Directed by Inarah Syarafina, Temurun is an Indonesian horror thriller that revolves around a pair of siblings, Dewi and Sena. After the unfortunate demise of their mother, their estranged father, Agung, had come to visit them. He offered them to stay at his place; while Dewi was hesitant, Sena immediately accepted the offer. Dewi was not ready to get over the fact that their father had chosen not to stay in touch with them, and his sudden interest in their lives made her suspicious. Dewi had been close to her mother, and she strongly believed it would be unfair to their mother if they stayed at Agung’s place. Eventually, Sena convinced Dewi, but they did not expect to find out that their father lived in a mansion. Did Agung have an ulterior motive? And who was Gayatri? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Who was Gayatri?
When Dewi and Sena arrived at Agung’s house, they were introduced to Gayatri, their grandmother. She was the matriarch, and she made all the decisions when it came to the family business. Since the family was run by women, Dewi was expected to take over after Gayatri. It was all too new for Dewi, and while financial stability was a relief, she was still processing her mother’s death. Dewi would often imagine her mother’s ghost following her. It was as if she was trying to tell her something, but she could not figure out what it was. Gayatri soon introduced Dewi to the processed meat business. Dewi felt uncomfortable; it was all too gory for her. She was constantly reminded of her mother, who was brutally murdered by Sena’s boss to punish Sena for sleeping with his wife. Gayatri understood Dewi’s pain, and she asked her to oversee the administrative side of the business. Dewi was taken aback when she read a document stating that Gayatri had been running the company since 1935. She assumed it was a mistake, but a factory worker, Jaka, confirmed it was indeed true.
Meanwhile, Sena had overheard Gayatri and her assistant, Esti, discuss how the health of the animals in the slaughterhouse had improved after Dewi and Sena came to stay with them, but at the same time, their arrival had negatively impacted Gayatri’s health. Sena had previously entered a room that seemed to be a place where the devil was worshiped. There were photographs of people pinned to a corkboard, and they were crossed out. He did not know what to make of it, but he could sense that something sinister was going on. We were eventually told that an evil spirit lived in Gayatri, and it needed a new body to thrive, and Dewi was chosen to be the host.
Why was Agung murdered?
Dewi’s mother’s mental health collapsed after giving birth to her, possibly because she had found out what would eventually happen to her daughter. She assumed that moving out and staying far away would help her escape the inevitable, but she remained unsuccessful. Gayatri had been waiting for the right moment to strike, and perhaps she did have a hand in orchestrating the murder of Dewi’s mother. Naturally, Agung knew everything about his mother’s and Esti’s plans, and he was desperate to stop them. He and Jaka had been working together to end the madness, but it was not easy. Jaka stole the sacred dagger from the house, the only weapon that could destroy the demon.
Agung was ready to put himself at risk to ensure the safety of his children. The demon had been passed from generation to generation, and in exchange for good fortune, the demon had to be presented with a host. Agung knew that he would lose everything if the demon was destroyed, but his children were more precious than all the wealth he possessed. It was not easy for him to decide to kill his mother, but he did not have a choice. Agung gathered courage and entered his mother’s room, and the moment he was about to stab her with the dagger, Esti killed him. The next morning, Jaka found Agung’s body hanging by a rope. He immediately knew what had gone down, yet the workers at the slaughterhouse assumed that he was the one who had murdered Agung, since he was the first one to discover Agung’s body. Jaka managed to escape, and he later texted Sena and asked him to meet him at the slaughterhouse. Esti instigated Sena by explicitly stating that Jaka was responsible for his father’s death. So when Sena met Jaka, he was already furious.
What happened to Sena?
Sena met Jaka at the slaughterhouse, but before Jaka could say anything, Sena stabbed Jaka. Before taking his last breath, Jaka begged Sena to check the trunk of his father’s car. Sena found a book that explained everything that was going on. He discovered that Esti was not Gayatri’s assistant; she was a prophet of the dark cult that Gayatri followed. Esti was the one who had introduced the family to the Inheritance Ritual. By the time Sena figured out the truth, the demon had already begun luring Dewi to its side. Dewi missed her mother, and she was ready to go to any extent to reunite with her. Her relationship with Sena had turned bitter because she believed he was the reason why their mother was killed. She was gradually losing her sanity, with the ghost of her mother following her constantly. Maybe Dewi was blessed with the power to see spirits, or perhaps she truly was losing her mind.
One night, Dewi saw her mother seated in her room. She was ecstatic, and she begged her mother to stay with her. Dewi was ready to do anything to be with her, and that was when Gayatri stepped in. She promised Dewi that she could show her a way to reunite with her mother. She warned Dewi that it would require sacrifice, but that was not a problem for her. Dewi and Gayatri made cuts on their hands, and what Dewi thought was a strange way to invite her mother’s spirit was a blood pact. By the time Sena returned home, she found Dewi lying on the floor with rotten meat and a pool of blood by her side. She was semi-conscious. Sena thought of escaping with Dewi, but Esti caught him in the act. She knocked him unconscious, and when Sena opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a ritual.
How was Dewi lured into the ritual?
During Temurun’s ending, Gayatri and Esti performed the Inheritance Ritual. According to the custom, the male family member had to be sacrificed and the female heir had to drink his blood. Esti slashed Sena’s throat with the sacred dagger, and she collected the blood in a goblet and offered it to Dewi. Dewi, who was still semi-conscious, was forcefully fed the blood. She did not know what was going on. Dewi was a little startled to see her brother’s lifeless body, but she was too weak to protest. She saw her grandmother standing at a distance, and she suddenly watched her transform into her mother. Dewi was happy when she saw her mother approaching her. As soon as her mother got close to her, she realized that it was not her mother but the demon. Before Dewi could comprehend what was going on, the demon entered her body.
Temurun’s ending clearly suggests that Dewi will run the family business that was in reality operated by the demon-worshiping cult. She would perhaps not even remember how she lost her family for fortune. The demon will take complete control of her, and maybe a hundred years later she will force another innocent young girl to participate in the ritual.
