The Great Wall of Horror: Be a slave to Pengabdi Setan

Pengabdi Setan is a haunting film from Indonesia that is streaming on Shudder this month. Let’s take a look at this latest entry on The Great Wall of Horror.

Nowadays, streaming services’ content is creative, well made and genuinely scary if Ghoul or Mata Batin is any indication. Last trip to The Great Wall of Horror, we visited Jakarta for the Indonesian horror film, The 3rd Eye. For this visit, we stay in Indonesia but move our way to Java for a Shudder exclusive film, Pengabdi Setan or Satan’s Slaves.

 Pengabdi Setan Is Coming for You

Pengabdi Setan was released in 2017 and was written and directed by Joko Anwar and based on a movie written by Sisworo Gautamo Putra, Naryono Prayitno, Subagio S., and Imam Tantowi. It stars Bront Palarae as the father, Ayu Laksmi as the mother, Tara Basro as Rini, Endy Arfian as Tony, Nasar Annuz as Bondi, M. Adhiyat as Ian, Elly D. Luthan as the grandmother, Dimas Aditya as Hendra and Egy Fedly as Budiman.

The story follows a family (a sick mother, a father, a crippled grandmother and four siblings) who is struggling financially after the mother (who used to be a famous singer) becomes ill and stays that way for three years. They mortgage the house to pay for her medication but struggle to survive.

When the mother finally dies, strange things begin to happen in the house and it seems Mother is back for her children. With the father away selling the home for money, there is no one to protect them. They must find out what she wants and fight to stay alive.

CJ S&E International Sales/ Rapi Films/ Shudder

I found this movie by accident. I was looking through Shudder, seeing what they had and I’m a sucker for Asian horror (and Satan) so I had no choice but to watch it. This movie is fantastic. It has strong Asian superstition elements that are prominent within the genre as well as having a solid gore factor.

While it doesn’t focus on the gory details, when they happen, they are realistic enough to make you turn your head. If you like stories that are supernatural-occult-paranormal-possession-zombies movies, then you are going to love Pengabdi Setan. I didn’t see the end coming and the twists and turns are something you see many times in Indonesian horror films.

This feature is available to stream on Shudder, not only in its native Javanese with English subtitles, but also with English dub. If you like Hong Kong horror comedies, check out Out of the Dark or Spooky Spooky, or if Korean zombie flicks are more your style, we have Train to Busan for you. See you soon for another trip to The Great Wall of Horror and watch your souls!

Have you seen Pengabdi Setan? What did you think? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below.