The Queen of Black Magic

The Queen of Black Magic (Ratu Ilmu Hitam) (1981)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Liliek Sudjio

Starring: Suzzanna, W.D. Mochtar, Teddy Purba, Sofia W.D., Alan Nuary

From: Rapi Films

This be a typical Indonesian movie... meaning it be wildin' out.

For awhile now I've known of this movie and as the films of the country either have excellent action scenes (like The Raid) or are filled with bizarre over the top moments. After all, I've watched The Stabilizer, Mystics in Bali and Lady Terminator. Like Satan's Slave, this was also remade in the past few years. As I've seen both originals, the new versions need the same treatment from me.

The plot sounds simple enough: black magic happens and an SOB blames young lady Murni for this chicanery. You see, Murni used to date the SOB but he dumped her. The people in the tiny rural village throw her off a cliff, only to be saved by a shaman, who convinces her to actually be a practitioner of black magic. She gets her revenge in memorable fashion, killing villagers in unique ways that include bees, sentient scarf hanging and a death you might expect to see in a Fulci movie—although I presume that a Fulci movie never had a disembodied flying head as a threat. That's actually a trope I've seen in other Southeast Asian/Hong Kong horror pictures.

I could carp about some things but overall I was entertained by this 90 minutes of wackiness, which has a story that at first sounds basic but later you discover is more complex and layered, with messages about mob rule, the Muslim faith (I'll presume now that is a trope in at least some of the country's horror films) and “damn the patriarchy!” Even more unexpected is some arty shots/moments. Whether or not this is actually based on any sort of Indonesian folklore concerning the dark arts, this was a fun yarn filled with some unique kills where the story was more than a rote revenge tale and it was a fascinating look at what life is like in the rural area of an exotic country, at least if it's being haunted by magic. Also, what a leading turn from a lady famous for her genre efforts in the area, Suzzanna. The remake of this deviates quite a bit from the original tale (I don't like the term “reimagining” but that's the easiest way to describe the phenomenon) so I hope to have as good a time with that as this effort that is on Shudder.