satan’s slaves (2018)

ORIGINAl title: Pengabdi Setan

DELIVERS THE TYPE OF DREAD THAT CHAINS YOU TO YOUR SEAT

Horror films are often a hit or miss with most entries to the genre of late landing in the ‘miss’ category. Fortunately, Joko Anwar’s Satan’s Slaves doesn’t follow suit and finds itself as a ‘hit’ for the genre.

From the moment we are shown the Mawami’s isolated two-story home we know that things are about to get creepy. As the story takes off we learn that the family’s mother (Ayu Laksmi) has been battling a mysterious illness for years, leaving her bedridden and hardly able to talk. After she passes away, the father (Bront Palarae) leaves for the city in search of work to provide for his four children, Rini (Tara Basro), Tony (Endy Arfian), Bondi (Nasur Annuz), and Ian (M. Adhiyat) who he leaves behind.

While their father is away Rini, who is the eldest of the four children is left in charge. At first, the youngest, Bondi, and Ian start to experience some frightening occurrences but Rini assures them that ‘there are no such things as ghosts. However; it’s not long before all four children start witnessing supernatural events that leave them horrified and it gets worse when they realise this could be the doings of their dead mother.

Satan’s Slaves is not the most original storyline, in fact, it’s actually a loose remake of a 1980 Indonesian film of the same name. This aside, Anwar does a good job of creating a prevailing sense of fear but at the same time also generates warm subtlety through the family and how their relationship grows stronger throughout the film.   

What I find most impressive is the performances from the younger cast members Basro, Arfian, Annuz, and Adhiyat. This is their film, as we see them take up the majority of the screen time and they nail it. That’s not to say that Palarae and Laksmi aren’t great as the father and mother because they are, it’s just admirable to see such a young cast drive the film and really hold their own.

Where I feel the film lets itself down is when it comes to some of the scares. Anwar nails the overall sense of dread but when it comes to singular scare moments the Indonesian director becomes somewhat repetitive and relies too heavily on music for shock value. Not every attempt to scare needs music, in fact, more often than not silence accompanied with terrifying visuals does a better job at frightening a crowd. When Anwar does decide to use sound subtly it creates some of the most petrifying scenes of the film i.e. the sound of the mother’s call bell after she has passed away.

Satan’s Slaves is familiar territory for horror fans but at least it is executed with vigorous energy and solid performances. There are enough thrills in here to keep you hooked till the very end, if only there had been a bit more creativity with some of the scares we could have had the best horror of the year. That’s a lie, nothing will come close to Hereditary!

★★★☆☆

16 SEPTEMBER 2018