Pengabdi Setan opens to the ringing of a bell and indistinct chanting. A woman lies stiff on the bed, her eyes shut, a teardrop flashing in the corner of her eye expressing deep anguish and regret.

The woman, Mawarni Suwono, has been bedridden for three years due to an unspecified ailment. Of her four children, only the first two would still enter her bedroom upon hearing the sound of a bell, which she would ring to signal for assistance.

Her