A few months ago, I have seen The Queen of Black Magic (1981) and was surprised to see how wacky and gory it was. It's a real blast and had me motivated to watch Satan's Slave. The big difference between these two that Satan's Slave is a far more serious film with a message.
A wealthy family are dealing with the death of Mawarti (mother / wife). Especially the son, Tomi, is suffering. He is the first one to be called upon by the ghost of the mother, which leads him to take action and learn black magic since he is scared. He doesn't really tell his family because he knows they won't take him seriously. For whatever reason, this family aren't practising Muslims. Everybody and their mother keeps reminding them how dangerous this is, since demons prey on the weak and non-religious people. Gradually, some familiars die and both Tomi and sister, Rita, are suspicious of these deaths and other events in their house. Father Munarto, for the most part, is unaware of these events until he is drawn in by his children. Even after having witnessed a supernatural occurrence himself, he completely goes into denial. For a businessman, he sure seems to be close minded and stubborn. I mean, he doesn't even entertain Pak Kiai who is offering spiritual help. He is actually pretty rude and arrogant. It's one thing to have issues with the religion, but people are still people. You shouldn't be dismissive in times of need.
At the helm of everything is their housekeeper, Darminah, played by Ruth Pelupessy. She is perfect at looking creepy and sinister. For a very obvious reason. Mind you, even with their suspicions, they are very accepting of her. Probably because none of the family members cleaned up their own filth. So they were real happy with the help. Their old help, Pak Karto, isn't well. According to him, just moments removed from death. Despite this, he still his sharp and has a bad feeling about Darminah. The same can be said about Herman, Rita's boyfriend, who also has to face the consequences of being suspicious of her.
Satan's Slave is very much a low budget affair. Even for the time, the special effects look dated. But, the way they are used, in combination with the atmosphere, are effective. Perhaps not scary, definitely creepy. There are also moments where strange things happen shortly after another, where one could argue that a conspiracy is in play. Or perhaps one can determine that more demons are waiting to strike. I do have some critical notes concerning certain elements. Only at times did they make it apparent that there was no escaping from the demons. For the most part, they seemed slow and very easily to run away from. And with most characters in horror films, when confronted with evil some go fully Forrest Gump. Instead of fighting tooth and nail, some of them just stand there and scream. It's really asked of you to suspend disbelief, but because of those brief moments where fleeing from the demons seems pointless, I was willing to overlook these flaws.
Then there is the message. I think this is the first one I have seen where it's this prevalent. Qodrat was also, but nearly not as invasive as in this film. The pro-Islam approach for it's time is understandable but since a lot of Indonesian culture is also intertwined with Hindu religion for example there should not be a reason where the Islam is the only one suited enough to fight demons. I am not a fan of this kind of propaganda, then again one could argue that writer / director Sisworo Gautama Putra has his own ideas about it by showing us something shocking at the end. In my version, this was a still image, presumably censored. But I got the gist of it just fine. I do admire directors who make it seem they are about message A and instead are all about message B.
In any case, I think Satan's Slave is one of those films that horror fans certainly need to watch. Even if it just to see how Indonesian horror films have evolved.
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