The Queen of Black Magic is an insane ride into the evil past of an Indonesian orphanage with what feels like 80 characters, a lot of blood, bugs and witchy torture porn. Joko Anwar (Impetigore, Satan’s Slaves) wrote this modern take on the 1981 Indonesian horror classic of the same name, and while it’s certainly a well done film, it gets a bit long in the tooth for my tastes.
Fully grown up Hanif returns with his wife and children to the orphanage where he was raised, meeting up with his two orphanage buddies, their significant others, the orphanage staff, and a few of the resident kids... where they all intend to pay their respects to the elderly and dying caretaker, Mr. Bandi. Hanif appears to hit a deer with his car on the way, but that is quickly forgotten and everyone meets and reminisces and seems to enjoy themselves. Especially Hanif’s son Haqi, who is interested on hearing more about the legend of Ms. Mirah, who allegedly murdered one of the girls and went insane after being locked up in a room as punishment. But obviously things are not what they seem, and of course things go terribly awry in the most peculiar and ghastly ways, some of which adds to the jumble of confusion with so many characters and such a slow rollout of the horrific backstory.
Overall, The Queen of Black Magic is still a solid flick with some gnarly scenes and certified heebie jeebies. 7.5 centipedes down the throat out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment