Indonesian horror goes mainstream with SATAN'S SLAVE, on Blu-ray from Severin Films.

After his mother dies, young Tomy (Fachrul Rozy) starts behaving strange, sleepwalking out on the grounds of the family estate at night beckoned by the ghost of his mother. His sister Rita (Siska Widowati, THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC) does not know what to make of his behavior, and their father Munatro (W.D. Mochtar, REVENGE OF THE NINJA) tries to lose himself in the construction of a massive housing project. Frightened Tomy gets contradictory information from a fortune teller who tells him to defend himself with black magic and a shaman who tells him to get closer to Allah. Rita's boyfriend Herman (Simon Cader) jokes about the ghosts lingering after death and Satan targeting the weak of faith, but he too become suspicious of the family's sinister new housekeeper Darmina (Ruth Pelupessi, FEROCIOUS FEMALE FREEDOM FIGHTERS) who seems unperturbed by strange goings-on like the asthmatic groundskeeper Karto (H.I.M. Damsyik, THE DEVIL'S SWORD) hanging himself or freak accidents visited upon those who try to help the family.

At least in part an Indonesian response to PHANTASM – with a touch of SALEM'S LOT – with its focus on loss and grieving, as well as the sudden deaths of further loved ones by mysterious means further isolating the protagonists, SATAN'S SLAVE is anything but subtle yet really no more or less religiously conservative than any other supernatural horror films that use religion to fight evil (as evidenced by the surprise ending in which the converted devout survivors are still subject to demonic torment). The transportation of certain western gothic visual trappings to Indonesia is less striking than in the Japanese BLOODTHIRSTY trilogy but the local variations are interesting from the opening burial to the profane religious shrine in Darmina's bedroom or Tomy looking to horror-themed comics and movie magazines for black magic instruction. The climax boasts some effective white-eyed zombies out of Dan Curtis' THE NORLISS TAPES and some gory bits including the split-open cranium of one apparition. Director Sisworo Gautama Putra had previously helmed the Barry Prima fantasy adventure THE WARRIOR and the Indonesian take on the Italian cannibal genre PRIMITIVES and would later bring us SUNDELBOLONG (translated as "Ghost with Hole") and the more entertaining THE HUNGRY SNAKE WOMAN.

Not to be confused with the Norman J. Warren film of the same title, SATAN'S SLAVE had considerably less exposure stateside without an English dub for export – some of Putra's other films could at least be found on English-dubbed, Japanese-subtitled import VHS – becoming most accessible in a ten film EASTERN HORRORS COLLECTION set from BCI and a single-disc double bill with CORPSE MASTER sold separately from the set in a non-anamorphic letterboxed transfer with English subtitles. Severin's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray is a surprising improvement given one's expectations of the budget and technical qualities of Indonesian productions from earlier video formats. Colors are rich with some nicely saturated blood and gel lighting, the well-lit interior scenes look quite clean and crisp while the night exterior exhibit some depth with little noise in the shadows and blacks. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono audio – I highly doubt this was a 4-track stereo release despite IMDb claims, although this would probably be the Indonesian film to exploit it if they were going to splurge on it – has clear dialogue, canned effects, and scoring (which might include some library tracks). Optional English subtitles are provided.

Although a surprise hit in Indonesia at the time, it appears to that Indonesian filmmaker Joko Anwar's obsession with remaking the film and his subsequent 2017 remake may have been responsible for its recent enhanced visibility. In "Satan’s Box Office" (9:08), producer Gope T. Samtani (ESCAPE FROM HELLHOLE) discusses how Rapi Film moved from distribution to production, increasing their product from two to three films a year to four to five thanks to the old-style six hundred seat movie house venues and outdoor theaters in need of regular turnover of product. He describes SATAN'S SLAVE as an original project not a specific rip-off, and notes that the company's horror product often took its basis from local legends. As English-spoken product became more desirable than dubbed films, Samtani recalls bringing in filmmakers like David Worth and Cynthia Rothrock for LADY DRAGON and its sequel, Sam Firstenberg for BLOOD WARRIORS among others until the dollar crashed. He notes that the more recent success of THE RAID suggest that there is less of a stigma on subtitled product internationally, and the success of the Anwar remake and that a sequel is already in-production.