Satan's Slaves
Satan's Slaves () is a 2017 Indonesian horror film written and directed by Joko Anwar. It is a loose remake-prequel to the 1980 film of the same name directed by Sisworo Gautama Putra based on a story by Subagio S. The plot follows a family who are haunted by the death of their mother, who dies after being bedridden for three years from a strange and debilitating illness. Satan's Slaves is the highest-grossing Indonesian film of 2017 with 4.2 million admissions. The movie was released in a total of 42 countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and the United States. A sequel, Satan's Slaves 2: Communion, was released in August 2022. Plot The film focuses on a struggling family living in the countryside in 1981: Mawarni, her husband Bahri, his mother Rahma, and the couple’s four children: 22-year-old Rini, 16-year-old Toni, 10-year-old Bondi, and six-year-old Ian, who is deaf. The family live amid financial hardship as Mawarni is ill and bedridden, and the royalties from her former singing career are long gone. After Mawarni dies, the family are consoled by an ustad and his adult son Hendra, who recently moved to the neighbourhood. Bahri leaves to raise money for mortgage payments in town. At home, the children are haunted by a ghostly presence of Mawarni. Bondi and Rini then find their grandmother Rahma dead inside the well. After finding an unsent letter on Rahma's desk to a man named Budiman, Rini and Hendra deliver it to him downtown to seek his help. Budiman, an occult writer, reveals that when Bahri was going to marry Mawarni, Rahma did not approve due to Mawarni’s career and indications of infertility. Budiman gives Rini his article about a fertility cult of Satan worshippers that target barren women who want to have children, with the caveat that the last child be surrendered voluntarily in seven years. They fear for the safety of Ian, who turns seven in three days. The next day, when delivering an urgent letter from Budiman to Rini, Hendra gets run over by a truck. Bahri decides to move to town with his children. At night, members of the cult surround the house as a storm rages, but after Bahri tells them he is unwilling to give up Ian, they leave. The moving van fails to show up the next day, forcing the family to stay another night, with the ustad keeping watch. Rini finally opens Budiman's letter, which explains that the last child will be taken by the cult because they are Satan’s own child. It also explains that the cultists' arrival the night before was simply to mark the house for the undead, who will pick up the child. Mawarni and several pocong appear, including Hendra, and kill the ustad. Ian, who just turns seven, cheerfully joins Mawarni and the pocong. Budiman arrives, evacuating Bahri and the other children. One year later, Bahri and his family live in an apartment in town. A woman named Darminah comes over bringing food