Alfa — The Hilariously Bad Indonesian Harry Potter Rip-off

Anastasios Papalias
4 min readJul 28, 2023

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Alfa is a 2010 Indonesian film that is a blatant rip-off of the Harry Potter franchise. The plot is essentially the same, with the names and places changed. Alfa is a young boy who discovers that he is a wizard, and he must attend a magical school called Alfa Academy. Along the way, he makes friends with a group of other wizards, and they must face off against the evil headmaster, Professor Durkas.

The film is full of unintentionally hilarious moments, from the terrible acting to the nonsensical plot to the awful special effects. However, what really makes Alfa so funny is the sheer earnestness with which it is made. The filmmakers clearly believe that they are making a serious film, and they take the plot and characters very seriously. This only serves to make the film even more unintentionally hilarious.

For example, one of the most memorable scenes in Alfa is the flying broomstick scene. The actors are clearly not professional stuntmen, and their attempts to fly on broomsticks are hilariously awkward. The special effects are also laughably bad, with the broomsticks looking like they are made out of cardboard.

Another memorable scene is the battle between Alfa and Professor Durkas. The fight is clearly choreographed by someone who has never seen a sword fight before, and the actors are clearly not trained in martial arts. The result is a scene that is both hilarious and unintentionally badass.

If you are looking for a good laugh, I highly recommend checking out Alfa. It is one of the funniest bad movie rip-offs I have ever seen, and it is sure to leave you in stitches.

Here are some of the things that make Alfa so funny:

- The terrible acting. The actors in Alfa are clearly not professional actors, and their wooden performances are unintentionally hilarious.

- The nonsensical plot. The plot of Alfa is so convoluted and nonsensical that it’s almost impossible to follow.

- The awful special effects. The special effects in Alfa are so bad that they’re actually kind of charming.

- The film’s earnestness. The filmmakers of Alfa clearly believe that they are making a serious film, which only serves to make the film even more unintentionally hilarious.

- The cultural appropriation. Alfa borrows heavily from the Harry Potter franchise, but it also incorporates elements of Indonesian culture. This can be jarring and unintentionally funny, as it creates a strange mix of Western and Eastern influences.

If you are looking for a good laugh, I highly recommend checking out Alfa. It’s one of the funniest bad movie rip-offs I have ever seen, and it is sure to leave you in stitches.

Where can “Alfa” be watched?

MD Entertainment offers the first episode of “Alfa” for free on YouTube. The episode, which lasts nearly an hour, begins with a scene clearly inspired by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” featuring characters resembling Dumbledore and Hagrid, reminiscent of the moment when they, along with Minerva McGonagall, discuss Harry’s fate before delivering him to the Dursleys. Although neither the McGonagall character nor baby Alfa is present, the subsequent scene shows Alfa, now eleven-years-old, waking up. Unlike Harry, he doesn’t sleep under the stairs but instead resides in a small and clean loft, indicating he has a better life than the protagonist of the Wizarding World.

Immediately, Alfa receives his acceptance letter and eagerly shows it to, presumably, his aunt and uncle. Similar to the Dursleys in Harry Potter, they oppose the idea of Alfa attending a magic school and proceed to tear and burn all the letters right in front of him.

Throughout the first episode, it’s hard not to notice the resemblances to the source material, especially given the creators’ minimal effort to distinguish themselves from “Harry Potter.” Like Harry, Alfa acquires his wand from an eccentric shop owner, although with the unique requirement of trying different fruits before obtaining it. He also engages in a magical game involving lollipops instead of brooms and even faces a poorly-digitized three-headed dragon.

MD Entertainment has the complete “Alfa” series available on its YouTube page, catering to fans who manage to make it through the first episode and crave more.

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Anastasios Papalias

Embark on a journey of tech and life, seen through my lens. I am devoted to following back my supporters and consistently delivering magnificent content.