Tumbbad (2018)
Tumbbad is an Indian horror film that came out in 2018.
How I watched: Amazon Prime Video
Day 3 of my 31 Days of Horror movies for October!!
We are told of a myth about the Indian Goddess of Prosperity being the unlimited source for gold and food. Out of the 160 million gods she birthed, she favored her first born, Hastar. Welp, Hastar got caught dipping his hands in the cookie jar so the gods tried to end him but is saved by the Goddess on the condition that he will be in an eternal fart in the wind. No worship and will be lost in history. He is confined to live in her womb for eternity. However, the city of Tumbbad defied this ancient taboo and built a temple to honor this once forgotten god. Now the city is forever cursed with neverending rain to this day.
It is now the year 1918. We meet young Vinayak and Sadashiv that live in poverty with their mother. The mother is the mistress for a local lord in hopes she will be gifted the gold coin that's chilling with the Hastar idol nearby. The boys dread having to feed their great grandmother that's chained up in the back room. But Vinayak gets to do the honors after his brother suffered a fatal fall and his mother whisked him away for emergency services.
Their mother
After a close encounter with the chained up grotesque granny taunting him about treasure, the mother returns, unfortunately Sadashiv didn't make it. She vows to leave Tumbbad and makes Vinayak swear to never come back.
Spoiler alert: he does.
Adult Vinayak finally knows how to access the secret treasure after he meets a long lost pal that once tried to kill him. But not without a warning that wealth comes at a price.
But hey, who cares as long as he gets some gold right?
Man oh man. This is where it truly gets disturbing. So after finding out how to get this gold he becomes almost addicted to it. As soon as he believes he needs more gold coins, he voyages back to Tumbbad. The guy whom he sells the gold to soon gets wind of the rumors of the whereabouts but is naive enough to try this venture for himself. We now see how Vinny gets dem coins.
The "womb" is the underbelly of the temple which is...well flesh-like. Hastar is summoned and let me tell ya: the build up lived up to hype! You can sense that evilness and after a few battle swipes Hastar twerks out some coins so basically like a diabolical version of Sonic losing his rings when he gets a boo boo. I know this scene was unintentionally funny, but it was still one hell of an intro to Hastar. Guess what? He has a son and wants to teach him this secret that up until now no other living soul knows about.
I absolutely love the ever loving hell out of this movie. It has all the highlights of a horror film. Can you believe this movie took 6 years to make?! One review said it was a slow burn? Is it? I personally didn't think so because I was constantly on the edge of my seat the entire movie. The scene where young Vinayak nearly got gorged on!!!! Definitely burned into my retinas I tell ya what. The few of the Hastar scenes there were was nearly hypnotic to me. Such a great set in tone and action despite it being disturbing at the nature of the poor fella's fate in the first Hastar scene. The cinematography is beautiful absolutely beautiful. Breathtaking shots of the the landscapes and through Tumbbad. I was impressed. The movie progressed at a good pace. I think some parts didn't really have a place in the movie but in retrospect, it was probably to further set the plot points. Was a little let down by the ending to be honest, I was expecting a completely different ending. Ending wasn't bad at all, it was like a moral to a scary bed time story. Still a bad ass flick nonetheless.
If this movie had a message, what would it be? Money (in this case, gold coins) is the root of all evil.
Age demographics I would say for adults. It's a rough one, guys.
Disclaimers I wouldn't think much.
That being said what is the verdict?
Top tier. Nice modern take on the story of King Midas and the Golden Touch
IT'S OFFICIAL: A sequel is in the works.
If you are interested in watching Tumbl bad, then please CLICK HERE to see where you can watch it via the free streaming guide app JUSTWATCH!!
