The Kyai and Hyperreal Ghosts: Narrative Practices of Horror, Commerce, and Censorship

In recent years there have been several publications about horror films and the connotations of horror in different societies which argue that horror serves as a field for the dramatization of cultural and universal nightmares.¹ Scholars have written about horror film being an outlet which exposes social taboos, or a channel for political critique. Sometimes in their discussions they have related the use of horror to theories about the role of carnival in certain societies.² It is not my intention here to discuss the Indonesian horror genre from any of these perspectives. The prime focus of this discussion will be