Satan’s Slaves review.
With Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion debuting on Shudder later this week it seemed like the appropriate time to take a look back at the original Satan’s Slaves. Satan’s Slaves, an Indonesian film from director Joko Anwar, arrived in 2017 to strong reviews. It became the 4th highest most successful movie at the Indonesian box office. It currently sits in ninth place all time. One of the movies that surpassed it is this year’s sequel. So, let’s see what all the hubbub is, shall we.
Classic movie review will contain spoilers.
Satan’s Slaves
Directed by Joko Anwar
Screenplay by Joko Anwar
Starring Tara Basro, Bront Palarae and Dimas Aditya
Satan’s Slaves Review
The title of this movie in Indonesian is Pengabdi Setan. I don’t have a point to make here…it’s just a badass name. Pengabdi Setan is a pretty badass movie too. So, while the title says Satan’s Slaves review…let’s all pretend it says Pengabdi Setan review.
Effectively a haunted house story akin to the ones James Wan has been putting in theaters for over a decade. The influence of those films is very apparent here…but director Joko Anwar makes it his own with a deep understanding of how to make scary work.
The Suwono family deals with both poverty and the illness of their matriarch Mawarni. After she passes away, they also must deal with the house being completely haunted. Her oldest child, Rini, tries to deal with all of this, and get to the bottom of a possible family curse, while her father is away on business.
Above all else, Satan’s Slaves is a scary movie. It has a story to tell, sure. That story is even interesting enough to follow and has a decent payoff. But what you’re going to take away from your time with the movie is the hour where you think something is in every dark corner of the Suwono home. Because there usually is.
Anwar puts on a masterclass of sustaining atmosphere. He doesn’t let you feel safe for very long. His camera drags out every slow turn and longing examination of the dark. His timing on revealing what’s in that darkness is on point time and again. He wants you to be scared and he gets what he wants. There are some unique scares in store for you in Satan’s Slaves, but its greatest trick is how relentlessly it keeps that tension that one is coming for as long as it does.
The acting is uniformly great as well. Most of our time is spent with the four children. They range in age from 6 to 22. These young actors do a fine job. Only Rini really gets fully developed but everyone does the most with what they are given.
The family secret is a good one too. There is a legitimate reason the family finds itself haunted after the death of Mawarni. It just isn’t what they think it is. For a bit, Satan’s Slaves becomes an investigative horror movie…but we don’t find out the result of the investigation until all the trouble seems to have passed.
It’s here that Satan’s Slaves loses its steam. The movie is a little too long. The fake climax of the movie is a little too quick. It slows down late enough in the going that you wish it hadn’t chosen to even finish the story off. You have an intense hour or so before you take a breath. Then you realize there is still another half hour left to go.
Thankfully, the actual payoff to the investigation is a strong one. We talk spoilers in classic reviews so…that was your warning. I recommend going to Shudder and watching the movie before continuing here.
Anyway…the reason everything has gone to hell for the Suwono family is that their mother made a Satanic Cult years before. Mawarni was infertile and the deal would allow her to have children with the cost of her final born child being surrendered when they turn 7. This is all happening because the youngest child is about to have his seventh birthday.
The cult appears to come for the child…but are driven away by the family. It turns out they were simply marking the house for the undead to come and claim the child for them. It creates an interesting situation for the family. Only Mawarni made this deal to sacrifice a child for the other three to exist. They now face with the consequences of her decision. In Prey for the Devil, we talked about the unfair story turn with no warning or build. Satan’s Slaves does it the right way. There are hints and slow reveals throughout the movie that lead in the direction it is going. And when it gets there, it makes sense and amplifies the story instead of undercutting it.
The youngest child, Ian, turns 7 and the undead come for him. He happily goes with them. The father returns and moves his three remaining children to the city thinking they will now be safe. We get an indication, and an upcoming sequel, that they will not be. After watching Satan’s Slaves, that is a very exciting prospect.
Scare Value
Satan’s Slaves maintains its uneasy feeling for an impressively long time. It eventually breaks the tension in service of progressing the story…but that story is also a net positive. Characters could have been more fleshed out. You care about them enough for the movie to work without it though. If you’re looking for a well-paced spooky movie with top notch imagery and effective frights, Satan’s Slaves is what you’re looking for. Early reports indicate that the sequel has more goodness in store on that front. We’ll have our Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion review up this Friday.
4/5
