Film Review: May The Devil Take You

About a month ago, Timo Tjahjanto unleashed one of the best action films in recent memory with The Night Comes For Us on Netflix, but it looks like he isn’t done with us yet since Netflix has also just released his latest film, which has also been making rounds at the festival circuit, May The Devil Take You. The film takes Tjahjanto back to his roots with horror, and follows a woman with a tortured past named Alfie (Chelsea Islan), who – upon seeing her father (played by Ray Sahetapy) fall under a mysterious illness – goes to his old villa with her step-siblings and stepmother, where they uncover a dark secret from their past, and they fall prey to a supernatural entity.

If you’re wondering, no, the film isn’t quite on the same level of greatness as The Night Comes For Us. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t any good. In fact, it’s pretty rock solid. The film mostly serves as a riff on a lot of different ideas, and taking an approach that has been compared to the likes of Sam Raimi, which is an easy way to get on my good side. Thankfully, it never feels like empty homage or pastiche, the wavelength feels genuinely Tjahjanto-ish; it just so happens to be on subject matter that has been explored in a lot of western horror.

It also feels like Tjahjanto cramming every idea he wants for a horror movie into this one project. There’s demonic possession, curses, voodoo, gross-out gore, there’s a lot in here. As a result, the narrative itself tends to feel a tad unfocused, with character motivations and relationships often being a tad unclear since not much time is spent with them before things go crazy. The film runs to about an hour and 50 minutes, and I think it would’ve been better if more time was spent properly developing the characters and their dynamic with each other, since Alfie doesn’t really get along with most of her step-relatives, particularly her step-mother, Lesmana (Karina Suwandhi), and stepsister, Maya (Pevita Peirce), and I think it would’ve benefited in setting the stakes if the film showed  in detail why their relationship was the way it was.

But even among that, there are a few solid character beats. There’s a compelling emotional throughline about Alfie coping with the trauma she experienced when she lost her birth mother, which is the closest the film comes to being emotionally resonant. Though, once the insanity ensues, it’s clear what the filmmakers are more excited about, but it’s nice to have that heart at the center.

The scares are solidly crafted. There are some jump scares, but none – that I recall – were ever false. But even when you take those aside, there’s still a plethora of deeply unsettling imagery, especially in the way the makeup was used to show a possessed individual. There’s some really cool designs and seemingly practical effects work, all of which were effectively utilized to create an intense atmosphere of feeling trapped in this villa.

If you’re dying to find the next great horror film, I don’t know if May The Devil Take You will scratch that itch. It feels like a combinations of several films you’ve already seen, and it doesn’t do anything particularly new with the ideas it presents. But that having been said, I had a real good time watching it, and Timo Tjahjanto is a great filmmaker who puts an absurd amount of gusto in everything he’s made. The film won’t blow your mind, but it’s a solid riff on classic horror motifs made with some genuinely creepy moments, effective gross-out gags, and sprinkles of dark humor. It’s available on Netflix now, and even though it isn’t as brain-meltingly awesome as The Night Comes For Us, the fact that Tjahjanto is able to deliver a one-two punch of these films so quickly shows that he is absolutely the real deal.