FINAL GIRL explores the slasher flicks of the '70s and '80s...and all the other horror movies I feel like talking about, too. This is life on the EDGE, so beware yon spoilers!

Dec 13, 2007

Black Magic Woman

I only need to say a couple of things about Mystics in Bali (1981) so you'll understand what's in store for you should you choose to seek it out: it's from Mondo Macabro, and it's directed by the king of the Indonesian exploitation flick, H. Tjut Djalil- yes, the man who also brought the world Lady Terminator and one of my most favoritests ever, Dangerous Seductress.

Those facts alone will most likely either get you amped or put you off, right? And let's face it- the world is really divided into two kinds of people: those who want to see a film wherein a young woman wants to learn about black magic so she joins the cult of the Leyak but she gets in way over her head and becomes an acolyte of the evil Leyak Queen, and then the girl's head actually comes off and flies around- innards still attached!- and sucks fetuses right out of pregnant women...and those who don't. If you're anything at all like me- and you'd better be- you fall squarely into the former camp.













I'm so not even kidding when I say that there's little in life that would fill me with as much glee as the sight of that head trucking around town.

See? There's really not much more I can tell you except that Mystics in Bali is exactly what Ive come to expect from both Djalil and Mondo Macabro: it's completely insane and completely awesome, armpit hair aside.





15 comments:

Arbogast said...

I love the tattoo of James Duval that the Leak magician left on her thigh.

Sarah said...

Holy shit, that movie looks awesome.

And armpit hair ain't no thing for me. My sister hasn't shaved her pits or legs in 2.5 years.

M said...

OMG that woman totally looks like Kate Bush in her 1070s/Wuthering Heights period.

Snarf said...

Yes, this movie is awesome in the most delightful way!

And somehow it's a bit like walking in on your parents when they're making love: your world will never ever really be the same again after you've seen it.

And to top that off : the directors name is Tjut! That's so wild!

Jason Adams said...

My favorite part was the pig-woman with pendulous bosoms. Or the reeeeeaallllly long fireball fight.

Oh who am I kidding - the floating head sucking the birthing baby straight outta the lady-parts cannot be beaten.

This movie enriched my life in ways I didn't even know I needed my life to be enriched. Or, even, that lives could be enriched in such a way. Or should be. But they should! I see the light, post-movie. And isn't that what cinema exists for? To show us that we haven't truly lived until we've seen such things? Eisenstein never had nothing on this Tjut fella.

M said...

1970s, doh.

Anonymous said...

I like the patented PonderVision® JPEG zoom technique.

And I have to say the fetus-sucking picture actually reminded me more of the infamous scene in Reanimator...

Don't say I never gave you nothin', either. Here's a statue of the Queen of the Leyak:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rangda_statue.jpg

Stacie Ponder said...

JA- indeed, the bosomed pigs were just...well, they just need to be seen.

Mystics is definitely one of those life-changing films that makes you feel alive alive alive...kind of like Shark Attack 3 or Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Sometimes life is oh so good.

Mariana, you get props for the Kate Bush reference, and you're so right! The actress wasn't actually an actress- she was a German tourist who was in the oh-so-right place at the right time and ended up cast in Mystics, her only film. What a vacation!

Bill, thanks for the link- the Queen wears a costume at one point that looks very similar to the statue. It's good to know that this film is totally factual! :D

The Queen also laughs madly throughout the entire movie. She's awesome.

Jason Adams said...

I so need to throw a costume party that's Mystics In Bali-themed, and make everyone that comes dress up as a different "character" from the movie. Floaty Head, Fireballs, Pig-Bosoms, every one of the seventeen stages of human morphing into snake... GREATEST PARTY EVER.

RJ said...

woah

FatalPierce said...

I feel totally like the slow kid in class since I haven't seen this....yet.

Anonymous said...

It's not the severed head flying around that made me want to vomit, it's the LAST FEW PICTURES.

Of course, I feel that way about Paula Cole, too...

Anonymous said...

Whaoh! I need to see this movie! It's like Tron-- except awesome! Tron was the movie with the cheesy Nintendo effects, Jeff Bridges, and the fetus-sucking head, right? As a wtf movie fanatic, I am now ashamed that I have yet to see this sparkling piece of insanity!

Anonymous said...

This should be coming in the mail any day now. I can not fu*king wait!! I need some Mondo Macabro right about now.

Greg Baty said...

This movie is friggin' amazing. It's hard to even describe it but you did a helluva job.