21/12

Followed by Panggungan Wingit 2: Miss K (2024)

Raina’s life was threatened after she opened the door and entered an unnumbered room in the hotel run by her sister Faye. The figure of a woman with white hair and skin also made her presence known.. Taken from True Story of a Haunted Hotel in Semarang with Initial "S"..

Screenwriter Riheam Junianti has put together a fair enough script

Without having heard of this 2023 Indonesian supernatural horror film titled "Panggonan Wingit" (also known as "The Haunted Hotel"), I sat down to watch it here in 2024 as I happened to have the opportunity to do so. And given my lifelong love for the horror genre and Asian films, of course, I needed no convincing to sit down and watch this film. It was certainly entertaining, but at the same time, writer Riheam Junianti profited from a lot of stereotypical horror tropes that somehow made some aspects of “Panggonan Wingit” a bit ordinary and generic.

I will say, however, that the acting performances in the movie were good

I’m not saying it’s a bad movie, far from it, because I definitely enjoyed the plot and I’m sure newcomers to the horror genre will get a kick out of watching this movie. However, as a lifelong horror fan, I found the movie to be good but not impressive. Given my relatively short exposure to Indonesian cinema at the time, I was only familiar with the lead actress Luna Maya in this movie.

I liked the special effects, props, sets, and wardrobe in the film

Actor Egi Fedli, who plays the spiritualist Ki Danang, was really suited to his role because he delivered a pretty memorable and convincing performance. “Panggonan Wingit” has a lot of blood and visual mayhem without going overboard. So director Guntur Soeharjanto managed to take something that is used sparingly and make something good out of it.

But it’s hardly a film that deserves more than a single viewing

Running at 110 minutes, the film could have benefited from a bit more lavish editing. It’s worth sitting down to watch if you like horror and the Asian genre, of course. My rating for director Guntur Soeharjanto’s 2023 film “Panggonan Wingit” falls at five out of ten stars.