Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Satan's Slave (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Satan's Slave (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review



    Released by: Severin Films
    Released on: June 16th, 2020.
    Director: Sisworo Gautama Putra
    Cast: Ruth Pelupessi, W.D. Mochtar, Fachrul Rozy, Simon Cader, Siska Widowati
    Year: 1980
    Purchase From Amazon

    Satan's Slave - Movie Review:

    Known as
    Pengabdi
    Setan in its Indonesian homeland, Sisworo Gautama Putra's 1980 film Satan's Slave opens at a funeral being held for teenaged Tomi (Fachrul Rozy)'s mother. He's there with his father, Mr. Munarto (W.D. Mochtar), and his sister, Rita (Siska Widowati), while a strange woman stares on from the small crowd gathered near the grave.

    A short time later, Tomi's friend tells him that when he lost a family member some time ago, a fortune teller helped him out, and so Tomi's goes to that fortune teller who advises him to protect himself with black magic. And so he does! He hits up the local book store and grabs himself a few books on black magic as well as a copy of the latest Hammer's Halls Of Horror comic magazine (issue #21, from the looks of things, the one with that rad Villagran painted Christopher Lee/Dracula cover) and he gets down to studying. He also grabs himself some sweet rubber masks that look like they were ordered from Don Post out of the back of an issue of Famous Monsters or something. At any rate, it seems like mom might not be entirely dead, as her corpse starts peering into Tomi's window at night. Rita sees her too!

    Soon after, Rita goes disco-dancing with Herman (Simon Cader), her boyfriend, and they have a grand old time. Anyway, as Tomi gets more into his black magic stuff, weird stuff starts to happen. Their groundskeeper, Karto (H.I.M. Damsyik), seems unable to control his asthma and tells his boss that he wants to die and Herman passes away, tragically, in a motorcycle accident. Around the same time, dad realizes he needs some help and he calls an agency to have a new housekeeper sent over. Soon enough, and oddly fairly late at night, Darminah (Ruth Pelupessi), shows up on their doorstep. That's when things start to get a little freaky…

    Satan's Slave is pretty great. It's a seriously interesting mix of eastern religion and culture with western horror stylings, at times seemingly influenced by Hammer Horror and continental European scare films yet always distinctly Indonesian. It plays quite heavily with Islamic philosophy and teachings, characters chastised more than once for going out and goofing around rather than staying home and praying for their mother - and then ending really leaves nothing up for debate in terms of its pro-Islam stance. But then, given that this is a movie made in a predominately Muslim nation, that shouldn't really be that surprising, given the way that a lot of classic vampire films and exorcism films deal with Christian religious iconography and tropes in much the same way.

    The movie isn't particularly gory but it does have a bit of bloodshed here and there. It does feature some really great makeup work in the last half hour or so when the dead become the undead and start running about the Munarto estate. The movie doesn't lack in atmosphere and while it might be a little slow in the middle stretch, the big finish is big enough to more than make up for that. Production values are quite decent. The movie is well-shot and well-lit, with some nice camerawork and a good score helping to boost the film's already considerable atmospherics. As to the performances, the three that play the Munrato family members are fine but it's Ruth Pelupessi who really steals the show. According to one of the interviews in the extras, she'd had plastic surgery before making this film, which explains why her face looks as… odd as it does in this movie. But it works in the benefit of her character, her bizarre presence creating the most memorable living character in the film.

    Great stuff!

    Satan's Slave - Blu-ray Review:

    Severin Films brings Satan's Slave to Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 2.35.1 widescreen “scanned from the original negative.” Taking up just over 20GBs of space on the 25GB disc, this transfer is a MASSIVE improvement over the old DVD release that came out as part of the BCI Eclipse/Deimos Entertainment Eastern Horror collection years ago. Some shots look a bit softer than others, but that's likely due to the original cinematography. Overall, the picture quality looks pretty nice, actually. Three appears to be some light to moderate DNR here, as skin can look somewhat waxy at times, but it doesn't obliterate all of the fine detail like it does on some transfers even if it might eat up some of it. Colors are reproduced nicely enough and black levels aren't bad, if not quite reference quality. The image is virtually pristine, showing pretty much no print damage a tall, and there are no noticeable problems with compression artifacts or edge enhancement.

    The only audio option is a 16-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track in the film's original Indonesian language. While this isn't the most robust track you're ever going to hear, it sounds fine. The levels are balanced, the score sounds pretty solid and there are no problems to note with any hiss or distortion. Optional subtitles are provided in English only.

    Extra features start off with a ten-minute featurette entitled Satan's Box Office which is an interesting interview with Producer Gope T. Samtani who speaks about the origins of Rapi Films and how they got their start importing pictures before then producing their own. He talks about the popularity of Satan's Slave as well as making films for the international market like the pictures he made with Cynthia Rothrock and Sam Firstenberg. Clips from other Rapi Films productions are included in here too (Primitives - a.k.a. Savage Terror - being a fine example), making you wonder - and hope - that Severin has a few more titles like this in the works?

    Indonesian Atmosphere is an amusing nine-minute interview with screenwriter Imam Tantowi, who speaks here about where some of the ideas for the film came from, how he doesn't particularly care for horror himself, how his son got freaked out typing out the script and what it was like working with the film's late director Sisworo Gautama Putra.

    Satan's Slave Obsession is an audio interview with filmmaker Joko Anwar, the man who helmed the remake of the film in 2017, entitled Satan's Slaves. He talks about the Indonesian film scene, his thoughts on the original and why he wanted to remake it. Severin has also included two of his short films here, the eleven-minute Jenny (which is a genuinely creepy little short well-worth your time) and the one-minute Don't Blink (which is more of a commercial than a short film but still interesting enough to watch once).

    Menus and chapter selection are also provided and this release comes packaged with some nice reversible cover sleeve artwork.

    Satan's Slave - The Final Word:

    Satan's Slave is a seriously cool slice oddball horror, a film that is at times as creepy as it is campy and which wears its Indonesian roots plainly on its sleeve. Severin Films has done a really nice job bringing this one to Blu-ray with an impressive transfer, fine audio and a few decent extra features as well. Recommended!

    Click on the images below for full sized Satan's Slave Blu-ray screen caps!








































    • Jack J
      #1
      Jack J
      Senior Member
      Jack J commented
      Editing a comment
      "Known as Pengarboi Setan" - Pengabdi, not Pengarboi.

      Good review, Ian. I can't wait for my copy. I own the old Brentwood bootleg dvd (which they sourced from a Japanese VHS) and it's going to be pretty fucking awesome to finally be able to watch this film in a proper picture quality.

    • David H
      #2
      David H
      Senior Member
      David H commented
      Editing a comment
      I watched this on Shudder last week and had fun with it. I'm assuming Shudder is using the same scan as the Severin disc.

    • Jack J
      #3
      Jack J
      Senior Member
      Jack J commented
      Editing a comment
      Originally posted by David H
      I watched this on Shudder last week and had fun with it. I'm assuming Shudder is using the same scan as the Severin disc.
      Probably. The only previous releases of the film are a Japanese vhs, a US bootleg off said tape, and a couple of video-cd's from Malaysia/Indonesia. None of them have fantastic picture quality.
    Posting comments is disabled.

Latest Articles

Collapse

  • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Severin Films
    Released on: April 30th, 2024.
    Director: Lee Frost
    Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
    Year: 1969
    Purchase From Amazon

    Hot Spur – Movie Review:

    Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
  • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Mondo Macabro
    Released on: April 9th, 2024.
    Director: Max Pecas
    Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
    Year: 1985
    Purchase From Amazon

    Death Squad – Movie Review:

    Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
  • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Quality X
    Released on: February 28th, 2024.
    Director: Chuck Vincent
    Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
    Year: 1982
    Purchase From Amazon

    Roommates – Movie Review:

    Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
  • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Blue Underground
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Jess Franco
    Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
    Year: 1970
    Purchase From Amazon

    Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

    Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
  • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Saul Bass
    Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
    Year: 1974
    Purchase From Amazon

    Phase IV – Movie Review:

    Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
  • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Radiance Films
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
    Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
    Year: 1969-1972
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

    Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
    ...
    03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
Working...
X