Everything You Need to Know About ‘Grave Torture’: Plot, Themes, and Shocking Ending

 

🎬 Overview

• Title: Grave Torture (Siksa Kubur)

• Director & Writer: Joko Anwar

• Producer: Tia Hasibuan

• Cinematography: Ical Tanjung

• Music: Aghi Narottama

• Editing: Joko Anwar

• Production Companies: Rapi Films, Legacy Pictures, Come and See Pictures, IFI Sinema, Komet Productions

• Distributor: Rapi Films (Indonesia)

• Runtime: 117 minutes

• Language: Indonesian

• Budget: $314,445

• Box Office Gross: $10.5 million

Storyline

The life of the two siblings, Sita and Adil, whose lives are destroyed after their parents commit suicide bombing is the focus of Grave Torture. The attacker, a born-again believer, said he committed the act so as to escape the horrible “Siksa Kubur” punishment- a torture that is said to befall sinners in the grave after death. Being orphaned and traumatized, Sita and Adil are sent to a religious boarding school. As Adil starts to embrace religious teachings, Sita becomes more and more skeptical, horrified by the fact that her parents died because of a blind religious fear. As they grow old, Sita develops a passion of disproving the concept of grave torture. She dedicates her life in search of scientific and rational explanations to oppose the idea, to prove that such afterlife punishments are made-up myths employed to control people through fear. Her fixation sends her to read about the deaths of sinners and work in such locations as a nursing home, where she gets to watch the process of dying people and the rituals that accompany burial. She often goes to cemeteries where she looks into graves and tries to find some natural reason for so-called manifestations of spiritual torment. However, the more she searches for the reason, the more she starts experiencing unexplainable events. Tombs of known sinners indicate that they have been tampered with from inside. Corpses are found in disgusting states, with horror written on their faces as if they were subjected to unthinkable pain. Sita has nightmares like shadows calling her name and spirits scratching at her at night. Nevertheless, she is not willing to believe in the supernatural world; she is sure that there should be rational explanations. Her denial is further worsened after she discovers an old cassette tape that goes back to her parents’ past and has chilling screams and sounds associated with the idea of grave torture.

While listening to the tape over and over again, searching for some signs of manipulation, her state of mind gradually worsens. She drifts away from her brother, who is still clinging onto his faith and tells her not to go too far. Despite his warnings, Sita goes deeper – both literally and metaphorically, unearthing a grave that is believed to be that of a man who did horrible sins. She enters the grave, in the hope of making it show that it is empty and no threat to anyone. But what she discovers is a descent into darkness, a supernatural world where the damned are being tortured in hellish, eternal punishment. She sees tortured spirits writhe, bleed, and plead for mercy while their bodies are burning and serpents are crawling into their mouths. Sita finds out too late that the horrible torture is for real – not a metaphor, but a frightening reality. The movie ends with Sita getting trapped in that cursed dimension where she cannot find her way out. Her screams resound the same as in the tape, meaning she has become one of the tormented. Adil, clutching to his faith, is alone with nothing but mourning the loss of his sister and her soul. The story leaves the viewers in doubt about what belief, fear, and the cost of ignoring the unseen is.

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