Santet (1988) (Indonesia)

aka Black Magic/Black Magic: Bringer of Death

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Bloody revenge thy name is Suzzanna! Another lovely vehicle for Indonesian scream queen involves your usual shitty folks doing shitty things and then getting their just desserts in elaborate and messy ways. The familiar plot is helped by the presence of the always alluring Suzzanna. This time out some local scuzzy gangster poisons his sick wife (she’s such a burden!) and pins the crime on a village cleric. This brings an angry mob to his hut and as angry mobs are want to do, they burn the holy man (who is definitely not a practitioner of black magic) alive while the awful Bisman attempts to rape his wife (like you have to ask who plays her). Unfortunately for the local scumbags but fortunately for us, his wife manages to escape into the jungle where she comes across a witch that is mostly crocodile (her human head hilariously atop the pudgy reptile body) and has no problem bestowing diabolical powers to the young woman so she can get herself a measure of vengeance… as long as she fulfills some sinister obligations. I placenta eating (and theft!), bathing with crocodiles and full-moon nude strolling… boilerplate, really. What follows is cheap, sloppy and wonderful! The village chief knows Bisman is a piece of shit and is gunning for him but you don’t get to be a feared scumbag by not having a small army of awful humans answering your beck and call. Bisman continues on with his reign of terror, little realizing that a woman he has wronged is building up dark powers to throw directly at his big ol’ scarred face. The chief’s young son arrives right before Bisman makes his play at usurping power and he seems to be quite smitten with the beautiful widow he runs across (don’t blame him). Extended bits of comedy add to the oddness while also weighing things down, a mid-movie song and dance charms for all the wrong reasons and the cheap special effects are only emboldened by the manic imagination thrown behind them. Rambo references, shaking butts, detachable breasts, horny idiots, an exploded crotch (I think a toad is to blame), forceful snake swallowing, exploding bellies (full of snakes), fantasy brought to life by a grade school theater set designer, romantic ass rubbing, some of the most disgusting nudity ever caught on film and a final ten minutes that finally lets loose. All of this still feels like it’s not filling up enough space to let this be as wild as it should. It’s still a fun time, it just feels like it should be a hell of a lot more fun.