May the Devil Take You (2018)


I have enjoyed Timo Tjahjanto's contributions to the V/H/S series, the first of which was "Safe Haven" in V/H/S/2 and made in partnership with Gareth Huw Evans, who was responsible for the two Raid movies.  This made me curious to check out a full feature film of Tjahjanto's if it existed and, to my delight, he's done a few, including the recent Nobody 2.  He even has his own small horror franchise beginning with May the Devil Take You. 

Lesmana (Ray Sahetapy) is a man obsessed with wealth.  To obtain it he makes a deal with a Dark Priestess (Ruth Marini) in which he sells his soul to the Devil.  Years later he is dying and his biological daughter Alfie (Chelsea Islan) is asked by her stepbrother Ruben (Samo Rafael) to come to the hospital to try to make amends.  Also present is her stepsister Maya (Pevita Pearce) and stepmother Laksmi (Karina Suwandhi) and Laksmi's youngest daughter Nara (Hadijah Shahab).  Since Lesmana went bankrupt before becoming ill the family is concerned about medical bills and want to search his villa for anything of value.  The issue is Alfie technically owns the house, but she decides to allow them to do so despite their antagonist attitude toward her.

Alfie arrives first with the rest of the family following and, after some squabbling, Ruben is tasked with breaking the locks off the cellar door so they can search the basement.  This, unfortunately, releases the Priestess, whom Lesmana had kept imprisoned.  As Lesmana tried to renege on his debt to Satan the Priestess decides to collect and take the souls of his family in revenge.

Tjahjanto was heavily influenced by The Evil Dead when making this movie and there are references scattered throughout.  Unlike most movies that are homages to Sam Raimi's popular horror series May the Devil Take You isn't a carbon copy.  Tjahjanto has a recognizable pace in his films, starting off slowly and letting all hell break loose by the end.  Rather than going for the humor as Raimi did Tjahjahnto is more concerned with giving us characters to both root for and hate. 

The problem is, since it is a bit of an homage, it's not that original.  Everyone is great in the acting department, the digital and practical effects are solid, but from the family drama to the horror one gets the feeling they are watching an amalgamation of tried-and-true ideas.  This may not be so bad, but Tjahjahnto, though working within familiar genres and tropes, often managed to do something unique.  Here it has all been done before.  Taking away a majority of the humor doesn't make it better.

May the Devil Take You (2018)
Time: 110 minutes
Starring: Chelsea Islan, Pevita Pearce, Samo Rafael, Hadijah Shahab, Karina Suwandhi, Ruth Marini, Ray Sahetapy
Director: Timo Tjahjanto



 

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