Joko Anwar's Satan's Slaves (2017) starts chilling but gets cold near the end

Joko Anwar's 2017 horror Satan's Slaves starts off quite chilling but gets cold somewhere toward the end. However, this Indonesian film gives a fresh perspective - away from Hollywood - and away from the common Christian themed horror lane.

The film stars Indonesian actress Taro Basro as Rini, who gives up university to look after her brothers and mother who is gravely ill.

The story starts off with a scene of the mother, played by Ayu Laksmi, lying face up with tears rolling down her face. The shot is a closeup side portrait and indicates sadness or distress without giving much information. Then it changes to Rini sitting in a room talking with an executive.

This initial mystery starts off the pace for what is a chilling story, and it becomes more evident with the nightmares that she has, and the poltergeist activities that haunt their house after her mother's death.

This is further deepened by the departure of their father soon after the burial, raising the circumstances during their mother's death. Of course, there are some twists that will put your intestines in a knot but I'm not going to spoil it.

Another thing this film had working for it is the fact that it gives a glimpse of death and spiritualism from a Indo-Muslim perspective. Unfortunately, I feel the story-line became too complicated near the end with the introduction of the undead (zombies).

All in all, Satan's Slaves has a little bit of everything and should provide great entertainment.