Sranan Folktales: Arki Den Bigi Sma (2020)
★★★ — Sranan Folktales: Arki Den Bigi Sma (2020)
I'll be straight with you: I did not expect much going into this one. Suriname was my stop on the A-Z World Movie Tour, and when your options are limited, you take what you can get. What I found was a low-budget horror anthology rooted in Sranan folktales, and honestly? It genuinely surprised me.
The thing about anthology horror is that it lives or dies by its weakest segment. You know how it goes: one story grabs you, another drags, and you spend the runtime averaging it all out in your head. This one is not entirely immune to that problem, but it holds together better than you might expect from a production working with very little money. The filmmakers know their limitations and, crucially, they work with them rather than against them.
What impressed me most is the use of silence. So much horror today fills every quiet moment with a swelling score or a cheap audio sting, terrified of letting the audience sit with their own dread. This film is not afraid of that stillness. It lets scenes breathe, lets tension accumulate, and then pays it off properly. I caught myself holding my breath more than once, which is not something I say lightly. There were genuine jumpscares here that got me, and I mean proper ones rooted in suspense, not just a loud noise over a cut. That is a real craft distinction, and it is one worth noting.
The folktale framing gives the whole thing a distinctive flavour too. These are not stories I was already familiar with, and there is something refreshing about encountering horror mythology from a culture you have had little exposure to. It reminded me a bit of the unsettling folkloric atmosphere I found in Moshari, that sense of dread coming from a place that feels genuinely foreign and specific rather than generic haunted-house territory. When horror is tied to a particular place and its stories, it tends to have more grip, and that is true here.
I won't pretend it's a polished product. The budget shows at times, whether in the production design or certain technical elements, and a couple of the segments do not land as well as others. But the good news is that when it works, it really works, and the commitment of everyone involved comes through clearly. There is a sincerity to this kind of filmmaking, a genuine effort to tell these particular stories well, and that counts for a lot with me.
If you have any interest in horror from outside the usual English-language circuit, and especially if you are drawn to films built on regional folklore and practical atmosphere over spectacle, this is worth your time. It is rough around the edges, yes, but it has a beating heart and some moments of real, satisfying fear. Coming in at three stars, it is a solid, respectable effort that I was glad to have tracked down, even if I had to wander all the way to Suriname on the map to find it.
Three stars.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2020 | Watched: 2025-09-09
Related on Movies With Macca
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Viy (1967) · Nightmare City (1980) · Angst (1983)
