Pengabdi Setan 2: Communion

Watching this film is an enjoyable experience. Joko Anwar can optimally use the setting to create a fun haunted house throughout the runtime. Not only that, we also get more explanations (and additional questions as well) about Satan's Slaves universe.

This shows the director already has strong concept about where the saga would go, but at the same time I know this sequel won't be the end, hence the ending feels like an abrupt intermission with lots of flashing lights. However, I think this movie is a great sequel from the predecessor, and it shows with the right hand, Indonesian horror sequel can be a good thing to see. I might want to watch this movie again.

5 years ago, director Joko Anwar made an Indonesian horror movie called "Satan's Slaves" (Pengabdi Setan) which was a remake of a 1982 Indonesian horror movie that had simply been called "Satan's Slave." Now Joko has made a sequel titled "Satan's Slaves 2: Communion" and took to social media to announce that this will be the first film from Indonesia to be released in the large screen IMAX format!. Satan's Slaves 2: "Communion" will be showing on 9 IMAX screens in the country when it's released on August 4th.

Starring Tara Basro (Rini) Satan's Slaves 2: "Communion" told the story of a woman and her family who are terrorized in their apartment and learn that the woman's dead mother was involved in the occult. Tara Basro reprises her role in Satan's Slaves 2: "Communion," where she is trying to break the curse on the apartment.

REVIEW: This movie is powerful haunting, chilling and engrossing. A gripping, intensely frightening watch. Joko Anwar is an absolute genius in the horror genre, he knows exactly how to chill you to the bone. "Pengabdi Setan 2: Communion" it's easily Joko's best directed effort to date, this movie is creepy as hell intermittently nightmarish, tense, gross, unsettling and in its purest form scary. The cast is well chosen, the kids are good too. The directing by Joko Anwar is well-paced and effective showing you all you want to see, providing real scream out loud scares. He doesn't use unnecessary shock tactics or film too much in the dark.

"Pengabdi Setan 2: "Communion" is my very first time after 20 years didn't watch horror movie its because Joko Anwar directed and this movie is simply one of the best horror movies I ever seen. The lighting, color palette, the screenplay, the stunning cinematography, clear visual storytelling, great background music and phenomenal pacing and great performances just engaging. This film is not about a jumpscare scene but more than that every chilling scene build with a gorgeous tone of colours. This is classic and do yourself a favour to watch it, worth every penny and I think I should watch it again for the 2nd time and for Joko Anwar you have done a great job!

Horror films were better years ago feel like haven't seen a new horror movie that's truly had me scared to close my eyes or wanting to watch a kids movie after but this one perfectly haunting.

The portion scene of each character, well make up and Joko Anwar didn't do CGI neither Green Screen and shout out to well scoring by Bembi Gusti, Tony Merie and Aghi Narottama.

Good atmosphere in every scene, an interesting story line and all the movie players with perfect acting quality for this movie. This is the best Indonesian horror movie I have ever seen, many scenes are scary and also good film soundtrack ringing me thoughts for days after watch it.

One has to be impressed by the rich cinematography from "Ical Tanjung" and a great use of the Indonesian landscape not least of all in the old apartment sequences, not being familiar with Indonesian cinema so I would assume it is a fairly high quality budget affair and one would never know that from the crisp colors and even well-chosen brown tints on screen. Perhaps technology is becoming affordable and the world is playing on a more even field because this is Hollywood-grade art.

For the most part, its horror is really well done. The flick is rather gripping too with an interesting story that unfolds naturally and deliberately, it's a really solid effort even if it isn't particularly scary overall and it's really well made in almost every regard.

FINAL VERIDCT: Joko Anwar did a very good job to bring out the best of the actors on this production, the child actors gonna blew you away in admiration. I was shocked that there are comedy in this movie, a good one but for me the portion are a little bit too much but still worth to watch.

I expected this movie to be good and it doesn't disappointed me, what really shines here is the outstanding and confident direction by Joko Anwar. He does a good job with the horror and the scares but even more so with the human relationships, this is a very well thought out movie with a clever plot and storyline and solid execution. Definitely worth a watch, don't let the title mislead you!

I would say that this movie is slightly better than the previous one, but this one is more filled with a lot of spooky stuff that you can expect from a good horror movie. The plot didn't have much difference, it was still filled with a lot of mystery about the cult itself and left us with more questions and theories. They definitely saving something big for the next one. I'm surprised when they somehow connect the story with a real-life history, that's just a smart move by Joko Anwar.

The technical aspects of this movie are top-notch for an Indonesian horror movie and superior than the first one. I still can't get over how beautiful the cinematography is, especially for the exterior shots. And the production design is great as well, we got traveled back to the 80s.

My favorite part is the moment leading up to the elevator accident, there were so many things going on, and the music that plays along with it makes the moment very chaotic and intense.

Bigger, braver, more brutal, Joko Anwar sets new standard for Indonesian horror visual storytelling with each release of Pengabdi Setan's installment. But as usual with Joko, some parts work really well, others seem to be unfit in a 2-hour movie medium that are sometimes hard to ignore. But other than that, it's an excellent alternative for those suffering from Hollywood fatigue, thanks to all those homages towards 60's - 80's horror movies, the period where Hollywood still knew how to make movies, including horror/thriller

8.5/10.

SATAN'S SLAVE 2:COMMUNION is a terrific horror film which has a great atmosphere and succeeds immensely due to the competent direction of Joko Anwar. The plot is good but could have used more focused writing. The pace is slow but it methodically builds towards a tremendous finale although the information-dense climax leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the resolution of various threads, due to that the film feels a bit like a filler for the third part of the franchise.

If you want to see how to effectively build a great thrilling scene, look no further than the elevator crash scene and how Anwar builds it to a great crescendo using superb camerawork and sublime cuts. Also, the scene of Tari's prayer is exceptionally conceived and the use of close-ups and long takes is exemplary.

On a standalone basis, it's still a solid horror film with an effective mood, awesome technical aspects, brilliant acting and excellent scares but could have been much better only if the plot gave us some idea of what we are dealing with here. Let's hope the next part gives answers to those burning questions. But for now, I am extremely contented by what was offered and would easily term it better than its predecessor simply due to its expansive scope and the way it organically builds upon its predecessor without falling into the traps of redundancy and ridiculousness.

Just go for it!