MYSTICS IN BALI (1981)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 85 Minutes 59 Seconds
Audio: English or Indonesian DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: H. Tjut Djalil
Cast: Ilona Agathe Bastian, Yos Santo, W.D. Mochtar, Sofia W.D.
Mystics In Bali (1981) is directed by H. Tjut Djalil (White Crocodile Queen), and tells the mystical tale of an American anthropologist named Cathy (Ilona Agathe Bastian) who arrives in Bali to write a book about black magic. She meets a young man named Mahendra (Yos Santo, The Warrior and the Blind Swordsman) and he agrees to help Cathy study black magic, and agrees to introduce her to a powerful witch, who is the Queen of the Leyak (Sofia W.D., Queen of Black Magic), a cult of witches who are known to be shape-shifters. They meet her in a darkened forest, the hideous witch with long clawed-fingers, cackling like a maniacal hyena, it's actually this film that they sourced the cackling from the Mondo Macabro promo from. The witch agrees to train the American woman, but only if she brings with her blood for the witch to feed on, and if she agrees to meet her alone going forward without Mahendra's accompaniment, and to allow her two carve a spell glyph into her upper thigh with her long prehensile tongue. Cathy returns alone and continues her black magic training, becoming the witch's disciple, teaching her to shapeshift into a pig and a snake, unaware that the cackling witch is tricking her, for while she sleeps at night the witch takes possession of her head, which detaches from her neck, her lungs and entrails trailing behind it. It flies around and preys on pregnant women, the head wedged between it's victims legs while they sleep, Re-Animator style, and yes, it does look like it's performing cunnilingus, consuming the unborn fetus and draining the mother of blood, then returning to her body none the wiser of what her fanged-floating head has been up to, with the witch becoming more vital and powerful after feeding on the blood that the floating head has procured. It's wild stuff!
When she starts having nightmares and confides in Mahendra about them he gets wise to the fact that the witch's teaching are coming at a high price, for the woman he is falling in love with. He approaches his uncle, Machesse (W.D. Mochtar, Special Silencers), a Buddhist monk, who teaches him how to defend against the witch's black magic with meditation and mantras, however, while facing off against the witch and Cathy's flying head the uncle dies, but then his uncles twin brother Oka (the always great W.D. Mochtar, again) shows up, and we get a wild Indonesian horror finale chock full of batshit WTF-ery.
This is probably one of the most known and notorious of the Indonesian horror films in North America, as it was the first to be widely available that I am aware of, I've had it on DVD for ages. It's chock full of mystical mayhem and some impressive visual effects, including the sequences of the head detaching from the body - which is done with some weird and off-putting SD video manipulation, however they did it, it's effectively unsettling. Of course we get more occult madness by way of the pig and snake shape-shifting, the vomiting of mice, and that reoccurring fanged-floating head, bolts of magical electricity and floating fiery orbs. Some of the effects are a bit ropey looking, which I think is pretty common with Indonesian horror flicks of this era, but it's often ghastly and effective even still, and I will not soon forget Cathy's disembodied head pulling toothpicks out of the stump of it's own neck! The film also benefits from an eerie score by Gatot Sudarto, alternating between traditional Balinese and synths.
Audio/Video: Mystics In Bali (1981) makes it's Blu-ray debut on a region-free Blu-ray disc from Mondo Macabro, presented in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen, restored rom the original camera negative, but this is an older scan, not a new one, and apparently came from the same HD master as the previous DVD. That is of course less than ideal, but being the only source available, so it is what it is. Colors fare quite well well for the most part, fabrics and greenery shine, though fine detail, texture and shadow detail are lacking, but I do think there is enough improvement in depth and clarity for this to merit the Blu-ray upgrade, even if the color-grade is pretty much identical to the DVD. Audio comes by way of English or Indonesian DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. I've always watched this with the English dub, but I sampled the Indonesian track this time around, and it does sound more authentic, but I still prefer the dub, personally.
Extras kick-off with a new 9-min Introduction by film-maker Joko Anwar, the director of the Satan's Slave remake, who speaks of this being a holy grail of horror, so outrageous, the shock value is through the roof. He describes it as traumatizing, when he first saw it, appreciating the rich culture and folklore. He also points to author Abdullah Harahopas being the father of Indonesian horror, while comparing the works of Indonesian horror directors Sisworo Guatama Putra and Tjut Djalil, noting that Djalil was more abstract, and then offering his favorite/most memorable scenes.
Next is an 11-min Video Essay: Monsters, Movies, and Myth, by Jake Gallo, who mentions a few Indonesian horror films of note, particularly those that are folklore horror, the many different folkloric creatures, and the the abundance of Krasue films, which are the floating heads spirits. There is also a 15-min Interview with director H. Tjut Djalil who discusses his early career as a writer before becoming a director, and touching on the Indonesian film scene at the time, and a few of his films.
We also get the Extended 2-hour Version of Mystic In Bali sourced from a fullscreen SD TV master, with over 30-minutes of additional scenes not seen in the theatrical cut. I did not notice much of any additional gore or supernatural shenanigans, but it's still a pretty cool extra. The last of the bonus stuff is the the 2-min Original Trailer. The single disc release arrives in a a standard keepcase with a single-sided wrap featuring a phenomenal new illustration by Jolyon B Yates that captures the bat-shit vibes of this one.
Special Features:
- Introduction by film-maker Joko Anwar (8:47)
- Movies, and Myth, Video Essay Monsters, Video Essay by Jake Gallo (10:48)
- Extended 2-Hour Version of Mystics in Bali (118:13)
- Original Trailer (2:41)
- Interview with director H. Tjut Djalil. (14.50)
