Dance of the Damned (2026) – Official Trailer, Plot & Info

Published on

July 5, 2026

Plot

Darso earns a living as a street performer, entertaining crowds while carrying a large clown costume through the city.

Just as he begins looking forward to a new chapter in life with his pregnant wife, everything falls apart. A brutal robbery leaves her dead, and Darso is unable to accept what has happened.

Refusing to leave her behind, he carries her body back to his home village, hoping to give her a proper farewell.

Instead, he arrives in the middle of a growing conflict, where a powerful developer is trying to force villagers from their land, while an ancient curse has begun stirring dark forces beneath the surface.

As violence spreads through the village, Darso is pulled into events far beyond his control, where his grief, anger and desperation make him increasingly vulnerable, and it soon becomes clear that the tragedy surrounding his wife is connected to something much older and far more dangerous.

Trailer

Press CC for subtitles

Key Information

Original title: Badut Gendong
English title: Dance of the Damned
Release year: 2026
Country: Indonesia
Release date: 27 May 2026
Runtime: 101 minutes
Genre: Horror / Thriller / Fantasy
Language: Indonesian
Director: Charles Gozali
Writers: Charles Gozali, Asaf Antariksa, Dharma Putra
Production companies: Magma Entertainment, Legacy Pictures, Komet Productions
IMDb

Cast

Marthino Lio
Clara Bernadeth
Derby Romero
Dayinta Melira
Khiva Rayanka
Barry Prima
Vino G. Bastian

Style and Presentation

This is a horror film that mixes supernatural folklore with revenge, action and emotional drama, so rather than opening with ghosts or curses, it spends time establishing Darso’s ordinary life before everything is taken away from him.

From there, the story gradually becomes darker as village conflict, ancient rituals and supernatural forces begin to overlap, and while there are violent horror sequences, the emotional weight comes from Darso’s inability to move on from the loss of his wife, making him an unusually tragic central character.

Cultural Context

Indonesian horror regularly blends local folklore with stories about family, grief and spiritual belief, and Badut Gendong follows that tradition while adding elements of action and dark fantasy.

The film also expands the world established in Charles Gozali’s Qodrat series, introducing a new character whose story exists within the same shared horror universe, and rather than relying on a haunted house or a single ghost, it builds its horror around curses, village folklore and the destructive effect of loss.