The prison drama of Stephen King’s The Shawshank Redemption collides with the paranoid terror of John Carpenter’s The Thing in a new supernatural thriller, action, comedy genre mash-up that has emerged as one of the best movies of the year. Taking what has been established as the greatest movie in history and smashing it together with one of the greatest horror movies ever made has yielded spectacular results in this uber-gory horror thriller comedy (it really is impossible to pin down) that’s now landed a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Both The Shawshank Redemption and The Thing are undisputed classics of their respective genres (though neither was well-received at the time, with time allowing them both to grow into the masterpieces they so clearly are). Well, merging the two together has now resulted in an instant hit both critically and at the box office, with this year’s Ghost in the Cell (a delicious pun) being met with the kind of response that cements it as one of the best of the year.
Director Joko Anwar plunges viewers into a high-security prison ruled by feuding gangs and a tyrannical warden. But things somehow manage to get even worse when the arrival of a mysterious new inmate coincides with a series of gruesome murders that leave its victims on morbid display. The hapless inmates must overcome their rivalries to unmask an invisible, otherworldly enemy in a place where no one is safe, and no one can escape.
Ghost in the Cell has been met with rave reviews, landing a near-perfect 95% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes alongside an impressive 83% from audiences on the Popcornmeter. “Sometimes you need a vengeful demon to remind you about hope, and sometimes you need a good laugh amidst the horrors. Ghost in the Cell delivers on both counts,” said Starburst of the Indonesian thriller, with ScreenAnarchy adding, “It delivers heavy practical gore for the horror purists, genuine laughs through its absurd comedy, and a sharp political critique.” Because offering all manner of horror and action isn’t enough for Ghost in the Cell. No, it also offers a brutal and bloody critique of the prison system.
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Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption Columbia Pictures
“Ghost in the Cell’s thin plot is really an excuse for Anwar to reel off his hitlist: he takes aim at cronyism, institutional brutality, private militias, secret mistresses, lapsed political idealism and the general degrading influence of money,” praised The Guardian alongside a near-perfect 4/5, with the same rating being given by Movies We Texted About alongside the declaration that Ghost in the Cell is an “extremely gory and highly entertaining genre blender.”
Offering a masterclass in fusing all manner of genres together to create something truly unique, Ghost in the Cell is now streaming on 
Netflix in Indonesia after dominating the box office and is currently available to rent or buy on the likes of Prime Video and Apple elsewhere.
