Satan's Slave is an Indonesian horror film directed by Siswono Gautama Putra. It reached Cult Classic status amongst Asian fans due to how it was unavailable for a long time except as a Japanese VHS with no Indonesian subtitlenote . As opposed to the typical Christianity or Buddhism beliefs of horror films of the time, the film used Muslim beliefs instead.
The story revolve around a Muslim family that has been abandoning their faith with mortal pleasures. Father Munarto was Married to the Job while the daughter Rita turned into a party girl along with her boyfriend Herman. Soon after, the mother Mawarti died of natural causes, and after the son Tomi saw the ghost of her mother, he turned towards black magic with the advice of his friend. There's a nearby kiai/ustad (basically a Muslim priest) and their sickly religious servant Mr. Karto who continued to tell them that they should return to the path of good under the guidance of Allah, but they were never listened.
Shortly after Mawarti's passing, a housekeeper named Darminah was sent to the house. And around this time, the family started receiving supernatural phenomenons, with undeads thrown into the mix, with Darminah being the suspect of the cause. Who is Darminah, and what attracted these things?
In 2017, a remake/prequel of this film called Satan's Slaves was made, directed by Joko Anwar, two years before he would direct Gundala. And in 2022, a sequel follows: Satan's Slaves 2: Communion.
Not to be confused with the 1976 British film of the same name.
Tropes within this movie
- Big Bad: This film made it quite obvious that Darminah is the main antagonist. She is a demon from Hell (though not exactly Satan) attacking those with weak faith, like Munarto's family. And should she succeed killing them via terrorizing them and they still hadn't repented, then they would be Satan's Slaves (Pengabdi Setan, in Indonesia) in Hell.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just as things got really hopeless for Munarto's family, the kiai/ustad that was constantly ignored by him arrive at home along with his Muslim faithful friends to banish Darminah and all her risen zombies.
- Bittersweet Ending: The whole experience set the surviving members of the family, Munarto, Rita and Tomi, straight and they convert back to Muslim. Still, they lost their faithful servant and Rita lost her boyfriend, and not to mention Darminah is Not Quite Dead and might terrorize another unfaithful group, even if she could no longer target Munarto's family anymore.
- Cassandra Truth: Mr. Karto was right that there's something horribly wrong with Darminah when he found out her 'eccentric' room. Unfortunately, given that the current family has dismissed his pleas to return to faith for more mortal pleasures, nobody believed him, thinking it was just another ignorable plea. Only after his death that Rita and Tomi gave him some benefits of doubts, and then once they saw Darminah bringing him back as a zombie, they realized that he was right all along.
- The End... Or Is It?: Darminah is seemingly destroyed by the power of Islam, but the ending has her stalking the protagonists, waiting for their faith to lapse again, and should that fail, she'll try to find another victim.
- God Is Good: The core of the film. Allah is Good and He will save those who return to faith, and also gives the kiai/ustad the rights to banish demons.
- Married to the Job: What defines Munarto. He's a workaholic and it can be interpreted that this has caused to be a bit of an absent dad with one reason being that his son doesn't have any guidance.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Tomi sees Darminah bringing back Mr. Karto, Herman, and Mawarti back as zombies, he screams loud enough just so that they can hear them.
- Not Quite Dead: Darminah survived the exorcism by the kiai/ustad, which gave suspicions that the demonic Darminah exorcised in the climax of the movie was nothing but an apparition, the real Darminah was still at large.
- Obviously Evil: Mr. Karto early on discovered that Darminah has an eccentric way of living. Nothing say eccentrically EVIL when she has a skull with candles nearby inside her room!
- Our Demons Are Different: These are humanoid beings capable of Black Magic, who go after those whose faith in Islam lapses to torment, kill and enslave them. Their bodies can be destroyed by prayer, which sets them on fire, but they can return to Earth in new forms.
- Our Zombies Are Different: These are slaves of demons, with an Undeathly Pallor, sharp teeth and white eyes. They shamble due to rigor mortis, and cannot feel pain even when their flesh is ripped off.
- Religious Horror: The film is about a family being punished for not being religious.
- Scare 'Em Straight: The whole movie. It takes being haunted by the horde of undead and a demon threatening them that they're going straight to Hell for what they've done, and being saved from it that finally made Munarto's family to get back to the path of good.
- The Scream: When Tomi sees Darminah at cemetery, bringing back Mr. Karto, Herman, and Mawarti back as zombies, he screams in pure terror.
- The Stinger: The end of the film saw that Darminah is Not Quite Dead, serving as warning that As Long as There Is Evil and people continue to be unfaithful to God/Allah, she would be looking for more preys (this was a very common cliche in Indonesian horror films back in the days). This is touched in the remake, which implies that she's part of a Satanic cult that also caused the events in the there.
- Token Religious Teammate: Mr. Karto is a devout Muslim and continued to remind the family to get back to the path of the faithful. He constantly gets ignored. His faith didn't stop him from being killed by Darminah and then raised as The Undead.
- The Undead: Zombies rise from the grave to terrorize. Darminah is the one raising the undeads, and specifically she used Herman, Mr. Karto and Mawarti.
