May the Devil Take You

May the Devil Take You: When her estranged father falls into a mysterious coma, a young woman seeks answers at his old villa, where she and her stepsister uncover dark truths.

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Introduction

The only reason I gave this a chance was because @ricky_horrorsixsixsix from Instagram recommended it, and all the things he said about it falls in my wheelhouse—that’s what I initially thought. Although it did keep my interest at first, but it fell short on somethings which I’ll tackle later on. Directed by…

May the Devil Take You tells the story of a girl and her estranged father, a once-wealthy man now on his deathbed after a mysterious illness, is left clinging to life, Alfie reluctantly visits his secluded old family home. There, she reunites with her bitter stepmother, step-siblings, and the remnants of a past filled with greed, betrayal, and dark secrets.

Characters

Chelsea Islan (as Alfie) delivered a great performance. Her shouts and screams felt authentic and it brought in more tension, and I think even her co-stars gave real shocked expressions towards her outbursts in the movie.

Karina Suwandhi (as Laksmi) played her role beautifully as Alfie’s stepmother and former actress. Her personality and actions are very showing of a spoiled brat/mistress. It makes her character all the more unlikeable, and adds an element of a human antagonist, aside from the supernatural entity that they’re 8 facing.

Too loud

May the Devil Take You had scenes where it felt like a legitimate horror movie, but most of the time, they incorporate loud sound too much that it takes away the horror element itself. I’d cover my ears, not because I was afraid of what I might hear, but because of how inappropriately loud it was, just so they could get some jumps from the viewers.

Obviously not an original concept

Its an obvious homage (or copy) to Evil Dead, and some elements coming from Hellraiser. There were no plot twists that surprised me, just wondering if the ending they’ll go for is the usual hint of “It’s not over yet.” Or they’ll end it completely.

What I didn’t like

• The story was very predictable, and nothing was left to the imagination of the mind, which was a bummer for me.
• I admit that there were some scenes that creeped me out, but majority of it was accompanied by loud jumpy sound effects.
• Regarding camera direction, the focus of it is usually on the face of the victims, specially on Alfie, unfortunately they focused on her “terrified” face, it was so long that it felt awkward. And she had one facial expression for all of it.
• One after another, they used all horror tropes they have in their arsenal.
• The usual annoying scenes where one person is being dragged away whilst the others are just watching.

Conclusion

Meh, May the Devil Take You is a good horror flick to watch but not something I’d make time for. Its an Indonesian re-imagining of Evil Dead coupled with the usual character tropes making annoying decisions leading to annoying results. There’s a sequel out already titled “May the Devil Take You Too (2020)” I haven’t seen it yet but hopefully it could redeem the first one. Another decent Indonesian horror that was recently released was Sumala (2024).