Ban urged for Indonesia film on menstruating ghost
By NINIEK KARMINI
Associated Press
2010-02-04 07:53 PM

An influential board of Muslim clerics Thursday demanded the Indonesian government ban a gory movie about a murderous, menstruating ghost, saying it would corrupt the young.

Indonesia's film censorship agency put the release of "Hantu Puncak Datang Bulan" or "The Menstruating Ghost of Puncak" on hold after receiving the request from the Indonesian Ulema Council.

It had been due to be shown in cinemas in Jakarta Thursday.

A trailer for the film on YouTube features a slew of sex scenes and plenty of gore, including a beheading.

The producer, K.K. Dheeraj of K2K Production, described it as a "horror comedy _ about a woman who died when she was menstruating and then transformed into a ghost for revenge."

Amirsyah Tambunan, a prominent member of the Ulema Council, said the council had learned the film "contained pornography and a sadistic scene of beheading, so we demand the government ban it."

"Plans to screen it will hurt and damage the morals of Indonesian Muslims, especially the young generation. Its content was too excessive _ we don't need such a movie here," he said.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation and largely socially conservative. While it is a secular democracy with freedom of speech, films are still edited and banned if they are deemed by the government to be too political or sexually explicit. Pornography is illegal, although not all support that ban.

Muklis Paeni, the chairman of Indonesia's film censorship agency, said it approved the film's release after cutting many scenes from the movie, including the graphic scenes featured in the YouTube trailer.

"The movie is already cut so much," Paeni said. "We ensure that the scenes in the film have been filtered properly."

Still, Paeni said the agency would review the film again and withdraw it if it was found to have violated pornography laws.

Dheeraj, the producer, said the movie is intended to entertain adults who understand the difference between fiction and reality. He said he wanted to show the film to Tambunan, the cleric, to prove it is not immoral.

"I don't feel I have harmed the morals of this nation," Dheeraj said.