I’ve got to admit, Toko Perlengkapan Mayat is one of those horror titles that tells you exactly what sort of movie you’re getting into, as it roughly translates to “Mortuary Supplies Shop”, where the story revolves around a family business selling funeral equipment – which is already a pretty unusual place to start a horror movie.
But then you add pesugihan, a desperate businessman, a ritual involving human body parts and a curse that eventually works its way through his descendants, and suddenly the shop isn’t looking like such a great business opportunity.
The film comes from South Sulawesi filmmakers, was shot around Gowa, and is directed by Dwiaffor and Surya Darmawan – it was released in Indonesian cinemas on August 6, 2026, running for just 79 minutes.
A Family Business With a Seriously Unpleasant Side Hustle
Daeng Sarro, played by Armhada Sijaya, is struggling to keep the family mortuary-supplies business going, and the shop is losing customers, money is getting tighter and the usual ways of trying to keep a business alive aren’t doing much, so he turns to something considerably less sensible.
Daeng Sarro uses a pelaris ritual – essentially a supernatural method of attracting customers and prosperity – but this particular bargain requires a horrific price – the ritual involves tumbal, or human sacrifice, specifically the use of parts of a human body, once the ritual starts working and the shop becomes successful again, Daeng Sarro discovers that supernatural bargains aren’t particularly famous for having friendly terms and conditions.
The consequences eventually fall on his family, with the curse threatening his children and grandchildren.
That’s the bit I like about the setup.
The horror isn’t caused by somebody accidentally wandering into an abandoned house. Someone actively chooses the supernatural shortcut because they’re desperate, and then everybody else has to live with the decision.
Classic horror mistake, really.
Surya Darmawan and Dwiaffor Take It Into Sulawesi
Toko Perlengkapan Mayat is directed by Dwiaffor and Surya Darmawan, with Surya Darmawan and Imran Rusli credited as writers – Indra Alamsyah is the producer, while Young Creative Entertainment and Affor Entertainment are credited as the production companies. The official Indonesian Film Censorship Board lists the film as horror/thriller-mystery, with a runtime of 79 minutes and a 21+ classification.
The cast includes Ivana Meylanda, Dwiaffor, Bambangmosaja, A. Noufah Patadjangi, Baba Ong, Armhada Sijaya, Amir Desar, Muh. Arif Budiman, Siti Sahrani and Muda Shifa.
I do like that Dwiaffor is both directing and acting in the film, as this isn’t one of those giant Indonesian productions where you’ve got twenty producers and a cast full of people you’ve seen in everything else this year, it has much more of a regional filmmaking identity to it.
The South Sulawesi Connection
The movie was filmed at Bukit Kasepekang in Majannang Village, Gowa Regency, a location that has its own historical significance as a former defensive area, surrounded by two mountains that were used for defence during the colonial period, and the Indonesian Film Censorship Board specifically notes the location as part of the film’s production.
That’s one of those details I always like seeing in regional horror, as the film isn’t pretending that Indonesia is one big interchangeable spooky village – Sulawesi is part of what gives this movie its identity, and the filmmakers have tied the production to a real South Sulawesi location rather than simply using a generic “remote village” description.
The supernatural element is also connected to pesugihan, which is the belief in gaining wealth or prosperity through a supernatural agreement, usually with some horrible price attached.
Only 79 Minutes, Which I’m Actually Quite Happy About
The film’s 79-minute runtime is probably one of the things I’m most curious about, as there are plenty of horror movies these days that could lose twenty minutes without anybody complaining, so a short Indonesian supernatural film that gets into its story and gets the hell out could be quite refreshing.
At the same time, 79 minutes isn’t much room for a complicated family curse, particularly when you’ve got the business history, the ritual, the supernatural consequences and several generations involved.
So I’m slightly torn there.
But I’d rather have a tight horror film that leaves me wanting another twenty minutes than one that spends half an hour showing people walking around a house because the director has decided atmosphere means absolutely nothing should happen.
But the thing that keeps bringing me back to wanting to watch this one is the mortuary business/pesugihan combination, because it sounds like such a strange pairing when you first hear it, but it actually fits well, and there’s also the South Sulawesi setting, the regional cast and crew, and the use of local cultural ideas rather than simply dropping a Western-style demon into the story.
I don’t know yet whether the film will do anything particularly original with the possession and curse material once it gets going, and with a 79-minute runtime I suspect it’s going to move pretty quickly.
But that’s okay – just give me a weird premise, some genuinely unpleasant supernatural folklore, a family that has made a spectacularly bad decision and a creepy location, and I’ll give it a chance.
Toko Perlengkapan Mayat has all four.
Trailer
Check out some more Indonesian horror movies.
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