Satan's Slaves: Movie Review

I just had to review this movie by Joko Anwar. It ranks as one of the best in my TOP 3 horror movies list. It's really good! If you love horror as much as I do, I'm certain you'll enjoy this film. Although this review was done a few years after the movie was released, I feel it's always better late than never right? And if you've never heard of Satan's Slaves, here is where I get to introduce you to a great supernatural horror film!

When I was invited by mm2 Entertainment to interview Joko Anwar in 2018, I jumped at the chance to meet the man. This Indonesian film director is one of the best in Asia. His storytelling is on a level that I've never seen before.

Anwar first rose to prominence for co-writing Nia Dinata's 2003 hit Arisan! which won five awards at the 2004 Citra Award. He then made his feature filmdirectorial debut with the romantic comedyJoni's Promise in 2005, gaining a Best Director nomination. He has since directed a wide range of genres: the noir thrillerDead Time: Kala (2007), psychological thrillerThe Forbidden Door (2009), supernatural horrorSatan's Slaves (2017), and live-action superheroGundala (2019). All amazing films which I highly recommend. But hey, let's talk about Satan's Slaves!

This film is a loose remake-prequel to the 1980 film of the same name directed by Sisworo Gautama Putra. The plot follows a poor and hapless family haunted by the death of their mother who dies after being bedridden for three years from a strange and debilitating illness.

As of November 7, 2017, the movie has been watched by 4.2 million moviegoers, making Satan's Slaves (Pengabdi Setan) the highest-grossing domestic Indonesian film of 2017. The movie was released in a total of 42 countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and the United States.

Director Joko Anwar wanted to direct a remake of Pengabdi Setan ever since starting his filmmaking career, as the original movie had inspired him to become a filmmaker. Rapi Films already had a remake of the film in the works with a different director, but Anwar managed to successfully pitch his own vision for the film to producer Sunil Samtani and was attached to the project soon after. Samtani granted the film a budget exceeding SGD $185,000.00 (Rp 2 billion), far more than the average films produced by Rapi, in order to fully realize director Anwar's vision for production design.

The production team took four months to search for a filming location to accurately represent the 1980s era in which the film takes place. The original filming location was located in Puncak Bogor, West Java, but the owner did not give them the proper permission to film there. The team continued searching until they found an old house in the Pangalengan area which they redesigned to fit the aesthetic of the era. I feel this was a blessing in disguise as this house became one of the stars of the film.

This house is now a tourist attraction. Just look at it!

My wife has reminded me not to give spoilers. So I won't. But I can give you some phenomenal figures. As of the end of 2017, Satan's Slaves has grossed a whopping Rp155 billion ($11.5 million) in Indonesia, and RM6 million ($1.5 million) in neighbouring Malaysia,the latter country giving it its place as the highest grossing Indonesian film of all time. In Mexico, it was released as Los Huerfanos and ranked 6th at the Mexican Box Office on March 2–4. On April 3, 2018, it opened at No. 1 in Hong Kong. If this isn't amazing, I don't know what is!

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My wife and I met and interviewed Joko Anwar and actress Tara Basro in January 2018.

This is undoubtedly one of my favourite horror movies. I rate this film 9 out of 10! It also holds a special place in my heart because I was fortunate enough to meet Joko and the lead actress Tara. Do note that although the film is in Bahasa Indonesia, it has English subtitles. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an amazing 91% rating. Those guys are harsh when they rate movies and I think that outrageously high number speaks for itself. Please do whatever you can to watch this. You won't regret it!