Cult horror film taps Bali mythology
Print Edition
THE freakiest thing I’ve ever seen was a shaman ceremony in the western part of the country of Mongolia. Up by Lake Khovshol, there’s the eagle-hunting festival, and the reindeer people come down and take part in the festivities.
In the deep of the night, a ceremony was called for and a small group of us was seated around a campfire. Suddenly, a figure emerged with a giant mask that doubled as a drum. She held a large stick and would smash the mask, making a resounding sound that filled the night.
At the same time, she made piercing noises with her vocal chords, using them independently.
The whole thing was simple, but deeply effecting. No pyrotechnics or special effects — it was all human drama, but it scared me red.
At its best, “Mystics in Bali” (1981) touches on this sort of primal fear. The film opens in a black void.
Ominous, traditional-sounding drum music plays, and the camera zooms in and out on a costumed dancer. With just some camera movement, music, and costumes, it provides one of the most memorable openings to a film I’ve seen in a long time.
We then move immediately into the plot, with a Western woman asking a local guy about learning the local black magic. At this point, I was ecstatic: this movie might be made for cheap, it could be something like the primal cousin to “Evil Dead.”
By no coincidence, thanks to the Sub-Cinema curators at Dada, this movie is showing as a double feature with “Evil Dead,” a 1980s cult classic horror film also made for very cheap.
That movie dispensed with plot almost altogether, not in a way that felt incomplete, but in a move to show the universality of fear. With no context, the viewer fills in their own background to why a monster why might want to get them.
Unfortunately, “Mystics in Bali” slows down considerably. We get a story with an uncle and the flat, inexperienced actors start trying to emote. It becomes a mess.
Parts are inspired, but when it moves away from what makes it special from other horror movies, an interesting local culture, it becomes just another cheap horror movie.
(Brian Offenther is a Shanghai-based freelancer.)
• When to see it: May 13, 9pm
• Where to see it: Dada, 115 Xingfu Rd
• Price: Free
• What to see: A young, Western woman (Ilona Agathe Bastian) attempts to learn the black magic of Leak for research on a book about international dark arts. She gets in over her head, and then needs to get over her head. This 1981 cult horror film from Indonesia is notable for combining Balinese mythology and arts with gory horror.
• Brian’s score: 03/10
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