[2] It was adapted into a widely acclaimed seven-hour film, Sátántangó (1994), directed by Béla Tarr.

Most of the action occurs in a run-down Hungarian village ("estate") which is in a vicinity of an unnamed town but the inhabitants are almost isolated from the outside world.

The main character, Irimiás, a con man posing as a savior, arrives at the estate, achieves an almost unlimited power over the inhabitants, gets them to give him all their hard-earned money, convinces them to move to another abandoned "estate" nearby, and then brings them to the town, where he disperses them around the country.

For a writer whose characters often exhibit a claustrophobic interiority, Krasznahorkai also shows himself to be unexpectedly expansive and funny here.

"[5] Theo Tait in The Guardian praised the novel and, in particular, said that it is "possessed of a distinctive, compelling vision".