The workshop discusses an essay film that has made waves since its release in 2012. The Act of Killing, which could be addressed as a reality-based horror movie, traces the status quo of an ‘open secret’: the Indonesian mass killings in 1965/6—a forgotten genocide. The cinematographic experience provides insight into the twisted intrapsychic dynamics of the perpetrators by focusing on their ‘post-atrocity perpetrator symptoms.’ Via detailed reenactments of violence, the functioning of their mechanisms of guilt denial, lack of empathy, boasting techniques, and persisting hubris becomes obvious. The individual defenses are accompanied by a neglected national memory and the beginning of a process of working-through, which was finally activated after the release of the film.