Borderless Fog: An Indonesian Noir serial killer film set on the border with Malaysia. It might well have fitted into Folk Horror as the ghost of a long dead freedom fighter is suspected by some as being responsible for the killings. Members of the Dayak ethnic minority on both sides of the border see him as their guardian. As so often happens, locals who campaign for autonomy, human rights and an end to land grabbing are smeared as communists. After a decapitated corpse is found it is soon discovered that the body and the head belong to different people, one of whom is an army officer. Sanja (Putri Marino) a detective from Jakarta is called in, she soon discovers that the local police are incompetent and corrupt. She also becomes aware of cross border human trafficking of girls, as the body count mounts; some of the deaths seem to be related to this. There is a parallel narrative where three girls are lost in the jungle when their trafficker is killed. The jungle is dark, eerie, this adds to the folk horror feel as do some of the many odd characters. Like so many Noir detectives, Sanja has her own past demons and this threatens to derail her investigation. Most of the violence and killing occurs off screen but there is enough gore here to disturb/satisfy serial killer film fans. Borderless Fog would have benefited from a 10 minute cut in its 112 minute running time and the ending is rather ambiguous with a sometimes confusing plot. It is worth watching though. Directed by Edwin from a screenplay by Edwin and Ifan Ismail. On Netflix. 7/10.
