Review: Death Knot

 Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

Death Knot (aka Tali mati)
Directed by Cornelio Sunny
Matta Cinema; Kathanika Entertainment; Well Go USA Entertainment
101 minutes, 2021 / 2023
www.rhythmicfilms.com/
https://wellgousa.com/Death-Knot.
#DeathKnot @WellGoUSA

“Momma told me not to come” – Three Dog Night

Indonesia is slowly but surely becoming a hotbed for Asian horror, especially thanks to the push of companies like Well Go USA Entertainment. After all, who cares about subtitles, right? Personally, I like ‘em.

Cornelio Sunny, Eidike Sidmore

The film was first-time directed and co-written by Cornelio Sunny, who is also the principal protagonist. After the chilling prologue, we meet Hari (Sunny) and his sister, Eka (Widike Sidmore), who is married to the annoying but sometimes charming Adi (Morgan Oey). The three cosmopolitan characters who live in Jakarta, head off to a small agrarian village where Hari and Eka’s estranged-for-years mom (Djenar Maesa Ayu) has recently died in the prologue. On a cultural note, I find it interesting that on the drive up (thankfully not a long “road trip” scenario as is common in many genre films that start in one place and the main action is in another), both men sit up front with the sister in the back. Perhaps I am too Woke? But I digress…

There is obviously something afoot and mysterious as the villagers are evidently not very keen on their mom, with only less than a handful of fingers of people show up for the funeral: Mrs. Hesti (Very Handayani), Mr. Darno (Landung Simatupang), and mom’s sketchy money-focused brother, Rahman (Rukman Rosadi).

Morgan Oey, Sidmore

This delves deeply into local folklore, surrounded by superstition and poverty. Think about the “Christians” in the Deep South who use their religion like a sword against anything they think is “of the devil” (or evil, e.g., Democrats, though they constantly vote against their own self interests). Here, the mom is considered a “shaman,” or a witch in Western terms, who danced in the woods at night, at supposedly sold her soul to the debbil. Her deep dive into the rituals is what drove her now late husband and the two siblings to the city when they were young. The village is both familiar and strange to them (e.g., the need to ask for directions).

There are lots of local evil deity films (i.e., folklore), where the gods live in the woods, such as JugFace (2013) and The Burned Over District (2022). Here, “he” possesses people, or as the title suggests, he influences villagers to hang themselves. Like the gathering of crops, this amassing of souls is also called “The Harvest,” which the viewer learns through the exposition of a villager.

While this is a bit of a slow burn until the third act, it is creepy as hell and effective in its goal of making the viewer a bit anxious, aided by the subtle and dissonant background sounds and music.

There are a lot of day-for-night shots, with the use of a dark blue filter, as is the norm these days. Also, there are many yellow tones, especially inside rooms with lamplight. Hari’s room in the city is immersed in a yellow motif, for example. I also find it interesting that in many of these folklore storylines, it follows the maternal lineage rather than the masculine of our modern culture, even when the god is considered a “he.”

Also, the scenery and set pieces are stunning to look at, with cloudy mountains in the background and old huts and farms or forests in the foreground. The cinematography and editing, really help to enhance the story.

There is little blood as this film comes from a country that is approximately 87 percent Muslim (though, surprisingly, there is some cussing), but do not be deterred, because there are old god or gods (but not Cthulhu) that pre-date Allah, Jeebus, or Yahweh, spiritual possessions, ghosts, generational curses, violence (especially during the expected Act 3), sacrifices and suicides. While there is a lot of dialogue, and the film could easily have been trimmed a bit (Asian films tend to be a little longer than Western ones, but shorter than those from India), the tension is kept up throughout, and that is fine with me. An excellent debut by Sunny.

Death Knot will be available on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD after January 17, 2023.

IMDB listing HERE