Tempat Angker (haunted place) is a Halloween mixtape compiled by music researcher and artist Luigi Monteanni, aka Neurotica Exotica.
To celebrate a second year of fieldwork research in West Java and to bring together the longing for All Hallows’ Eve partying with the archipelago’s richness in local and historical horror folklore tropes, figures, characters and stories, Artetetra’s co-founder cuts up 120 minutes of soundtracks, sound effects and dialogues from the glorious and extensive Indonesian horror movies tradition counting more than 700 titles.
Hear it from speculative horror and sci-fi filmmaker Riar Rizaldi (whole essay in the tape’s leaflet):
“The popularity of cinematic media during the New Order era led to the unprecedented development of more rapid and large-scale production methods. Genre films, particularly horror and fantasy, emerged as some of the most prolific outputs, with hundreds being produced annually. The filmmaking process was accelerated, and post-production ᅳ especially sound design ᅳ was completed as swiftly as possible. Notably, veteran composer and musician Gatot Sudarto, who had worked extensively on drama films in the 1970s, became a regular contributor to studios producing horror and fantasy films in the following decade ᅳ although composer Embie C. Noer was also active during this period, his focus was more on action “sword and sandals” films. Gatot’s influence in the music departments of these films was significant, helping to create an authentic soundscape. He adapted many of the compositional techniques used in European horror films (mostly the usage of harpsichord) at the time, blending them with the bass synths characteristic of American horror, while incorporating local and regional instruments to tailor the sound to Indonesian audiences.”
By sampling excerpts from 43 movies spanning the ages from the early seventies to the two thousand and tens, mostly trying to portrait the sound influence of the vintage horror era made popular by the “queen of horror”, actress Suzzanna, Tempat Angker throws you into decades of experimentation in conjuring the sound of Indonesian terror. Unearthly screams, bombastic fights, bamboo music, eighties synthy extravaganza, ominous sound effects, sexy dangdut, evilish pitched vocals, gamelan, eerie laughters from beyond and even calls to prayer fill the air in the spooky month!
