At a sinister wig factory, Augustina works to the point of exhaustion. She dies when she falls into a vat of boiling chemicals. Her daughter Putra (Rachel Amanda) confronts factory owner Maryati (Didik Nini Thowok) about the accident, only to learn that her mother was deeply in debt and may have committed suicide.
Putra agrees to work off the debt, moving into squalid worker housing. She's joined by her sister Ida (Lutesha), who helps uncover suspicious activities by both management and employees. Stationed throughout the compound, Maryati's loudspeakers announce overtime schedules and the resulting accidents workers suffer.
"There's no such thing as risk," Maryati announces, urging workers onto overnight shifts. An exhausted Sri, a family friend, deliberately impales her face onto nails fixed to a wooden block. Another worker walks zombie-like off a balcony, shattering his legs. A third pulls out his eye.
Director and co-writer Edwin stages these shocks as black comedy, focusing more on the reactions of workers than on blood and gore. He makes good use of the dark corridors and squeaky doors in the sprawling factory, fluorescent lights blinking on and off as mysterious shapes flit by in the background. The damp, queasy atmosphere in Sleep No More is pervasive.
It's only with the arrival of the sisters' brother Bona (Iqbaal Ramadhan) that a plot line emerges. Like starfish, Bona has the power to regenerate. If he amputates his arm, another will grow to replace it. It may not be anatomically correct, but something arm-like appears.
That makes Bona a target of demons anxious to acquire his power. Including the hair demon that haunts the wig factory. The narrative twists and turns required to assemble all the plot strands for the climax make Sleep No More close to incomprehensible at times.
Not that the plot matters that much. Sleep No More works best as a communal experience, an opportunity for viewers to react in unison to scares everybody knows are laughable. The filmmakers throw in some half-hearted swipes at sweatshops, but the focus throughout remains on having a good time.
The cast outshines the material, in particular drag performer Didik Nini Thowok, impressive with or without wigs. Rachel Amanda is appealingly strongheaded, while Lutesha adds the right amount of humor.
Made in Indonesia, Sleep No More has backing from several production companies, including Singapore's Giraffe Films (also represented at Berlinale by Anthony Chen's We Are All Strangers). Fun despite its shortcomings, Sleep No More (aka Monster Pabrik Rambut) is worth seeking out.
World premiere screened at the Special Midnight section of this year's Berlinale. Photo © Palari Films 2026