1980S MOVIE: MALAM

SATU SURO
GENERAL INFORMATION

Released in 1988
In this film the ghost (Sundel bolong) is the
protagonist, not the other way around
This movie is processed and edited in Hong
Kong Color Movie Lab and Inter Pratama Studio
in Jakarta
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Satu Suro has numerous associations in folk tales and

superstitions in Java, Indonesia that vary considerably
through regional variation in cultural practices.
The prevalent theme through most superstitions is
one of the danger of going out from the home -
similar to the Balinese day of Nyepi. There is an
Indonesian film that exploits the danger - called
Malam Satu Suro.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Dukun (Shaman) has a significant role in

many Indonesian horror movies
And because of that, a problem always
solves with help from dukun.
The reason is lot of Indonesian people still
believe in superstitious anomaly
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

In this movie, Suketi was a Sundel Bolong who are

sealed and tamed by Ki Rengga to be his step daughter.
She became human and married a guy named Bardo
and had a beautiful life.
One day, her daughter was kidnapped and killed by her
husbands rival and her seal was broken.
She became sundel bolong again and run amok.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

The reason why the ghost is a lady:

According to asiancorrespondent.com, in the past women were
systematically repressed and invisible, and this unreasonable treatment
and the pressure they received from men built up in them. I think that as
that insurmountable repression continued on and on and on, they entered
a freakish state and the result was for them to take care of their grudge
through vengeance. The prevalence of women ghosts in so many horror
movies so far can be seen as due to that freakish state brought on by
repression.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Suketi became sundel bolong for the first time

because she was a rape victim and then she was
pregnant from that accident and she took a suicide.
The reason why many stories are revolved around
this issue is because the maternal and infant death
rates, as well as stillbirth rates and child death rates,
are particularly high in Southeast Asia.
OTHER SIGNIFICANCES AND STEREOTYPES

Countryside people are innocent, shy and uncivilized

Countryside people are live in forest and javanese
Javanese peoples occupation tend to be low class job
Women are used to make clear a problem
People wear more open clothes than nowadays
A ghost will not back to afterlife before her vengeance is accomplish