The horrific urban legend of a supernatural creature that murders children is explored in the Indonesian horror movie “Sumala,” which is available on Netflix. A bunch of lads playing in a field outside their hamlet opens the movie. Two are left behind as the sun sets, searching the field for their ball. At this point, they encounter a young girl who murders one of them. The other child is horrified to learn that no one believes him when he rushes back to the village to tell people about the murder. With the exception of one man.
The man reveals that Sumala, the female who killed the boy, is not your typical girl. Going back a few decades is necessary to comprehend who she is. Despite having all they could possibly want, Soedjiman and his wife, Sulastri, were without a successor to whom they could pass on their fortune and family legacy. The pair continues to be childless for years. The issue of an heir arises as Soedjiman’s uncle attempts to take his land from him, and the man becomes so desperate that he threatens to marry someone else if his wife is unable to conceive.
Sulastri, who is equally desperate, overhears a conversation and learns that Grandma Tukinah, a shaman, assists women in becoming pregnant. She chooses to attempt this as a last resort but learns that Tukinah works in black magic. There is a cost, but she swears to give Sulastri what she desires. Sulastri will give birth to twins, one of whom will be gorgeous and the other hideous. The Devil then comes to get his portion, the ugly child, after the couple had raised both children with love and care for ten years.
He will leave the family to their own ways and they will be free to live happily ever after once he gets what he was promised. However, if the pledge is not kept, their family will suffer greatly and nobody would be able to protect them from the impending disaster. Sulastri doesn’t tell her husband about the pregnancy, and when he kills the ugly child and mistreats the beautiful one because of her condition, everything goes horribly wrong. After ten years, events begin to play out exactly as the shaman had predicted they would if Sulastri had broken her word. BEWARE OF SPOILERS.
Why Can’t Soedjiman Kill Sumala? How Does She Survive?
Soedjiman and Sulastri choose to name the girls Kumala and Sumala after learning they are expecting twins. The shaman had already informed Sulastri that Sumala was unattractive at birth. Shortly after she leaves her mother’s womb, Soedjiman murders her because he cannot bear to have a kid like her. Sulastri’s vow to send the ugly child to the Devil is broken at this point, sealing the couple’s doom. Furthermore, Kumala’s father mistreats her severely because of her disability, and although her mother occasionally protests his behavior, she never takes any concrete steps to stop him from physically hurting her. In addition, she never demonstrates love for Kumala, which betrays yet another vow she made to the Devil.
Kumala endures a wretched existence for ten years, being tormented by the village boys and despised by her own parents. She eventually receives a visit from a girl who remarkably resembles her. The girl confesses that she is Sumala, her twin, who was killed at birth and has come back to support Kumala and assist her in battling those who mistreat her. Sumala gradually has so much power over Kumala that she begins murdering people. Soedjiman and Sulastri are forced to confront reality as she kills the bullies during her murdering spree. Sulastri discloses her agreement with the Devil and the implications for their surviving daughter. Soedjiman seeks a treatment from Grandpa Kusno, a shaman, in order to find a solution.
Kusno gives Soedjiman two choices. In order to free Kumala of Sumala’s soul and restore her to normal, the first choice is to bring her to him. This choice, though, is only valid until the girl turns ten. Since Sumala made a vow to the Devil on her tenth birthday that he would claim her as such in Kumala’s body, there would be no way to save the girl after that. That leaves Soedjiman with no other choice. To stop his deceased daughter from creating havoc on the village, the father must use a blessed blade that the shaman offers him to stab his living daughter in the heart.
By the time Soedjiman gets home, Sumala has slain everyone, including his wife, and appears to have fully taken over Kumala’s body. He follows her after realizing that there is no way to save her. He has the opportunity to kill her at one point after rendering her unconscious. He has done nothing but harm her since she was born, but this is still his daughter, and he cannot imagine killing her. He is so stricken with guilt that he apologizes to her and promises to take her to the shaman for healing.
Soedjiman pays a heavy price for his hesitancy since Sumala eventually reappears and strikes him. He is forced to use the knife to stab her this time, and he does so. He drives the blade into the left side of her chest, but in contrast to the shaman’s prediction, she is not killed. It was intended for Sumala and Kumala to be the opposite of one another. One was ugly, the other lovely. One was able-bodied, the other was malformed. One was a human, and the other was the Devil’s spawn. It turns out that their hearts were no exception to this rule of opposites. Consequently, Sumala’s heart was on the right and Kumala’s was on the left. When their father stabbed her on the left, he totally missed the heart because Sumala had taken over her sister’s body and it had migrated to the right. This indicates that Sumala was not killed.
What Happens to Kumala? Does She Die?
A person must keep their half of the bargain when they make a deal with the Devil. The agreement for Sulastri was to give the Devil her other daughter in exchange for one. The Devil found a method to fulfill his vow when her husband killed the Devil’s daughter. Ten years later, Kumala is taken over by the soul of Sumala. She first comes across as amiable and determined to exact revenge for the harm done to her sister. However, it soon becomes evident that the spirit’s sole goal is to permanently inherit Kumala. She desires the body that was taken from her since she was killed at birth. She will so fully take over Kumala by the time of her ninth birthday, and the Devil will receive his just desserts.
Because he is aware of this, the shaman instructs Soedjiman to bring the girl to him before to her tenth birthday. Sumala and Kumala might be divided prior to that since they would still be distinct entities. Kumala will have an opportunity to return to her regular self and resume her life if Sumala is taken out of her body. But because of what was agreed upon when Sulastri made a deal with him, the Devil will have a claim to the daughter after she becomes ten. He would receive his share of the bargain on the tenth birthday, which would mean that Soedjiman’s daughter’s human spirit would be totally overtaken by the demonic spirit of his daughter. There would be no turning back now.
Soedjiman makes an effort to save his daughter. Even though he nearly stabs her the first time, he changes his mind, especially after realizing that he was at fault for treating his crippled daughter badly, much as he was treated as a child, and that his wife was at fault for concealing everything from him. Since he ultimately fails to murder Sumala, she now has total authority over Kumala. Her twin’s spirit has fully taken over, so even if the girl’s spirit is still alive in her body, it is no longer in charge. Ultimately, although Kumala’s body appears to survive, Sumala actually resides there, and the true Kumala is permanently gone.
Is Soedjiman Dead?
Grandma Tukinah, the shaman, was quite explicit about the conditions of their agreement when she offered to assist Sulastri conceive. She informed the woman that if these conditions were not fulfilled, her entire family would perish horribly, that every year would become worse than the one before, and that eventually there would be no distinction between day and night. Maybe Sulastri would have taken her words more seriously if she had spoken of death directly. However, the shaman left that aspect up to interpretation, and ultimately the worst happens.
Kumala becomes aware of what is going to happen as Sumala gradually takes control of her. After she murders all of the bullies in the most heinous way, she is certain of her evil sister’s intentions. Kumala doesn’t want anyone to die, especially those who have been kind to her, even if she has endured a lot of hate over the years. For this reason, before her ninth birthday, she cautions the good-hearted aunt to leave the house and travel as far away as she can. The aunt is the only one who makes it through the trauma because she follows her advise.
On the eve of their eleventh birthday, Sumala seizes control of Kumala and murders everyone living there. She starts with Sukir, who had always delighted in tormenting her and was her father’s right-hand man. She then goes on to their mother, whose apologies are ignored as Sumala delivers a dreadful fate to her. But she saves the worst for her father, who has long mistreated and abused her. Once, instead of a scarecrow, he had Kumala tied to a crucifix and abandoned in the field. Sumala offers him a similar conclusion. Before leaving his body attached to a cross like a scarecrow for the people to discover, she stabs him in the stomach as his entrails flow out and stabs both of his eyes.
Who Killed Grandpa Kusno?
Sumala would have immediately put an end to her murderous rampage if it had truly been about getting revenge on Kumala. She wouldn’t have murdered any other innocent person if she truly only sought justice for her sister. However, that was never the intention. She is the product of evil, and once she had possession of Kumala’s body, she wouldn’t stop. Soedjiman apologizes to her and offers to take her to see Grandpa Kusno. She can be healed by the shaman. Additionally, he is the one who hands Soedjiman the knife so that, in an emergency, she can be killed. After dealing with all of the bullies and haters, Sumala visits the shaman and murders him as well. When the villagers later return in search of him, they discover his lifeless body and realize that no one is left to protect them from Sumala.
The evil does indeed linger in the community for many years to come. The people must live in constant fear for their own and their children’s lives. At night, she prowls around, murdering everyone who happens to cross her path. The people eventually discover that avoiding her completely is the only way to survive her. Therefore, it is prohibited for any child to be outside after dark. Everyone takes this rule seriously at first, but as the number of homicides decreases over time due to its observance, people gradually lose interest in the thing they should be terrified of. Thus, when they finally falter, Sumala seizes the chance and attacks once more, rekindling their fears and sustaining the fear for future generations.
