You know what they say about cyberbullying; if you bully people online you might just end up getting get killed by a murderous spirit.

The national obsession with horror films has introduced us to a variety of ghosts that haunt every conceivable object and location. Now, the horror film industry has taken on something that might hit a little too close to home for some: cyberbullying.

Yes, cyberbullying — from posting mean comments on celebrities’ Instagram pages to doxing (publishing private information online) — it really has become a real life horror story.

AIB #Cyberbully starts with a typical day at a high school, where friends Sarah (Yuniza Icha), Donna (Wendy Wilson), Cista (Shoumaya Tazkiyyah), Angel (Damita Argobie), Antoni (Harris Illano), Bondan (Baron Wilschut) and Cupi (Michael Lie) are having fun.

However, their group photo session, and likely everyone’s day at school, is ruined when a student named Caca commits suicide by jumping from the roof.

Fast-forward to a year later, and the friends seem to have forgotten about the incident. Sarah, who is in a relationship with Antoni, is in the middle of a steamy flirting session online when the rest of the gang suddenly joins the chatroom.

Soon, Sarah receives a Facebook message from the deceased Caca’s account, and is unable to block the account from messaging her.

Supernatural circumstances bring the seven friends together in a video chat, where they are joined by the mysterious Bianca (Ade Ayu), who forces them to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets if they do not want to die.

If you are wondering why this sounds eerily familiar to the 2014 American horror movie Unfriended, you are not alone.

The basic premise of a vengeful spirit forcing terrified teenagers to reveal their hurtful secrets, or aib, is pretty much lifted from Unfriended, right down to one character’s cause of death. Still, the ghost actively murders them on camera at times, so it’s not like they copied everything.

For their part, the characters at least acknowledge the obvious solution to this kind of situation: turning off the computer.

In what is arguably the funniest line in the movie, Cupi says “an online ghost is no match for PLN [state-owned electricity firm]” before unplugging his computer. Of course, the computers are turned back on again; otherwise this would have been a very short movie.

AIB also deals with each character’s respective aib, presented as a terrible sin no matter the circumstance. The revelations are treated with contempt and derision by those watching, as their friends basically have meltdowns live on camera.

Some of the secrets aired even have video recordings as evidence, which are censored so the movie can be shown in theaters.

Right off the bat, the characters are established as unlikeable, even capturing Caca’s funeral on video and upsetting her grieving mother, so audience members might not feel sorry to see them meet their grisly ends, and might even feel some schadenfreude from watching the same people turn on their own friends quickly.

Of course, the filmmakers might have intended this to be a statement on the cruelty of teenagers and the conservativism of society, which looks down on anyone who does not conform to the norm.

However, the movie also presents gratuitous footage of Sarah stepping fresh out of the shower before engaging in a steamy flirt slash striptease video chat with Antoni, although this may also be part of the filmmakers’ statement.

As a straight up horror flick, AIB #Cyberbully does an adequate job of creating suspense and thrills through well-timed jump scares, but the storyline leaves much to be desired, and that’s before taking into account the similarities to Unfriended.

As an educational film intended to campaign against cyberbullying — the filmmakers even collaborated with the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) to promote the movie — it falls short of addressing the actual problem, aside from a heavy-handed monologue from the school’s principal in the beginning.

After all, how can you get teens to stop bullying their peers online other than with the threat of a murderous ghost?

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AIB #Cyberbully

(75 minutes; Surya Films, Anami Films)
Director: Amar Mukhi
Cast: Yuniza Icha, Wendy Wilson, Shoumaya Tazkiyyah, Damita Argobie, Harris Illano, Baron Wilschut, Michael Lie, Ade Ayu

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