Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Joko Anwar’s Nightmares And Daydreams’ On Netflix, A Group Of Separate But Interconnected Horror Stories From The Indonesian Filmmaker

Many horror anthology series take their cues from Black Mirror these days, with separate stories that are somehow connected via one or more factors, showing that they all take place in the same universe. A new series by Indonesian filmmaker Joko Anwar promises to tie together its separate stories, and after watching the first episode, we think we know how he does it.

JOKO ANWAR’S NIGHTMARES AND DAYDREAMS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “JAKARTA, 2015.” A taxi driver drives a nurse in his taxi.

The Gist: The driver, Panji (Ario Bayu), drives the nurse, Siti (Ruth Marini), to the nursing home where she works. He always thought the nursing home was for wealthy families, whereas he’s a taxi driver and his mother, Ranti (Yatti Surachman), was a cook. Ranti is in her early seventies, but is already starting to show signs of dementia, which Panji calls “not thinking straight.” When another nurse, Naya (Putri Ayuda), encourages Panji to apply, Siti tells him to not even think about it, that it’s wrong to leave one’s parent in a home like this.

After a horrifying incident involving Ranti, however, Panji and his wife Rara (Faradina Mufti) think it might be time. When he brings Ranti to the home, Panji meets another son of a resident, who is also a working-class guy, who laments ever bringing his mother to the home, as they won’t let him see her.

Ranti comes out of her tour of the home, thinking she’s going to cook there, but when Panji tells her that she’s staying there so she can get better care, Ranti breaks down in sobs, begging Panji not to leave her there.

That night, he has a nightmare about what his mother might be going through there, so he leaves to go there in the middle of the night, determined to bring his mother home. However, he’s met by nurse Naya, as he finds a room full of people around his age socializing. Naya tells him that these people are the sons and daughters of residents, that Ranti is fine and that even the guilt and nightmares he’s having are normal.

Panji leaves, but turns around and goes back in to find his mother. Instead, while hiding from someone he thinks is a resident’s son, he follows the man into a secret passage. Once in those catacombs, he sees all of the younger people in hooded robes, and finds out where all that youth is coming from, making him more determined to find his mother.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Joko Anwar’s Nightmares And Daydreams is Black Mirror-esque, but with more of a lean towards straight-up horror.

Our Take: Anwar, a well-known Indonesian filmmaker, isn’t just content to make a season of one-off anthology episodes. The stories in this season of Nightmares And Daydreams are intertwined, likely via this mysterious robe-wearing cult. The robes themselves are creepy, with round trim around the hoods and a line down the front that light up and make the people in them look like aliens when the faces in the hoods are obscured.

Right now, that connection between the stories is the reason to keep watching Nightmares And Daydreams. The plot of the first episode, while having some tense elements to it and some discomfiting special effects, was also pretty predictable. Seeing all of the young people in the room, dressed in what looked like their 1960s and ’70s finest, made us right away realize where they came from. We were correct, though we had no idea exactly how it happened. That’s where the discomfiting VFX come from. But because the “twist” of the episode was pretty predictable, there was no real shock value to the story.

But, with all series in this vein, the episodes will likely vary in quality, with some stories being better than others. Like we said, the creepy hooded cult seems to be a throughline for this series, and it’s certainly something that will keep us intrigued.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Signs of life appear out of a pile of rubble.

Sleeper Star: Faradina Mufti as Panji’s wife Rata, mainly because we don’t see her in the second half of the episode, and we wish she got to participate in more of the story.

Most Pilot-y Line: As he drives away from the nursing home after his after-midnight visit, Panji mutters “Piece of shit” to himself as he decides to turn around. Hey, people have to make tough decisions when it comes to the care of their elderly parents, Panji. Don’t be so hard on yourself.

Our Call: STREAM IT. If the hooded cult members are the throughline for Joko Anwar’s Nightmares And Daydreams, like we suspect they are, they are definitely creepy enough to make the series watchable. But the stories themselves have to be better than the one in the first episode for us to wholeheartedly recommend it.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.