Horror flick 'The Black Magic' casts bad spells

Joko Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

Watching new horror flick The Black Magic will remind you how much you miss those happy days when local filmmakers frequently joined forces with their American counterparts in the 80s and early 90s to make action and horror films.

Such collaborations gave birth to unique titles, including Perawan di Sarang Sindikat (A Virgin in a Bandit Base Camp, 1986), which was released in the U.S. as American Hunter, and Peluru dan Wanita (Bullet and Women, 1988), known internationally as Jakarta.

The latter, co-produced by Troma Films, which is known in the U.S. for its notoriously trashy films like Toxic Avenger and A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell, is even notable for an earlier appearance of slim Chris Noth who is later known as Mr. Big of Sex and the City fame.

Despite the stumpy quality of the outings, the producers would trumpet their films as a breakthrough "Hollywood-Indonesia Joint- Venture" in their advertisement to allure the audience.

The trend started with local filmmakers' belief they could make their movies more commercial if they hired actors whose looks at least could pass as someone with mixed Caucasian blood.

As local film producers became slightly richer, they went on to hiring real American crew and actors from Hollywood's outer ring and advertised them as if they were big Hollywood players.

Many local horror screenwriters found their ways to put a white character in their script. The story usually involved a foreigner who came to Indonesia to study local horror legends and ended up being possessed by a local demon and turning into a crazed killing machine.

Such titles include Leak (known internationally as Mystic in Bali, 1981) where a visiting American woman ends up being a fetus-eating, flying-head demon. There is also Pembalasan Ratu Laut Selatan (Revenge of the South Seas Queen, 1987) which was released in the U.S. as Lady Terminator. It tells the story of an American woman who, after being possessed by the spirit of the South Seas Queen, kills men by shooting them with an Uzi or cutting their genitalia during intercourse(!).

These movies are plain silly and ultimately obscure but they are also much fun. Some of them even found their own loyal audience overseas like Leak (Mystic in Bali) which is now a cult- favorite after being released on DVD in the U.K.

Unfortunately, new horror flick The Black Magic does not follow the old school.

The movie is best described as a cross between I know What You Did Last Summer and Revenge of the South Seas Queen a.k.a Lady Terminator minus the outrageousness and, unfortunately, the fun.

There is almost no gore, not even cheap shocks while the movie does meet the quality of a serious horror film as it seemingly intends to be.

The rape scene in the film is particularly badly created.

The film, allegedly based on true events, tells the story of three Americans who take a trip to Bangkok as a treat for one of them who is getting married.

It opens alarmingly with a five-minutes sequences where the guys travel around the city with actors obviously ad-libbing their bad dialogue.

While action flick Jakarta may have discovered a big talent in Chris Noth, it is sad to announce that none of these guys is a real find.

The mediocre cast includes Brian Bianchini whose filmography includes being in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor as an extra credited as Frat Boy #4 and in a soft-core flick titled Girl for Girl.

Daniel Lennox who is supposed to be the film's hero gives the most mediocre performance of all and his voice-over narration will also inevitably induce some giggles.

The story goes on with the three guys meeting a local woman (played by Indonesian model Sheny Andrea) who is having a bad day since no tourist wants to use her service as a photographer. As expected, the guys end up hiring her as a tourist guide.

Cut to the day when the guys are leaving. On the way to the airport, they see a crane pulling a woman's dead body out of a river who turns out to be the female photographer's.

The mother of the dead girl seeks revenge by casting a spell on the three guys, causing one of them to vomit all over the executives in his office during a meeting, and another getting stabbed by a hooded stalker a la I Know What You Did Last Summer.

The bad spell finds a host in one of the characters' girlfriends to carry out the revenge to kill the stabbed guy while he is in the hospital (it is not clear why the hooded stalker did not finish him off during the first encounter, perhaps merely to prolong the film's running time).

The evil spirit also seems quite cheeky as she burns a car belongs to one of the guys as part of the revenge.

The film's serious intention is crippled by an incoherent script tackled by the director himself from the story of producer Asun Mawardi.

Despite a sincere attempt, the film ends up being one of many undistinguishable B-movie horror flicks coming from the U.S. If only they had not taken themselves so seriously.

In the promotional kit, the film producers mention that they decided to make a movie on black magic because the theme has not been explored enough in horror films.

If only they had done their research, they will find that there are countless films on the subject and about a dozen of them are titled ... The Black Magic.

However, despite all the shortcomings, The Black Magic is still good news for Indonesia's film scene.

Some local film producers tend to spend money as little as possible by sacrificing the quality of the film including by using digital video (an ugly medium) even when they can afford to use a better one.

It's such a refreshing thing to hear there are actually Indonesian film producers who are willing to spend more money for better production value.

The Black Magic reportedly spent around US$800,000, a huge budget for an Indonesian film, which makes other local film producers drool. Let's just hope that their outings will improve in the future.

i-box:

The Black Magic ** out of four stars Horror, 91 minutes Starring Daniel Lennox, Christina Weber, Guy Bracca, Brian Bianchini, Sheny Andrea. Directed by Marc-Ivan O'Gorman A Creative Motion Pictures Production