- Directed by Kimo Stamboel
- Written by Joko Anwar
- Stars: Ario Bayu, Hannah Al Rashid, Adhisty Zara, Muzakki Ramdhan
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 39 Minutes
- Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10656188/?ref=ttmvclose
Synopsis
The family is heading to the orphanage where their father was raised for a visit. They’ve come from Jakarta. They tell the three kids that they are adopted as well. Nope-just kidding! They hit a deer on the road; they’re pretty isolated way out here. As they drive away, we see a dead body that they didn’t spot. Credits roll.
Their uncles, aunts, and nephew arrive as well. It’s like a family reunion at the orphanage. There are two kids still at the orphanage, but the rest have gone on a trip. They all go in to visit with Mr. Bandi, the old man who raised them all. Maman and Siti are married adults who never left the place; no one wanted them.
The kids explore the rest of the house. Haqi asks about a green door, but they are told that the door hasn’t been opened in twenty years. There was a woman who lived there who claimed one of the children was abducted by a demon; she was crazy, and they locked her inside. Mrs. Mirah used to bang her head against the door all the time. When they finally opened the door, she was found dead. Everything believed she killed the child Murni, and she’s still inside that room. Haqi then repeats the story to the adults, and no one denies any of it. Hanif, the father, seems very preoccupied with the past.
Hanif and Jefri drive back to where they hit the deer and have a closer look. They find the body from before. They also find an entire bus full of dead orphan kids; they didn’t go on a trip after all. The phone at the orphanage doesn’t work, and of course, there’s no cell service. Anton volunteers to drive two hours to the police station. He stops at the bus, and bad things happen.
Haqi watches an old videotape from when the men were young. They see Mrs. Mirah, who walks with a limp because her father broke her legs when she was little. Eva is attacked by centipedes from the inside out, and Lina imagines she’s cutting off her own fat rolls, but she does not imagine it. They load the two injured women into the car and drive off, leaving all the children behind. They keep passing mile marker 81, over and over.
Hanif explains that 25 years ago, there was a fire set by Mrs. Mirah, who was said to have been using black magic to kill those three girls. The boys tried to run away, but they always ended up looping back, just like the car is doing now. Afterward, they locked up the crazy Mrs. Mirah, who beat herself to death, banging her head against the door. They buried her outside and poured concrete over her.
Hasbi staples his mouth shut and then shoots Haqi several times but doesn’t kill him. Everyone searches while more mayhem occurs. Somewhere along the line, evidence comes up that Mr. Bandi was a pedophile taking child pornography photos of the orphans, and Mrs. Mirah was protecting the children. Maman and Siti were the ones who invited everyone here. Bandi actually poisoned the three dead girls so long ago. Hanif, Jefri, and Anton were the ones who locked Mrs. Mirah away, so she used her black magic to get revenge.
Then Mustika, the girl they thought was dead on the side of the road, comes in, injured but not dead, and explains everything to them. Then the real witch floats in, and everyone starts screaming…
Commentary
It’s another slow burn, as the first death doesn’t come until we’re forty minutes in. Also, this is an Indonesian film, subtitled in English, and it’s very talky, so there’s a lot of reading involved. There’s a lot of characters, and it’s a little hard to get all their names straight.
There’s a lot of gore and nastiness going on here, but I’d have to say with all the gore, the stapler scene was probably the cringiest, nastiest thing in the film. I’m not completely sure that anyone in the film, other than Mr. Bandi, deserved any of this, but it’s certainly not the vacation anyone expected.