Shudder Secrets: Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion Explained – NOV 1

Joko Anwar has crafted some of the most interesting horror films of the last half-decade. His latest, Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion, is a sequel to his loose remake/prequel to the 1980 film of the same name, directed by Sisworo Gautama Putra. Satan’s Slaves 2, the first Indonesian film to use IMAX technology, is set just a few years after its predecessor. While the first film namely focused on a single family, including their financial woes and grief after the matriarch dies, the follow-up is much grander in scope, production design, and storytelling.

With a larger budget, Anwar includes more scares and, more importantly, deeper character development and denser mythos. The director now has a franchise on his hands, with the likelihood this won’t be the last film.

Satan’s Slaves: A Brief Recap

Though it’s possible to watch Satan’s Slaves 2 without having seen the first film, a brief recap can’t hurt. The original, which became the highest-grossing 2017 domestic film in Indonesia, focuses on a struggling family living in the countryside. The family’s woes worsen after the matriarch dies. This leaves the father (Bront Palarae) a widow, left to raise his children, Rini (Tara Basro), Toni (Endy Arfian), Bondi (Nasar Annuz), and the youngest, Ian (M. Adhiyat), who’s deaf.

When the dad leaves for town to raise money for mortgage payments, the ghostly presence of their mother haunts the kids. Oh, and they find their grandmother dead inside a well. Talk about a traumatic childhood! The family enlists the help of occult writer Budiman (Egy Fedly), who explains a fertility cult of Satan worshippers that targets barren women who want to have children. The cult has its eyes set on Ian as a payment of sorts.

In the sequel, the family returns, along with Bundiman, but we’re introduced to several other characters that reside in neighboring apartment units, making for a much broader world and bigger stakes.

Satan’s Slaves 2 Goes Bigger and Deeper

Communion picks up a few years after the events of the first film. The family is now living in a dingy high-rise apartment complex with tiny units and nosy neighbors. With the encouragement of her boss, Rini plans to make something of herself by attending university in the big city. Her dad is cool with it, but her remaining brothers, Toni and Bondi, don’t want her to leave. She raised them after their mom died. Of all the remaining characters, Rini’s story is the most fleshed out. She’s a woman who wants to make something of her life and doesn’t want the same ho-hum, low-paying office job. You really root for her to succeed and establish herself in the world.

However, strange events transpire, trapping Rini in the situation. First, there’s a historic storm about to break, which floods the building and outs the power. Prior to that, a freak elevator accident kills several tenants, noting that evil is afoot again and the cult is close. Those guys just won’t give up.

Several new characters occupy the nearly two-hour runtime, most notably Ari (Fatih Unru), a friend of the brothers who loses a family member during the elevator accident, Wisnu (Muzakki Ramdhan), an adorable, smart boy who lives down the hall but loses his dad in the elevator accident, and Tari (Ratu Felisha), a bad girl who draws Toni’s eye. He even fixes a radio for her, which backfires since it starts playing spooky voices that haunt Tari. These new characters alone and the location of the massive apartment complex make the film much bolder in scope. There are plenty of threads here that really don’t congeal until the second half.

An Expanded Mythos

The sequel swings bigger by also expanding upon the mythos of the cult, specifically the father’s backstory and initial interaction with them. We learn that he made a deal with the cult long ago in order for protection. The price, however, was the mother and, eventually, Ian. There’s also a semi-convoluted backstory about a figure named Raminon who often pops up in a white sheet during jump scare after jump scare in the second half. Yet, her story is a little murky and feels totally unnecessary. The first film kept things a bit simpler regarding the cult, and it was better for it.

Yet, what’s interesting about Communion is how the father’s past deal punishes the family. The cult is an unrelenting force in this second chapter. Their victims, including those who died when the elevator crashed, show up in the second half as rotting corpses wrapped in white sheets. They lurk in stairwells, in their shadowy rooms, and around nearly every corner. It makes for more than a few effective frights. In terms of make-up and costumes, the bigger budget pays off here.

A Trilogy or More?

The film concludes with Bundiman, the surviving family members, and a few new characters paddling away from the high-rise. He notes that an even worse storm is brewing. Because these films garnered so much success in their home country, a third film is inevitably on its way. Whether or not Satan’s Slaves is limited to a trilogy or something more remains to be seen. But we’ve followed this family for two films, and we’ll stick with them for the conclusion.

Overall, the sequel has a larger budget, plenty of jump scares, a heavier mythos, and higher takes. However, it doesn’t quite match the first film, which was hair-raisingly creepy and more focused by sticking to one family’s story. Still, this is a worthy successor and, again proof that Anwar’s films are a must-watch. He’s one of the best working in the genre today.

Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion lands on Shudder on November 4. Stay updated on their latest contest by following my Shudder Secrets column.