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Sunday, July 5, 2026

Death Knot (2021) (Indonesia)

⭐️⭐️1/2


A brother and sister troublingly have the same strange dream where their mother, a well-known practitioner of black magic, is hanging from a tree. More disturbingly, she warns them not to come to their village where she lives. The next day, while talking over their concerns, they receive a call from their uncle that their mother committed suicide. Not listening to the more than just circumstantial nightmare warning from the spirit of their mama, they head out to the isolated community along with the sister’s husband. Further trouble arises when the siblings are suspiciously eyed by the locals for their mother’s sins. Apparently she was blamed for the large amount of suicides in the area, collecting the souls of the poor folks who hung themselves to build her power. Things get worse when a new string of suicides have the villagers holding Hari and his sister Eka responsible for the awfulness. Curses, man. They’re a real pain in the ass. The strained family relationship works on the protagonists, already wearing them down mentally before the supernatural kicks into gear. Their sleazy uncle is also causing problems by making claims of a will and property rights now that their mother has passed. He wants Hari to sell his mother’s house and give him half and his sister thinks it would be best just to get rid of the place and the memories that go with it. Hari is feeling guilty though about pretty much abandoning his mother no matter how strained their relationship was. The folks that will talk to them deliver the same message that they should get rid of the damn house and just leave, their mother’s only friend stirs the pot when she hints that she never would have killed herself. Eka and her hubby Adi decide to leave, Hari decides to sell but the appearance of two hung corpses (Not like that! Hung from a tree ya dirty dog!) and with a storm stalling any way out, the trio are forced to spend more unwanted time in the house. Adi starts acting strange (speaking and looking like he suffered a bad head injury that would place him in special courses at school), a megalith is discovered in the forest (not a good sign) and an elderly local fills Hari in on the unsettling folklore and its connection to his family. Melodrama and moody piano try to present a dour time before we get to the creepiness and it comes off a tad bit forced. There’s some solid bits of freakiness and some unfortunate unintentional giggles spread through the much-too-long runtime as it strives for an atmosphere that just never feels natural.

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