Joko Anwar is a prominent personality in the Indonesian film industry; especially in the niche space of horror. And before you ask, yes I did watch some of his works previously (Gundala, Impetigore to name a few); and I have nothing but wholehearted respect for this guy and his ability to execute horror. He's great at exacting the right tonality for these horror features, and that too while working under a very restricted chain of resources.
Satan's Slaves might be an honest attempt from his end but it does not work out in the way it was supposed to. To tell you the truth; I find this undertaking fairly fragile, insufficient, and quite detrimental to Anwar's established reputation.
So, What might have gone wrong in here?
Well, everything, in the truest sense of the word! There is barely any build-up provided, characters aren't appropriately developed, the screenplay is rough, unsophisticated and on top of all, the scares do not seem to function for whatever rationale! The last act fared the worst. It made me laugh where I should have been frightened out of my wits! Disappointing.
