Being Film #29 for Hooptober 2023
I had to do it. After being enthralled with Joko Anwar’s remake/prequel for Satan’s Slaves, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go the month without checking out his sequel. Good things come to those who wait, but sometimes good things also come to those that don’t wait, because Satan’s Slaves: Communion is a fantastic continuation of the story: upping the ante on the weirdness and frights, taking us to a new location and a grander scope of the horror, but never forgets to put our intrepid heroes Rini, Toni, and Bondi front and center, focusing on their strength as a family as they continue to deal with the fallout of the first film.
THE QUICK SUMMARY: It’s a few years later and Rini, Toni, Bondi and their father are now living in a delipidated apartment complex isolated and in the middle of nowhere. Their father seemingly has a job, but why does he come home each time and lock his briefcase up in a cabinet? Where are the stairs to the 14th floor? And why, after a tragic elevator accident are the dead starting to move? Rini and her brothers thought that by leaving their home they could escape the horrific prophecy attached to them, but it’s not so easy…Satan’s slaves will have their communion, one way or another…
Anwar wisely goes broader with his mythology but not the literal scope of the film. Changing out the house for a frankly terrifying apartment complex is a great move, keeping things close and claustrophobic but not repeating the types of scares found in the first film. He uses the geometric lines of the complex beautifully, and his scares are more ferocious: he has a great ability to get to to anticipate the jump scare, but his camera work draw your eye away from where the fright is actually going to appear. There are two sequences involving a garbage chute which are some of the best frights I’ve had in years. Glorious and over the top and wonderful.
But it’s not all jump scares. Anwar still seems to be mapping out a mythology that goes beyond witchcraft and children of the Devil, and he leaves tantalizing clues all over without explaining what is happening. The opening is a bravura section taking place in 1955, where the reporter Budiman from the first film is called to an observatory by his friend and police inspector. Inside they find dozens of dead bodies in bags, all genuflecting to a picture of Mawarni, the mother from the first film. It turns out later that the apartment complex was built on a very specific piece of ground, and every 29 years a communion occurs. When the storm breaks out that traps Rini and her family in the complex, it’s no coincidence it’s on the night of the next communion, and what we witness over the course of the film would be enough to populate more than a few nightmares.
All well and good, but I can’t stress enough that Satan’s Slaves: Communion even with all its scares and fancy camera move simply would not work without our investment in the family. And the ease with which we fall back in with Rini and her brothers is immediate. Tara Basro is phenomenal as Rini, needing to anchor the film as the lead but also support her brothers, letting them work as a unit. The surprise this time around was how strong Endy Arfian is as Toni, the teenage son who’s always smiling. He’s definitely not always smiling here, and he gets some great moments, whether it’s feebly attempting to romance the beautiful upstairs neighbor or getting into trouble with the bully who’s also after her.
There are surprises within for fans of the first movie: we find out what happened to young Ian, the deaf mute kid taken away at the end of the first film (spoiler: it’s not good), and we again get a glimpse of out mysterious (and apparently ageless) couple who seem to be at the center of the devilish machinations. This is probably my biggest discovery of the marathon, and I can’t wait to check out Anwar’s other films, especially Impetigore, also starring Basro and which is streaming on Shudder now.
Cinema Dual 
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