Satan’s Slaves (Pengabdi Setan) (2017)
Directed by: Joko Anwar
Starring: Tara Basro, Bront Palarae, Dimas Aditya, Endy Arfian, Nasar Annuz
From: Rapi Films
September of last year I saw the original Satan’s Slave, the Indonesian film from the early 80’s which was apparently a huge hit in the country and was a wacky yet good time where a family was haunted after the death of their matriarch and it proved to be a tale about the dangers of not practicing the Islam religion, while filtered through the lens of Phantasm; yes, that was a big inspiration. This was more serious (no disco music nor posters of Linda Ronstadt; yes, the original had both) and only the original skeleton of the plot-along with some scenes being echoed-remained. That said, Satan's Slaves-also from Indonesia-had some rather effective scares even if a lot is going on w/ the plot.
Basically, this also involves the mother of a family passing away after an illness. Sure, seeing that character bedridden did make me feel melancholy due to what happened two years ago but that otherwise didn’t affect me that much. Thankfully my mom wasn’t sick for several years… not to mention, she didn’t haunt the entire family either after her passing! All I’ll say is that there are several siblings leaving with dad and his mom under the roof of a large house and he has to go away to try and avoid foreclosure-don’t worry, the oldest sibling is of adult age. The hearing-impaired affliction of the youngest sibling is mentioned as it’s an uncommon device you see in this genre. Spooky events happen, some of which admittedly will remind you of famous genre efforts, whether or not from the Pacific Rim region of Asia. It’s not just mom haunting them from the afterlife which is the family’s bugaboo.
As previously mentioned, even with a measured pace that never is too quick, there are still enough scares and the plot intrigued enough where my interest never wavered. Nice cinematography/shot selection and an effective score are also assets. Naturally, characters I cared about are always a huge deal for me; in this case it was a likable family so they were easy to root for. So was the priest character and his son, which were also present in the original. A sequel-known as Communion-has already been made and in fact released in some locations but at least legally has not made it to the United States quite yet. That will eventually be viewed w/ my own eyes once Shudder or someone else acquires it.
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