Sightlines · reception

How Satan's Slaves was received

2017 · Joko Anwar · Satan's Slaves on Sightlines

The arc

A record-smashing sensation in Indonesia on release — it became the country's biggest horror hit of 2017 and sold to dozens of territories — and it's since settled in as the film that announced the modern Indonesian horror wave to the rest of the world.

What’s debated

The perennial fan debate is whether it transcends its jump-scare machinery or is simply the slickest possible delivery system for them — plus the inevitable 'original vs. remake' argument with the 1980 film.

Its footprint

The dead mother's handbell ringing down the hallway is the film's calling card — a sound cue horror fans invoke the way earlier generations invoked creaking doors — and the film became the gateway drug that sent international viewers down the Indonesian horror rabbit hole.

Where it stands

A Letterboxd-era world-horror staple: the standard 'start here' recommendation for Indonesian horror and the film that made Joko Anwar a name cinephiles track.

Did you know? Joko Anwar spent roughly a decade lobbying Rapi Films for the rights to remake the 1980 Pengabdi Setan — a film he'd been obsessed with since childhood — before the studio finally said yes.

Named by the director

• Satan's Slave (Pengabdi Setan) (1980) — Anwar repeatedly called the original his formative childhood horror experience and pursued the remake rights for years because of it.