|
Indonesia breeds different films than the rest of the world. As far from Hollywood as you can get, the low-budget titles that they put out are amazing, but not so much in a “that is great” way, as much as a “what the fuck am I watching?” kind of way. That applies to any genre of film that they make, but especially so for the horror genre, where the only thing holding back the filmmaker’s creativity is their budgets.
 |
Mystics in Bali is a particularly fascinating example of fringe Indonesian cinema. If this was one’s only insight to how film works in their country, they could safely presume that every single person on the creative team is coked out of their goddamned minds, and that the actors are actually slaves who lost their shirts in an underground dice game and now are forced to act against their will while wearing too-tight pants and florescent colored shirts.
The story of Mystics in Bali follows an American college student named Cathy (Ilona Agathe Bastian in her only film credit) who wants to do research on the occult for a book she seemingly thought about writing on a whim. Her boyfriend Mahendra (Yos Santo, The Devil’s Sword), who couldn’t possibly care that deeply for her, advises her to research the Leak (pronounced LEE-ACK), a cult group that supposedly practices the darkest of dark magic. This magic gives its practitioners the ability to transform themselves into whatever they want. In record time, Mahendra arranges a  meeting with the Leak Queen (Sofia WD). If the details on how this meeting was assembled were explained, it certainly didn’t make a lick of sense to me. Over the course of the next two nights, Cathy has become a Leak Master. Such things come with a price however, and the blood offerings that she was making the Queen are no longer satisfactory. (Note: You can apparently buy blood in milk bottles in Indonesia) The only real way that the Queen can get more blood is by doing it in the most bizarre way possible: sever Cathy’s head temporarily, use it to fly around with spinal cord and internal organs still attached, and literally eat unborn babies right out of their mother’s hoo-haa!
I want to stop for a moment. I don’t know how proud I should be that this is the second film I’ve reviewed on DIMP that featured a severed head eating out a woman’s vagina (The other being the excellent Re-Animator). Still, if I’m going to be known for anything, I want to be your go-to man on opinions of the depiction of decapitated cunnilingus in cinema history. Hey, we all need an angle.
Anyway, back to our film. Absolutely nothing about Mystics in Bali works, which is ultimately part of the film’s charm. The actors only have two expressions, which amount to them being either really surprised or portraying the walking dead. This is aided by the complete lack of chemistry between the two leads. There is one point where Cathy is presumed dead in the natural sense, and Mahendra’s response is not far removed from, “That’s too bad, I really liked her.” Likewise, Cathy’s reaction to learning she’s probably in too deep and unable to ever sever her ties from the Leak again is literally, “Oh, that’s terrible. This is like a nightmare.”
 NO BITCH! THIS IS NOT LIKE A NIGHTMARE! YOUR SOUL NOW BELONGS TO THE LEAK. YOU STILL CAN’T DRESS APPROPRIATELY FOR YOUR AGE, AND YOU’VE BECOME A FLYING LESBIAN HEAD WITH YOUR LUNGS AND INARDS ALL HUNG OUT AND EXPOSED. THAT IS FAR WORSE THAN A NIGHTMARE!!!
Ahem. Sorry about that.
At times it becomes difficult to follow the plot, too, as other characters come in and out of the picture and day turns to night turns to day again. The people editing this film either had no fucking clue, or they just didn’t care. The verdict is still out on that one.
The finale involves a battle between good and evil in a last ditch effort to save Cathy’s soul, and there are some fantastic (but cheesy) special effects that are needed to accomplish this. The ending is abrupt to the point that there is no real conclusion following the climax. The film just ends as if the filmmakers ran out of film  stock. Which, come to think of it, they just might have.
In all seriousness, I find myself wondering how much of this is the fault of the film's creators, or the atrocious dubbing that it received when it was prepped for the western markets. In its original language, it may be an insightful exploration of occult activity and how it related to the teenaged population of the time. I can’t say for sure, though, because this is what we’re left with. So, Mystics in Bali offered me a lot more questions than answers, and a lot more laughs than drama or scares.
I mean, just why is it that the Queen Leak seems to have ZERO followers? We never see a single cult member except for her. More importantly, why does she talk like a sinister Yoda? All of these questions, and many more, are the only things that will haunt you following this film.
 The DVD Presentation
Judging the quality of the trailer that’s included as an extra; the remastering done for Mystics in Bali is quite astonishing. It still has some scenes that you will wish were more black, and I noticed some print damage from time to time, but for the most part it is free of detractors. Considering how rare the film is, it’s remarkable that we got a transfer this good looking at all. Audio is another beast. The English 2.0 Dub included here is atrocious. But this film was made with the intention of being sold to the West, so that’s what we’re stuck with. If an Indonesian audio version was ever made, I found nothing about it in my quick online search, but seeing as how the lead actress was actually German (playing an American tourist) her voice might have been dubbed anyway. No subtitles were included, which is a shame since I don’t think the Dub is very clear at times either. A mixed bag presentation-wise; like Purana Mandir, I’m just glad to be able to watch it.
And the Extras Are?
Original Theatrical Trailer – (2:34)
Without checking, I’m pretty sure this is the exact same trailer that was included on the second disc in the Virgins from Hell DVD. When I saw it on that DVD, it prompted me to say, “Mystics in Bali looks truly bizarre. Get on this one Mondo!” and it appears that they listened. The trailer is in fairly rough condition, which only goes to show how difficult remastering the film must have been.
Mystics in Bali & the Indonesian Exploitation Movie – Text feature
Mondo’s articles that they include on their DVDs are nothing short of awesome. They are very well written and informative, and I find that even if I don’t like the feature film, I always learn a lot from these. This one further explains some of the events in the film and puts them into context that helps the Westerner understand what might make this creepy to its native audience. It goes on to talk about the Indonesian film industry and its comeback in the past decade. Awesome!
H. Tjut Djalil – Director Filmography
This is nothing more than a list of films that Djalil worked on (not necessarily directed). I can’t even read most of the titles, so this isn’t worth much to me.
How to Become a Leak! – Text feature
This is really cool. It’s kind of a how-to guide for those viewers interested in becoming a member of the Leak occult and being able to turn themselves into pigs and what not. Although an interesting read, complete with chants, I opted not to practice the incantations because all the girls I know look better with their heads attached to their bodies.
“More from Mondo Macabro” Trailer – (6:42)
The infamous Mondo Macabro publicity trailer gets longer, now containing their recent releases The Bollywood Horror Collection – Volume 1, Snake Dancer and The Blood Rose.
Conspicuously missing from this release is a 23-minute documentary about the Indonesian film industry that was on the now discontinued R2 version of this title (also released by Mondo Macabro). It would have been nice to have that.
 The Bottom Line
I went into Mystics in Bali with my expectations set a little too high and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to. It certainly provided me with some amusing moments and good laughs at the hokey effects, but maybe the film was just trying too hard to be westernized. With some more intentional comic relief or some kind of effective scoring, Mystics in Bali would be something to recommend to all. As it is though, I’m only going to recommend the film to the very curious or those that love Indonesian cinema. It’s an entertaining, if flawed, film but those who do like it enough to purchase the DVD will find it a good investment. The transfer is light years ahead of the original elements and the text features are fantastic.
|
