There seems to be a lot going on in Munafik: Melawan Iblis from what I have been reading, featuring some supernatural horror tjat is tied directly to rief rather than simply dropping an evil spirit into the story and letting it loose.
A Ruqyah Practitioner Who Walked Away
Adam, played by Arya Saloka, is an Islamic religious teacher and ruqyah practitioner who stops performing ruqyah after the death of his wife, Aini, and the tragedy leaves him grieving and questioning his faith, so when his friend Anwar asks him to help Fitri, a nurse experiencing unexplained supernatural disturbances, Adam initially refuses – eventually he agrees to help though, and the case becomes considerably more complicated than a straightforward possession, and when Fitri the daughter of Mansur, a respected figure in the village, joins Adam, they begin uncovering a darker secret behind the supernatural attacks while simultaneously being forced to confront the grief and doubts he has spent so long trying to avoid.
That premise seems to give the film two connected conflicts – the external battle against the supernatural and Adam’s much more personal struggle with what happened to his wife – it is a useful setup because the horror has something emotional underneath it rather than existing purely to provide another possession sequence.
Trailer
Bringing Munafik to Indonesia
Munafik: Melawan Iblis is the official Indonesian adaptation of Syamsul Yusof’s 2016 Malaysian horror film Munafik – the original was written and directed by Yusof, while the Indonesian version is directed by Guntur Soeharjanto, and M. Ali Ghifari is credited as writer, with the screenplay based on Yusof’s original work.
The Indonesian production comes from Unlimited Production, with Skop Productions, A&Z Films and Komet Productions among the companies attached to the project. Oswin Bonifanz is credited as producer, and the cast is headed by Arya Saloka as Adam and Acha Septriasa as Fitri, alongside Dimas Aditya, Donny Damara, Nova Eliza, Muhammad Faqih Alaydrus, Annisa Hertami, Widi Dwinanda, Izabel Jahja and Oce Permatasari – the film is scheduled to open across Indonesian cinemas on 3 September 2026.
One interesting production detail is that Saloka has spoken about the difficulty of performing the ruqyah scenes, saying they were among the more nerve-racking parts of the role, where he also spent time learning how to perform the scenes convincingly rather than simply treating the ritual as generic horror-movie business.
What Changes When Munafik Moves to Indonesia?
This is where the remake becomes more interesting than simply being another regional copy of an existing horror film – the production has retained the central religious-horror idea of Munafik, but Indonesian reports say the adaptation makes changes to the setting, characters, family conflicts and spiritual elements so that the story fits Indonesian audiences rather than simply reproducing the Malaysian film scene for scene.
That matters because Munafik itself was built around Islamic ideas of ruqyah, possession and spiritual struggle, so moving that framework into Indonesia means the filmmakers are working within a culture where religious horror is already a significant part of the country’s mainstream horror cinema, so the adaptation has plenty of room to feel familiar without necessarily feeling identical.
The result is less interesting as a simple remake question – is it the same story? – and more interesting as a regional horror experiment, because Malaysia and Indonesia share plenty of cultural and religious connections, but their horror industries have developed their own styles, audiences and expectations.
Director Guntur Soeharjanto has also previously worked across Indonesian drama and horror, including Makmum and Makmum 2, so religious horror is not entirely unfamiliar territory for him, but Munafik: Melawan Iblis gives him a much more direct supernatural conflict.
Check out some more Indonesian horror movies.
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