I still lament the the availability of the Asian cinema – old and new – in the European countries, and more specifically, the streaming services, but compared to the previous years, the tide seems to be turning, and for the better, that is.
Even the streaming giant Netflix brings more and more Asian flicks and TV shows for the viewers to feast on, and among those are quite a few movies from Indonesia.
Now, I haven’t had the time to watch as many movies or shows as I’ve used to – that’s just a fact of life – but when I’ve seen the thumbnail for Panggonan Wingit 2: Miss K, I’ve just known I had to watch it.
And for those of you who are still contemplating whether to watch it or not, here’s a few lines in a form of review. Because, that’s the mission of Indokult, you know?
First things first. I know that many viewers prefer to watch movies dubbed in their native language (if possible), or the nearest understandable language (for example, in Slovakia the older generation readily understand the Czech language, and many movies are usually dubbed in Czech language only). I’ve never understand that.
To be honest, to watch any movie – not just Panggonan Wingit 2: Miss K- in their intended language setting just bring that extra bit to the overall experience of the movie. One just needs to try a bit harder to get accustomed to the subtitles.
Now, that’s out of the way, what’s Panggonan Wingit 2: Miss K about?
Well, you can say it borrows heavily from Japanese supernatural movies, mainly Ringu (1998), with the main plot being ghosts of the murdered mother a the child killing the unfortunate visitors to the haunted appartment they have been killed in, at the sunset in 4 days since they set their foot in the appartment. Yes, you can clearly see the pattern, although a bit changed.
That being said though – it doesn’t really matter. And if we are to believe the information, the movie is based upon a true case of ghost sighting in Indonesian city of Surabaya.
Just after we are witnessing the initial kill and mutilation of the unfortunate victim, we are introduced to Alma (Cinta Laura Kiehl) and her sister Mia (Callista Arum). Alma is running a small family restaurand verging on the bankrupcy, while Mia want to be a dancer of the native Malang dance school.
Because of unable to keep the restaurant afloat, Alma accepts the position of the manager of the hotel, owned by the couple named Aiman and his wife Wulan.
And that’s where things started to happen.
Obviously, seasoned horror fans clearly know the way the movie will go and the mystery unravel. Despite aforementioned borrowing from Ringu, the movie tries – and largely succeeds – to go its own way, although half through the movie you will be able to guess the culprit, which is a bit of a letdown here, but nothing really to ruin the movie.
Unlike the final fight(s), which you will scratch your head in disbelief, like – why did they do that? Anyway, I won’t spoil that scene, you will certainly notice it, when it happens.
Directed by Guntur Soeharjanto, who you might know because of his movies like Assalamualaikum Beijing (and the sequel, Assalamualaikum Beijing 2), which was – if I am not mistaken – distributed also in Europe, but he also directed quite a few movies, which probably won’t be seen outside the domestic Indonesian market.
However, you might be familiar with the name of the producer of this movie, who is none other than Rocky Soraya, the producer and director of movies available also on Netflix, like The Doll trilogy (2016, 2017, 2022), The 3rd Eye duology (2017 and 2019 respectively), Sabrina (2018) or Suzzanna: Buried Alive (2018).
The main role of Alma belongs to the already mentioned Cinta Laura Kiehl, who you might remember from Target (2018).
Her sister Mia is played by the beautiful Callista Arum, also in The Forbidden Camp: Mass Possession (2024).
Who’s the male lead? Well, it’s Arifin Putra, who could be seen also in the legendary gore flick Macabre (2009), The Raid 2 (2014) or Foxtrot Six (2019) among others.
Personally, I really like Sylvia Genpati in the role of the unfortunate Miss K (Kanti). Definitely a great looking actress and I hope she will be seen in more roles in the time to come.
So, underlined and all summed up – if you like Asian horror movies, especially not from the usual Japanese/Korean production, and you also appreciate a touch of a local mythology, Panggonan Wingit 2: Miss K is for you, no doubt about that.
At the time of this writing, the movie is streaming on Netflix.
