The Butterfly House (Original title: Pernikahan Arwah, 2025) is an Indonesian supernatural horror film that weaves a chilling tale of love, loss, memory, and spirits that refuse to rest. Set within an ancestral home steeped in secrets and sorrow, the film explores how the past can haunt the living in unexpected ways.
The story opens with the joyful anticipation of an upcoming wedding between Tasya and Salim, a young couple bound by deep love and hope for the future. But their happiness is overshadowed when Salim learns of the death of his last surviving relative—his reclusive aunt, Ci Fang Fang. Drawn by duty and curiosity, Salim returns to his family’s long-abandoned ancestral house, intending only a brief visit that soon spirals into a chilling descent into buried memories and restless spirits.
Determined to honor his family’s traditions, Salim suggests holding their pre-wedding photoshoot in the ancestral home. Tasya reluctantly agrees, but soon she begins to glimpse unsettling visions—a woman in red drifting through decaying hallways, walls that seem to breathe secrets, and dreams that blur the line between nightmare and waking life.
When their friends arrive to help with the photoshoot, the house begins to yield its hidden truths: faded photographs, forgotten songs, eerie heirlooms, and whispered stories of love and tragedy that still linger in its shadowed corners. As the couple is drawn deeper into the house’s past, an old romance reawakens through ghostly melodies, forcing Tasya and Salim to face a legacy that may demand more than just remembrance, perhaps even sacrifice.
This article contains spoilers.
The Butterfly House (Pernikahan Arwah, 2025) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film opens with a wedding ceremony. Cut to the present time, Ari is helping Tasya with her makeup, as she is about to get married to Salim soon. However, Tasya seems to be lost in thought until Salim arrives and kisses her. During the engagement ceremony, Salim thanks his adoptive parents, Linda and Chandra. Since Salim’s parents passed away when he was a child, Linda and Chandra have brought Salim up. The next day at a restaurant, Tasya tells Salim about a bizarre dream she had. In this dream, Tasya is in an old house where a woman is buried, covered in dried flowers. When the body opens its mouth, a butterfly flies out of it.
What does Tasya see in her dream?
Salim visits the washroom, where his nose starts to bleed. Just then, Salim gets a call from Koh Chung Chung informing Salim of his aunt Ci Fang Fang’s death. After that call, Salim receives a call from Fang Fang asking Salim to come home to light incense in the altar. Although Salim is startled, he is determined to go to the ancestral house, as Fang Fang was the only blood relative of his, and Salim’s only connection to his family.
Hesitantly, Tasya lets Salim visit the house. Now, Salim calls Arin and Febri asking if they can have their pre-wedding photoshoot in the ancestral home, as it already has a Chinese vintage vibe. Even though Febri is unhappy about the change, they agree to it.
That night, Salim lights the incense in the ancestral home while Tasya dreams about the same house. In this dream, in the altar, there is a coffin, and inside it is Salim. So, Tasya wakes up startled. Upon checking her phone, Tasya sees a message from Salim saying there are network issues.
Thankfully, Salim has sent Tasya the location of the ancestral home. When Tasya gets to the house, she realises it’s the same house from her dream. At first, Tasya sees the altar and makes her way around the house. Eventually, Tasya finds Salim and hugs him tightly. After listening to Tasya’s dream, Salim thinks they should get permission from their ancestors before they marry. That night, Tasya dreams of a woman clad in red wedding attire. The next day, Tasya and Salim pray to Salim’s ancestors.
Why is Harja spooked?
Ari, Febri, and Hajra arrive to do the photoshoot. At the same time, Koh Chung Chung comes to the house to give Fang Fang’s praying tools. Before leaving, Koh Chung Chung asks Salim to reach out to him anytime. The team takes photographs of the house, as it is old. Meanwhile, Ari finds a picture of Mei Hwa in an album and decides to do the same hairdo for Tasya’s photoshoot.
It appears that Mei Hwa was a renowned singer who passed away at a young age. Now, Salim plays one of Mei Hwa’s songs (butterfly song). Later, Tasya is doing the dishes, and Febri approaches Tasya, saying he loves her (always has), but Salim got lucky. So, Tasya says Febri should have made a move, but now Tasya chooses to be with Salim. As Tasya is getting ready, the power goes off, and Tasya is spooked.
Salim reveals that Mei Hwa’s altar should always be lit with an incense stick; otherwise, someone will always fall sick. The person performing this ritual should be a Tio family member. This means until Salim’s death, he needs to do this. Despite that, Tasya says they are in this together and will support Salim. The next day, Salim and Tasya pray together at Mei Hwa’s grave. There, Ari gives a butterfly hairpin to Tasya, which Ari found in a dresser in the house.
The photoshoot begins, and Tasya starts to see visions of Japanese soldiers attacking Salim’s ancestors. Suddenly, Tasya faints. While Harja is looking at the photographs, he notices two apparitions right behind Tasya and Salim. This scares Harja, and he wants to leave the house immediately. By then, Tasya wakes up and sees the woman clad in red. So, Tasya follows the woman into a room. All this time, Mei Hwa’s song has been playing. As Tasya puts her ear to the wall, the wall cracks, bringing Tasya back to reality.
Why does Ari seek Koh Chung Chung’s help?
When Salim breaks the wall open, there is Mei Hwa’s body, covered in dried flowers, and she is holding a box containing wedding rings. A butterfly flies out of Mei Hwa’s mouth. That night, Salim says they will bury Mei Hwa’s body and later finish the photoshoot. Since Harja is frightened, he leaves the house.
The next day, Tasya prays at the altar as Salim and Febri dig the grave. They bury Mei Hwa’s dead body. Now, Tasya is not herself, which scares Ari. So Ari meets Koh Chung Chung, asking for his help. At home, Febri tries to convince Tasya to leave Salim and start a life with him. However, Tasya is adamant that she loves Salim and will not go anywhere. So, Febri tries to kiss Tasya, but she pushes him away. From afar, Salim hears and sees everything.
Later, Salim gives Tasya an option to leave him, but Tasya warns Salim not to question her love for him. In her room, Tasya is shown a vision of what happened. In a flashback, we see that Mei Hwa was to marry Bhanu. The butterfly hairpin was a gift from Bhanu to Mei Hwa. On the day of the wedding, Japanese soldiers attacked the family as they were rebels fighting for their freedom. So, Bhanu hides Mei Hwa and her mother inside a room and faces the Japanese soldiers.
From the room, Mei Hwa sees Bhanu getting shot. In grief over losing Bhanu, Mei Hwa kills herself using the butterfly hairpin. Currently, Tasya is singing Mei Hwa’s song and is about to kill herself. Thankfully, Salim arrives in time and saves her. At that time, Ari brings Koh Chung Chung, who tells the group that Mei Hwa and Bhanu should be married in the spirit realm, or Mei Hwa should be married to a human. So, Koh Chung Chung prepares two dolls and begins a ceremony.
The Butterfly House (Pernikahan Arwah, 2025) Movie Ending Explained:
Unfortunately, Koh Chung Chung is unable to find Bhanu (as the Japanese soldiers disposed of the body somewhere), so someone needs to go to the spirit realm to locate Bhanu and arrange their marriage. Since Tasya is the only one who has seen Bhanu, she volunteers to go to the spirit realm. Now, Ari prays at the altar, and Salim and Febri dig Mei Hwa’s grave to fetch the wedding rings.
Before sending Tasya to the other realm, Koh Chung Chung asks Tasya not to respond when someone calls her name in that realm. When Tasya finds Bhanu, she needs to burn a paper with a mantra on it. Now, Salim asks Febri to stay out of their life. Hearing this, Febri gets angry and attacks Salim with a shovel. In the spirit realm, Tasya comes face-to-face with Bhanu’s body, but she ignores him. Now, Febri attacks Koh Chung Chung, killing him.
After that, Febri tries to wake Tasya, just then Salim attacks Febri, making him fall unconscious. In the spirit realm, Tasya finds Bhanu and burns the paper. When Tasya wakes up, she sees that Salim tries to get Mei Hwa married to Febri. So, Tasya expresses her unhappiness as she knows Mei Hwa only wants to marry Bhanu.
As they are talking, Febri comes to his senses, picks up a chair, and hits Salim. In that helpless moment, Tasya disappears, and a distorted voice asks Febri to stop what he is doing. At the same time, Salim also seems possessed and asks Febri for his ring back. Later, Ari comes looking for Tasya but finds Febri dead, and Tasya and Salim are nowhere to be found. In the final scene, we see Salim and Tasya unnaturally walking hand in hand.
The film’s ending remains deliberately open-ended, leaving room for unsettling interpretations. One plausible reading suggests that Tasya and Salim were ultimately unable to complete the ritual, as Koh Chung Chung’s untimely death shattered its fragile balance. Although Tasya managed to find Bhanu in the spirit realm and guide him back to Mei Hwa’s abandoned body, Salim’s attempt to marry Mei Hwa off to Febri—hoping to bind the ritual’s power—was thwarted when Tasya intervened.
When Febri turned on Salim in a final, desperate act, it is likely that Mei Hwa’s vengeful spirit possessed Tasya’s body, while Bhanu’s restless soul found refuge within Salim. This possession appears driven by the force of love—Tasya’s unwillingness to lose Salim mirroring Mei Hwa’s heartbreak over Bhanu’s death generations before. In this reading, possession becomes the only way for the doomed lovers to reunite, even if it means displacing the living.
In the film’s haunting final scene, Tasya and Salim walk away side by side—yet the presence of two butterflies fluttering around them hints at something darker. The butterflies may symbolize that Bhanu and Mei Hwa have found new vessels, their love living on by overtaking Tasya and Salim’s souls. The true horror, then, lies not in the ghosts left behind, but in the spirits that now walk among the living—wearing familiar faces, yet driven by long-dead desires.
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