The Queen of Black Magic (1981)

Tasty Indonesian horror babe Suzzanna plays Murni, a woman seduced and spurned by the man she loves, wrongly accused of witchcraft, and then thrown off a cliff by an angry mob who aren't too bothered with minor details like due process of law. Narrowly surviving her ordeal, she is nursed back to health by an old man who urges her to seek revenge on those who tried to kill her using the powers of black magic. Having killed several villagers, and made her ex-lover tear off his own head, Murni feels avenged, but the old man who taught her all of her evil tricks has his own agenda and wants her to continue with the slaughter.If weird and wonderful whacked-out world cinema horror is your kind of thing then this supernatural Indonesian/Japanese/Philippino co-production from 1979 should fit the bill nicely: it's not exactly great film-making, but with terrible dubbing, awful acting, some truly bizarre moments (my favourite bit being when Murni takes up smoking—quite literally!), and gruesome deaths aplenty (including an attack by bees, strangulation by scarf, drowning in a paddy field, the wonderfully bloody self-decapitation, lots of erupting veins, and an exploding head), it's almost impossible not to enjoy.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for the flying head and Murni's hilarious fall off the cliff, hitting a tree halfway down and landing straight into the arms of the old man.

Who else than the terrific people working over at Mondo Macabro DVD could have picked up this deranged flick from oblivion and unleash it upon madness-loving cinema fanatics all over the globe? "The Queen of Black Magic" is an Indonesian film (a country of which most people don't even know they produce movies) that is bad from every possible viewpoint, but simultaneously one of the most hilariously entertaining and excessively demented experiences one could ever have. The plot is thinner than an anorexic top model and completely devoid of coherence, dialogs as well as acting performances and dubbing jobs are atrocious and there isn't the slightest trace of tension building or character development. But all these 'minor defaults' are more than widely compensated by the gigantic amount of over-the-top splatter effects, demented imagery and simply the sheer craziness of it all! Particularly late at night, with a group of friends and loads of cold beer in the fridge, watching "The Queen of Black Magic" is guaranteed hilarity! The film tells the heartbreaking story of Murni, a beautiful young girl who reluctantly offers her virginity to the man she loves, only to get dumped by the guy in favor for the village headman's daughter. If that isn't painful enough yet, poor Murni subsequently gets falsely accused of placing the village under a black magic spell and thrown of a cliff. She survives (which is practically impossible if you see the fall) and lands straight in the arms of an actual black magic artist who fanatically encourages her to seek vengeance and offers to be her teacher. Murni completes her revenge with the beheading of her treacherous ex-lover, but her mentor insists to carry on murdering the entire village. Meanwhile, a handsome and allegedly holy man arrived in town and suddenly Murni doesn't feel all that furious anymore. "The Queen of Black Magic" is recommended to laugh at the stupidity in its dialogs (character endlessly repeating the same thing without even rephrasing their words) and especially to gasp at the extreme gore. We've got maggot-infested cadavers, veins bursting with blood, exploding heads and – top of the bill – a decapitated head flying around town. If these represent the Indonesian gore standards, then I can't wait to get my dirty little hands on that other Mondo Macabro release named "Mystics in Bali". Somewhat strange, however, is that this film doesn't feature any nudity and only a minimum of sleaze. I know I wouldn't have minded some nude scenes of lead actress Suzzanna, even in spite of her obviously enormous bottom. Speaking of Suzzanna, through this website I found out she passed away recently, which is a damn shame and surely a great loss for Indonesian cinema.

This was a fun movie. In no way is it a good movie but for all of us out there that like gory B horror films, this was a great film. With plenty of gory moments, bad dubbing, bad filming, and did I mention gore, this one was a keeper.Basically, a few people in a small Indonesian village have been murdered in mysterious ways. The village people believe it to be black magic and point the finger at an innocent woman. After they throw her from a cliff, an older man helps to heal her wounds. He is skilled in the black magic ways and teaches her what he knows so that she can exact revenge upon the village.I believe that this movie was made working from the fame of the movie Black Magic from the mid 70's which was a Shaw Bros. film. In know way is this movie similar. This movie is straight schlock, but good schlock. The storyline wouldn't survive without the gore scenes. Those scenes are rather well done, I might add. Some of the scenes are very similar to a film made just a couple of years later name Scanners. We see bursting veins, a man ripping his own head off, a body exploding, bee attack, etc etc.If you are into these crazy types of film, this one is so worth checking out. You won't regret it. 7/10

Queen of Black Magic (1979) is a "sequel-in-name" to the two Black Magic films that came out from the Shaw Brothers in HK, in the 70's. The third film is a surprisingly fast-paced for most of the time, with plenty of black arts in practise with gory and gruelling results. We get to see maggot-infested bodies and food bowls, exploding spellcraft victims, hilarious and stupid dialogue (and dubbing) and exotic locations in the jungles of Indonesia (I think, since this was a co-production between a few Asian countries.) The film is made with an ultra-low budget but that's why it is also so enjoyable and smile-inducing, and the effects are certainly not as bad as they could be. I'd like to see the two original Shaw films, but in itself, Queen of Black Magic is a welcome addition to the library of weird and wild cinema beyond any limitations or taboos.