Gabriel S
Cliché enough, “it has been a while since I watched a good horror series,” solid with interesting ideas and fine execution. Satan’s Slaves came to my attention unpretentiously, and yet here I am wanting the trilogy.
The first movie set the stage: cultists spawn the son of Satan.
In this movie, though, the Satanic cult diminishes into a cult to another demon, odd, but acceptable. Then again, this is a true sequel: some years after the events of the first movie, the Suwono family is trying to rebuild and move on with their lives, but they can’t hide for long.
In comparison with its predecessor, Satan’s Slaves 2 starts a bit slow. I praised the first movie’s setup, a strong and thrilling sequence of chilling events that set the mood for the upcoming story. Satan’s Slaves 2, on the other hand, wants to build up some lore to close a few holes that the first movie created. Act I is less gripping, but being a sequel, we know what we are here for.
Then we jump to Act II and things get really good. In true Asian horror, we get our fair share of jumpscares and chilling background horror, all in beautiful unfinished apartment building complex that is under heavy downfall.
The story is a mix bag. The main plot arc is that the family is stranded in this building while, out of the blue, they start to experience some haunting phenomena. Some subplots appear, but they are kind of just thrown in to add substance to the story — they don’t really develop, later being dismissed quickly by other plot points from the main plot arc. This is not really terrible, but don’t say I didn’t warn that this movie is not a story masterpiece; rather, it’s really interesting for horror fans, but that’s about it.
Character development is another missing aspect, for the most part. You see, Rini remains flat, Bondi grew, but Toni apparently declined, somehow? Let’s break this down.
Rini starts the movie the same way she started the previous movie: trying to provide for her family. Later you see that her inner conflict is that she still sort of dismisses what happened in the previous movie.
Toni, on the other hand, was quite alright in the first movie, but now he became this dumb, dreamy teenager that can’t say no to stuff. He is secondary, but geez...
Bondi is true hero here, I’d say. He grew as an independent and courageous teen, and he is the one that actually drives most of the plot, which is a bit off because Rini is really the protag in this story.
The cinematography is alright in this movie, a bit below what its predecessor set. The main problem being the use of heavy CGI to drive some of the scares, which actually just diminishes their effectiveness. The first entry in this series used minimum CGI, and that should be the norm; we don’t need a face with a big unhuman mouth — some contact lenses and a scream-like face would be enough.
Satan’s Slave 2 builds on top of its predecessor, and if you like the first entry, this one does not disappoint. It is a bit inferior, yes, but the movie still delivers a good story — so much that I want to see the final, hopefully, sequel. Recommended for horror fans and Asian horror fans.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Bintang
A good and tense Indonesian horror movie.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
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