At a glance

• 50 directors on the list
• 6 categories, with Joko Anwar in “Reigning Terrors”
• 3 of his films cited: Satan’s Slaves (2017), Impetigore (2019), Grave Torture (2024)
• Oct 28, 2026: the date IndieWire published the list 

A bell rings in a dark wooden house, and a whole Indonesian cinema stops breathing. That scene from Satan’s Slaves in 2017 made Joko Anwar a household name at home. Now the sound has travelled to New York.

On October 28, 2026, the US film site IndieWire named Joko Anwar one of its 50 Best Horror Directors of All Time. The list, written by IndieWire staff writer Alison Foreman, groups 50 filmmakers into six categories. Joko sits in “Reigning Terrors,” the group for today’s most important horror directors. The list is free to read on IndieWire’s website.

Photo : Courtesy Everett Collection 

What did IndieWire say about Joko Anwar?

According to the recap shared by Oppal, IndieWire praised how Joko builds his stories. His films don’t rely only on scares. They also connect to real life in Indonesia.

IndieWire pointed to three films: Pengabdi Setan (Satan’s Slaves), Perempuan Tanah Jahanam (Impetigore), and Siksa Kubur (Grave Torture). It described them as horror stories that grow out of family trouble, poverty, and loss. It also noted that he keeps returning to heavy social themes, such as money, duty, and religion.

Who else is on the IndieWire best horror directors list?

The names read like a film school syllabus. There is Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and Guillermo del Toro. Joko’s own category includes Jennifer Kent, Robert Eggers, and Jordan Peele.

Here is the part worth sharing. Among the 50 names, Joko appears to be the only Indonesian. The list has only a few directors from Asia, such as Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hideo Nakata. That makes this a rare moment for Southeast Asian cinema.

Why do Joko Anwar’s horror films work?

Because the ghost is rarely the main point. In Satan’s Slaves, the real pressure is a family short on money while the mother is ill. The scares land because you already worry about them.

Impetigore follows a woman who returns to a remote village and finds a curse tied to old family secrets. Grave Torture takes a belief many Indonesians grew up hearing about, punishment in the grave, and turns it into a film. Every time, the fear comes from something familiar.

What does this mean for Indonesian cinema?

Foreign recognition is nice, but the bigger signal is who is paying attention. IndieWire is a US outlet that follows festivals and streaming deals closely, and its lists shape what international viewers watch next.

For young Indonesian filmmakers, the message is simple. Stories rooted in local life can travel far. You don’t need to copy Hollywood. You need to be specific.