DANCING Village: The Curse Begins is a well-crafted and creepy Indonesian horror about an evil ghost witch and generational curses.
New to Shudder, this film is a prequel to KKN: Curse of the Dancing Village, which was a huge hit in Southeast Asia in 2022.
Directed by Kimo Stamboel, the man behind such impressive films as The Queen of Black Magic, Macabre, and Killers, it plays out like an entrancing nightmare that keeps us under its beguiling spell for all of its 122-minute running-time.
A supernatural horror leaning more towards dark thriller with mysterious folkloric elements, Dancing Village: The Curse Begins is exquisitely made and uses delicate camera angles to capture the sense of isolation of its foreboding forest setting.
The story is built around Mila (Maudy Effrosina), who is instructed by a shaman to return a mystical bracelet, the Kawaturih, to the ‘Dancing Village’, a remote site on the easternmost tip of Java Island.
Together with her cousin, Yuda (Jourdy Pranata), and his friends Jito (M Igbal Sulaiman), and Arya (Ardit Erwandha), Mila arrives on the island only to discover that the village elder has passed away, and that the new guardian, Mbah Buyut (Diding Boneng), isn’t to be found.
While they await his return, a number of eerie and frightening incidents occur, including Mila being visited by Badarawuhi, a mysterious, mythical being who rules the village. Spooked by spirits, psychological chicanery and peculiar sickness, they soon find themselves in out of their depth as the danger all around them grows.
After Mila decides to return the Kawaturih without the help of Buyut, she threatens the village’s safety, and must join a ritual to select the new “Dawuh,” a cursed soul forced to dance for the rest of eternity.
Slow-paced, intelligent and striking this is a must see for horror fans who are open to a bit of cultural diversity. Your patience will be rewarded.
(4/5)
