspired, more like items checked off a list than scenes crafted to terrify.
By the end, you’re not frightened—you’re just annoyed that you sat through nearly two hours of bad lighting and worse pacing.
Final Verdict: Burn Out This Lantern
Lentera Merah could have been something. It had a promising premise: a cursed campus magazine, political ghosts, generational trauma. Done right, it could have been Indonesia’s answer to The Grudge—a horror film that taps into national history while scaring the hell out of its audience.
Instead, it’s a muddled mess of clichés, predictable twists, and half-baked political references. The ghost is scary for about five seconds, the deaths are forgettable, and the ending feels like the director just wanted to clock out early.
If you’re looking for a horror film that genuinely unsettles you, go anywhere else. If you’re looking for a film that makes you roll your eyes so hard you sprain them, congratulations—you’ve found your lantern.
