Tumbbad(2018)
2018 · Rahi Anil Barve · 113 min
India, 1918. On the outskirts of Tumbbad, a cursed village where it always rains, Vinayak, along with his mother and his brother, care of a mysterious old woman who keeps the secret of an ancestral treasure that Vinayak gets obsessed with.
Fantasy · Horror
7.6348 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
3/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How Tumbbad scares
The story unfolds slowly across decades, starting in a rain-soaked, half-forgotten village before pulling you deeper into a family's obsession with a hidden fortune. There are no cheap jolts here; the fear builds through mood, silence, and the sense that greed is quietly rotting everyone involved. When the danger does show itself, it's sudden and physical, tied to a strange, ancient creature lurking beneath the earth. It's less about being startled and more about feeling uneasy and a little sick as you watch people choose treasure over safety again and again.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Tumbbad rates psychological 4/5, visceral 3/5, gore 3/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 4 of 5
- Visceral: 3 of 5
- Gore: 3 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 15 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 10 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 60 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
Starts as a slow, brooding family story that keeps circling back to short bursts of dread, each return more dangerous, until the last stretch turns relentlessly tense.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 0, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5.
How scary is Tumbbad?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, Tumbbad rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. It works on both fronts, unsettling the mind while going for the body. Expect it to be moderately gory and genuinely disturbing. Expect it to stay with you for days.
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