Mystics in Bali

Seen for the first time in January 2013.

I've dabbled in these '80s Indonesian horror movies a bit. Stuck my big toe in so to speak. The waters warm, but it leaves me indifferent. I read some other reviews of "Mystics in Bali," a practice I usually avoid. A lot of people are enthusiastic about the weirdness of "Mystics," and yeah sure it's weird, but I'm it's a weirdness that I'm indifferent to. I can easily imagine a person getting their strange cinema kicks from this movie. But, personally, I don't get mine.

I guess part of it is that on paper, it's a weird movie, but it really didn't seem that weird to me while watching it. It's an above average low-budget horror film and that's all it is, at least as far as I can tell. Yes, it's an Indonesian movie directed at a western audience, which gives it a few novelty points I suppose. And there's a cackling witch and amateur special effects of a disembodied head sucking a baby straight out of a woman.And there are characters who appear out of nowhere and deus ex machinas. Admittedly it sounds good on paper. It's just underwhelming in execution.

And it is undeniably an above average low budget horror. Which is good despite the fact that so much low budget horror is completely unwatchable. I think my issue is that it's good, but nothing special, by low budget horror standards, but that it's also not particularly weird by those same standards. Grade B.

The Beyond - Lucio Fulci

Seen for the first time in December 2012.

In 1981, "The Beyond" must have represented a huge advancement in the realm of cinematic gore, or at the very least, an apotheosis; the accomplishment that purveyors of gore had been working toward since the days of Herschell Gordon Lewis in the mid 60's. I'm tempted to say that the gore in "The Beyond" is not gratuitous, but that would be absurd. Of course the gore is gratuitous, but it is also necessary. Gore is the raison d'etre of this film, after all. And a sense of relish and excitement pervades the work. The same sort of excitement that occurs when new ground is being broken.

Beyond the gore, "The Beyond" does everything a horror film is supposed to do. It frightens and startles. It has creepy moments and suspenseful ones. It does not merely depict frightened people being tortured and mutilated creating a backdrop against which we might assume a studied pose. It affects the audience in these traditional horror ways, and the gore complements the film rather than stands in for it, like so many films of the gore-fest and torture porn variety do today.

The gore by today's standards is probably cheap. Certainly filmakers since Fulci with bigger budgets have achieved a higher verisimilitude of human offal. But the gore is as real as it needs to be for the purposes of this film. And its made up for by Fulci's lingering camera which never misses a moment nor cuts away too quickly from any of the violence, producing a movie more unsettling and disturbing than most of today's sadistic magic shows. This movie really is something special. Grade A.

Panic Beats - Paul Naschy

Seen for the first time in September 2012.

Paul Naschy is pretty big deal in Spanish Horror. This is a perfectly serviceable low budget horror film. Reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe. The intrigue is a bit much, but I like intrigue more than I like straight horror, so it’s a welcome dose, and the demand for suspension of disbelief is not too rigorous. Plus this has a good ending, where the real ghost comes along and slaughters the last conspirator standing. Makes good use of diaphanous nightgowns and naked women as well, making this a nice example of a sexy and low-key horror film from the era (70’s to early 80’s). Grade B.

Alucarda

Seen For the First Time in September 2012.

This was a Mexican horror movie from the 1970’s directed by a guy named Moctezuma. It’s entertaining enough though it drags in parts. Basically, two orphans are possessed by the devil in an orphanage run by nuns. This is not as good as “Don’t Deliver Us From a Evil,” of which it seems a relatively close relation, nor is it as good as post-“Exorcist” Italian exploitation “Malabimba: the malicious whore.” But it is good and entertaining. Much of it seems very staged in a theatrical way. The actual exorcism rite in this movie was more disturbing and titillating than the actual satanic ritual featuring a mass orgy, which is cool and funny in its way. Could have done more with the blind girl, and corruption of innocence themes, but overall this was a pretty well-done, atmospheric horror with some nice high schlock moments. Grade B.

Pieces

Seen for the first time in September 2012.

A dubbed Spanish slasher film from 1982, I inadvertantly watched this with the track of audience noise from a 2002 screening. What sounded like a laugh track of maniacal laughter during seemingly random parts of the movie produced a disconcerting but interesting effect. Once I realized what was going on, I found the movie a little less interesting.

A kid’s mother finds him doing a dirty jigsaw puzzle and flips her shit over his smut collection. He kills her and then grows up to kill nubile coeds and stitch their bodies together. This is competent if unexceptional work and would be improved by more and better T&A. Enjoyable though, and it strikes the right tone throughout. Grade B.