Introduction & Context
The 2024 film from Indonesia, Dancing Village: The Curse Begins, is both a supernatural horror and a thriller, directed by Kimo Stamboel and scripted by Lele Laila. The film is a prequel to the 2022 blockbuster KKN di Desa Penari and enriches the folklore and mythos surrounding the cursed village that has both terrified and fascinated people across Indonesia and the world.
The movie is set in the remote, densely forested jungles of East Java, Indonesia. In addition to incorporating folk mythology, the film is also a psychological horror that deals in generational curses, spiritual betrayal, and the dire toll of unfulfilled promises. After its premiere in Indonesian cinemas, the film quickly emerged as one of the country’s greatest cinematic horror successes that year.
Plot Summary
Our story starts in 1955 with a secretive ritual in a remote village. A young girl is given a sealed box and told to run away and never come back. Within the box lies a mystical bracelet known as “Kawaturih” which has the ability to control the spiritual force that is entwined with the village’s curse.
In the 1980s, Mila embarks on a journey to restore the Kawaturih relic to the village it originally belonged to, where a curse is said to have started from. In hopes to heal her mother, whose health is declining, Mila is accompanied by her cousin Yuda, along with their friends Jito and Arya.
After arriving in the village, they were met with the eerie silence and haunting atmosphere. Mila soon learns the village elder, Mbah Buyut is dead. The village is still shrouded in a haunting atmosphere, and begins to experience disturbing dreams featuring Badarawuhi. Badarawuhi is a mythical serpent-like women who is said to secretly control the village.
Mila learns her mother was chosen to be a Dawuh, a cursed maid. After the arrival, it is believed Mila has awakened the curse that was resting for many years. She is eventually comes across the curse and is now in the same position. With guidance from Ratih, a girl whose family is involved with the curse, Mila is now forced to make the decision: rescue her mother and be a slave to the curse, or face the spirit and the curse’s fury.
In an ultimate ritual, Badarawuhi tries to take Mila by gifting her eternal life as the next Dawuh. Mila’s mother stops the ritual by sacrificing herself, which ends the curse instead. Badarawuhi is greatly weakened, the curse on the village is released, at least for the time being.
Maudy Effrosina as Mila – A resolute young woman grapples with a deadly curse on her family, determined to confront it and end their suffering.
Jourdy Pranata as Yuda – Mila’s cousin. A loyal supporter, he is also fearful, but barrels with her on the journey.
Aulia Sarah as Badarawuhi – The spirit of the village, who is portrayed gracefully and yet menacing. A dual nature of a tempress and tormentor.
Claresta Taufan as Ratih – A local villager and an ally to Mila, who aids her with the knowledge she possesses of the curse.
Ardit Erwandha as Arya and M. Iqbal Sulaiman as Jito – Friends of Mila and Yuda, who slowly succumb to the spiritual dangers of the village.
Diding Boneng as Mbah Buyut – The village elder who dies and whose death brings back the curse.
Themes and Symbolism
1. Generational Trauma and Inheritance
The film examines how guilt and trauma are inherited and how guilt and trauma affect a person mentally. Mila carries the weight of her mother’s history, and now, she has to make a decision on whether to break the cycle or continue the cycle.
2. The Power of Ritual and Belief
The storyline is filled with traditional rituals, chants, and other spiritual ceremonies. Because the village is cut off from the world and is dedicated to their ancestors, the horror deep-rooted in the belief system is magnified.
Feminine Spiritual Power
Badarawuhi is a composite of a feminine being who is a seducer, a punisher, and a goddess. Her dance is emblematic of domination and beauty as well as imprisonment. The women in this tale are the victims and simultaneously the passive bearers of the curse.
Nature as an Active Living Entity
The encroaching and rich jungle serves as a menacing background. Nature is not a supporting character but an active agent for seeing, punishing, and responding. A village is depicted to be consumed by spiritual decay, which is the result of the imbalance with nature.
Visual Style and Sound Design
The film’s visuals are striking and bold. The director Kimo Stamboel embraces naturalistic horror. His scenes are dominated by earthy greens, rich browns, blood red ceremonial colors. The jungle is not only dense and shadowy, but alive with danger. The world created is rich in the traditional Javanese dress and instruments.
The design of sound is one of the critical components to build tension in the film. Distant gamelan music, whispered incantations, and even the rustling of the leaves all create an uneasy feeling, while the soundtracks and the melodies oscillate, alternating between silence and a psychological depth, providing the viewer an explosion of unease.
The dance sequences, specifically the ones featuring Badarawuhi, are simultaneously mesmerizing and disturbing. They are crafted in a way that, in a mixture of stalking rhythm and gradual pacing, the border between sexy and scary is crossed.
Critical Reception
The reviews were mostly positive after the release of the film, Dancing Village: The Curse Begins. The critics lauded the film’s striking visuals and atmospheric aesthetic, Mila’s performance, along with Aulia’s interpretation of Badarawuhi were received positively.
Although the pacing received some backlash, many reviewers noted that the slow pacing builds tension in a way that preps for a climactic release. The film received enormous praise for expanding its prequel’s mythology without demanding the viewers have watched the 2022 film beforehand.
Blame was also placed on some of the secondary characters and their arcs, which some viewing lenses considered less original. A fair share of viewers thought the plot was predictable, while others criticized the film for its overuse of cliche horror tropes. On the bright side, the film’s visuals and its directions along with the design of sound earned a lot of praise.
Folk and spiritual horror fans, in particular, seemed to enjoy the screening the most. Film lovers and social media users lauded the film for its attempt at Indonesians folklore in a way that was very cinematic in a way that could not be seen in the rest of the world.
Box Office Performance
The film’s grossed more than $10 million domestically and atttracted overseas fans of horror and Southeast Asian cinema, after its international debut. This was a remarkable achievement considering it’s approximately 1.8 million dollar budget.
Conclusion
The film intricately weaves together folk horror and the supernatural with intellectual storytelling, earning it the label of ‘masterful’ and ’emotionally deep’. Rather than relying on shocks, the film conveys a tale of sacrifice, cultural identity, and inheritance through the lens of mythology and tradition. Furthermore, the film captures humanity’s connection and almost spiritual bond with the unseen forces that control the ancient world.
With that said, this film portrayes the horror genre in a different light than the western world, allowing it to be enjoyed by a wider audience. This proves that through careful crafting, folklore can become modern horror that resonates with people of all cultures and ages.
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