Satan's Slaves

Pengabdi Setan
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joko Anwar
Produced by	Gope T. Samtani Sunil Samtani Priya N.K.
Screenplay by	Joko Anwar
Based on	Pengabdi Setan (1980) Story by Subagio S.
Starring	Tara Basro Bront Palarae Ayu Laksmi Endy Arfian Nasar Anuz Muhammad Adhiyat Elly D. Luthan Dimas Aditya Arswendi Nasution Egi Fedly
Music by	Bemby Gusti Tony Merle Aghi Narottama
Cinematography	Ical Tanjung
Edited by	Arifin Cu'unk
Production company	Rapi Films
Distributed by	Rapi Films CJ Entertainment
Release date	20 September 2017 (Jakarta premiere) 28 September 2017 (Indonesia)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	Indonesia
Language	Indonesian
Budget	Rp 2 billion[1] ($150,000)
Box office	$16.2 million[2][3][4]

Satan's Slaves (Indonesian: Pengabdi Setan) is a 2017 Indonesian horror film written and directed by Joko Anwar. It is a loose remake-cum-prequel^[5] to the 1980 film of the same name directed by Sisworo Gautama Putra. The plot follows a now-poor and hapless family haunted by the death of their mother who dies after being bedridden for three years from a strange and debilitaing illness.^[6][7][8][9]

As of November 7, 2017, the movie has been watched by 4.2 million moviegoers, making Pengabdi Setan as the best-selling domestic Indonesian film of 2017.^[10][11] The movie was released in a total of 42 countries including Malaysia,^[12][13] Singapore, Japan, Germany, and the United States.^[9][14][15]

Plot

Set in 1981, Rini lives in the outskirts of Jakarta in a decaying house with her mother, Mawarni Suwono; her wheelchair-bound grandmother, Rahma Saidah; her father, and her three younger brothers–Tony, Bondi, and Ian, who is mute. The family live amid financial hardship as her mother Mawarni is ill and bed-ridden while royalties from her former singing career have long dried up. Her mother uses a bell to signal for assistance as she is unable to yell or walk. As her health worsens, Tony sells his motorcycle and other belongings to help the family.

Late one night, Rini hears her mother's bell and goes up to her room only to see her standing by the window. As the surprised Rini approaches her, the bell rings again to show her mother still laying in bed. The figure standing by the window then turns its head around, startling Rini only for her to wake up from a nightmare. Rini hears the bell again and events plays out as it did before except it is Rini's mother who turns around and collapses. Rini screams in shock, forcing her father to rush into the room who solemnly declares her mother dead. Rini's family is then acquainted with the Ustad who leads Mawarni's funeral. The Ustad's son Hendra introduces himself to Rini. The next day, Rini's father leaves for the city to settle a financial dispute. Following their mother's death, the three brothers each experience paranormal activities and witness apparitions resembling their mother's figure.

One morning, Rini takes a walk with Hendra, who reveals he had seen a figure resembling Mawarni at her window. He informs her that it's something else that has assumed her form but is not actually her mother. Meanwhile, the grandmother is seen penning a letter in her room, but later depicted in another room looking distressed as she stands up from her wheelchair. As Rini and Bondi return home, they are shocked to discover their grandmother's corpse inside the well. The family move on with her funeral in their father's absence. Rini discovers the letter addressed to Budiman Syailendra. Accompanied by Hendra, she visits the address to deliver the letter. Budiman informs her that he is her grandmother's childhood friend and his grandfather's classmate. He reveals that her grandmother did not originally approve of his father's marriage to Mawarni. Artists were not seen as respectable prospects, and she was thought to be infertile before giving birth to Rini and her siblings. Budiman hands Rini a booklet with information he wrote that would help explain her situation.

Tony, reading Budiman's Maya magazine article on Satan's slaves, pieces together information from his childhood memory of accompanying his mother on industry functions and coming across individuals who were always in attendance but rarely spoke with other guests, inferring they were watching over their mother. He tells Rini that their mother may have been connected to this Satanic sect, who allow barren women to bear children through the worship of Satan but with the condition that the last child be handed over to the cult at the age of seven. Rini finds the story hard to believe. Following more paranormal experiences, she seeks help from the Ustad who checks on their house and advises they perform Salah to pray to Allah regularly. That night, while Rini practices Salah in her mukena she is haunted by the ghostly figure prompting her and her siblings to run to the Ustad's house for refuge.

The next day, Tony reveals to Rini that based on the article their mother wasn't impregnated by her husband but by members of the cult. Hendra visits Budiman following a phonecall to collect an article he wrote as a correction to the one in the booklet. On his way back, Hendra falls from his motorcycle and is crushed by a truck. His body is taken to the Ustad's home by local residents where Rini finds the letter. That night, Rini sees an apparition resembling Hendra outside the window before being nearly dragged out as she went to close the window. Her father returns and takes the children home before breaking down as he's informed of their grandmother's death. When Rini confronts him to ask about what he was talking to her mother about on the night she died, they hear screams from Ian. The father dives into the well to rescue Ian. The family becomes victim to the worst poltergeist experience so far, while the house is surrounded by figures likely from the Satanic sect. They never enter the home but the poltergeist attempts to drag Ian out but is saved by his brother Bondi.

The next day they wait for a truck to move out of the house, a day before Ian's 7th birthday. The Ustad visits their home but the truck fails to arrive. As darkness falls, they experience an electricity blackout and the family leave to their rooms to get sleep while the Ustad rests by the dining table. Rini wakes Tony up after reading the letter which states the last child isn't actually a sacrifice but an offspring of Satan. The father wakes up in bed to see Mawarni's corpse next to him, while downstairs Bondi sees Ian speaking unintelligibly while staring out the window. The former trio escape downstairs only to witness the Ustad killed by the undead as they break into their home. The family finds Bondi, then notices Ian exiting into the backyard. The father follows but fails to save him as Ian stands next to his mother's undead corpse with dozens more behind them. Tony drags him inside, while the undead approach the house as they hide in the living room. The spirit of their grandmother slows down the undead by holding back the door; Budiman arrives through the front door to rescue the family who then run into his van. A year later, the family have settled in the flats and are visited by a neighbor who gives them food. The neighbor returns to her apartment and talks to Batara, and it's revealed that she is Darminah, the antagonist of the original film.

Cast

• Tara Basro as Rini, 22-year-old sister
• Bront Palarae as Father
• Ayu Laksmi as Mawarni Suwono, mother
• Endy Arfian as Tony, 16-year-old brother
• Nasar Anuz as Bondi, 10-year-old brother
• Muhammad Adhiyat as Ian, 6-year-old brother
• Elly D. Luthan as Rahma Saidah, grandmother
• Dimas Aditya as Hendra, the Ustad's son
• Arswendi Nasution as the Ustad
• Egy Fedly as Budiman
• Fachry Albar as Batara
• Asmara Abigail as Darminah

Production

Getting trust to produce a remake of old horror film Pengabdi Setan is not easy for director Joko Anwar. Since directing the movie Janji Joni about 10 years ago, Joko has dreamed to do a remake of 1980s horror movie. Joko reveals, Pengabdi Setan is an original film that moves Joko to become a filmmaker. After the struggle, persuasion until finally proving the seriousness to remaking the film, Joko managed to get the attention of Rapi Films producer, Sunil Samtani. Coincidentally, Rapi Films is going to remake the movie, although the production house actually already has a director candidate. Luckily, Joko's idea seems more appealing to Sunil. However, after successfully confirmed as a new film director of Pengabdi Setan, Joko's struggle has been not over yet. He still needs to direct the legendary film to be better than the previous one.^[9][5][16]

One of Joko's hard struggles is the search for a filming location that is considered to represent the visualization of the story. He confesses that it is quite difficult during the production period. Before finding the right location in Pangalengan, Pengabdi Setan production team takes four months to search. It starts from search in Jakarta area. While searching in the area of Puncak Bogor, West Java, Joko said his team get a good location and interesting. But constraint permission from the owner and after the retracing there is not considered suitable, they began to look elsewhere. Location search was expanded, until finally found an old house in Pangalengan area which located far enough from the initial location desired.^[9][5][16]

Sunil said that Pengabdi Setan from the idea of story, script, to directing by Joko Anwar requires more budget than horror movie he usually did because they determined to keep the feel of 1980s era as in the original film. He explained that the production team even redesigned an ancient house in Pangalengan, West Java, to become the location for making Pengabdi Setan. This is done in order to 'satisfy' the nuances that the director wants. Though not explaining the nominally straightforwardness required to revive the 'spirit' in Pengabdi Setan, Sunil ensured the budget exceeded Rp2 billion.^[1]

Soundtrack

The Pengabdi Setan film soundtrack is directed by Aghi Narottama, Tony Merle, and Bemby Gusti. Director Joko Anwar said that there are at least five songs that will be on the album plus 16 others so there will be a total of 21 tracks. Three of them were released on October 19, 2017 on Spotify and iTunes.^[17][18]

Release

Pengabdi Setan premiered in Indonesia at the Epicentrum XXI, Kuningan, South Jakarta on September 20, 2017.^[21] The film was released in all Indonesian cinemas on September 28, 2017, and in Malaysia and Singapore on November 23, 2017.^[22] The film also to be released in 42 countries.^[3][14][23]

Reception

Accolades

Sequel

In a 9 October 2017 interview with The Jakarta Post, director Anwar revealed that the film was a prequel to the original and that a sequel was planned, with the original film now being the third part in a trilogy.^[5] On 18 December 2017, executive producer Sunil Samtani said Rapi Films has been discussing the project plan of the sequel of Pengabdi Setan. The film is planned for release in 2019 and Joko Anwar will still be involved.^[44] On 23 March 2018, Samtani revealed that they had not come up with a script yet but filming would commence in 2019. He added that the stars of the existing film had expressed their interest but it's up to Anwar to decide on the actors.^[45]

References

External links

• Satan's Slaves on IMDb
• Satan's Slaves at Rotten Tomatoes