What’d you do in 2018? If your name isn’t Timo Tjahjanto, chances are you didn’t have two top-notch genre films premiere on Netflix in the same year. The Indonesian director’s “The Night Comes for Us” wowed binge-watchers a few months ago with its “The Raid“-like fights and insane gore. Once viewers’ heart rates have finally slowed down, Tjahjanto returns with “May the Devil Take You” to ratchet your pulse back up again. This time, he trades in action for horror, but still retains his crazy style – and a bit of the gore.
When Lesmana (Ray Sahetapy) invites a demonic priestess (Ruth Marini) into his home, he hopes for riches, but (inevitably) the ritual she performs brings him far more than he’d asked for. The goat head the witch brought probably should’ve been his first clue, but hindsight is 20/20. Fast forward past his rise and fall, and Lesmana is in the hospital, unconscious with no explanation for his illness. His estranged daughter Alfie (Chelsea Islan) visits him alongside his new family but with no answers at the hospital, she returns to his isolated villa to find the source of his trouble.
There, she endures verbal abuse from her evil stepmother Laksmi (Karina Suwandhi) and equally evil stepsister Maya (Pevita Pearce), but she finds kindness in her supportive stepbrother Ruben (Samo Rafael) and small, sweet Nara (Hadijah Shahab). When Laksmi orders Ruben to open the basement, he unleashes a terrible force that isn’t content to terrorize only the patriarch. The home becomes a hotbed for demonic activity, as each surviving member of Lesmana’s two families become targets.
With a seemingly endless supply of mud, blood, and bile, Tjahjanto has a clear love for Sam Raimi (I mean, don’t we all?). “May the Devil Take You” feels of a piece with Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy and especially “Drag Me to Hell.” Tjahjanto has never met a vomit shot he didn’t like, with multiple scenes showing some poor victim underneath a spewing fountain of black goo. This must have been a hellish shoot for the actors who are probably still trying to remove the sludge from their hair, but it pays off. The horror doesn’t just work because of the flood of sticky stuff though; Tjahjanto puts his own stamp on the proceedings, and his actors all turn in impressively physical performances.
This must have been grueling work, and “May the Devil Take You” is exhausting at times, even for the viewers. Once it kicks into high gear, it’s an endless barrage of violence. The film goes on for about 20 minutes too long, dragging the fear out for almost two hours – and never giving my heart a break. Tjahjanto’s script doesn’t always make sense, but that may be because the logical part of my brain shut down in fear.
This time around, Tjahjanto is a bit less gory than he was in “The Night Comes for Us,” but it will still likely prove too much for some viewers. Whether you’re bothered by creepy pale priestesses, ropes of hair, fingernails being dragged across a wooden floor or other terrors, there’s something for everyone. Tjahjanto comes up with creative ways of dispatching his characters, and there were plenty of moments where I literally shook my head and said, “Nope!”
“May the Devil Take You” is less funny and a bit less playful than its inspiration in Raimi’s work, but there’s still a sense of fun here. That is, if you find shrieking and laughing in terror fun. [B]