Sunday, July 12, 2009

A evening with Suzzanna and Barry Prima

Sundel Bolong (GHOST WITH HOLE) & Nyi Blorong (THE SNAKE QUEEN)

What is your idea of the perfect double feature? Sometimes I like to make my own double feature evenings with friends, or my girlfriend, or all alone. And one of the double features I've been wanting to have for a long time, is one with Indonesian weirdness and horror, and what would be more perfect then a double feature evening with two movies featuring Suzzanna and Barry Prima in both of 'em?

''This is the story about a young woman who is killed by a bunch of mindless thugs. She rises from her grave as a ghost/zombie and starts to kill them off one by one in very gruesome fashions. Will anyone be able to stop her or to give this poor soul peace?''

Sounds pretty standard, right? Nah, are you stupid? It's Indonesian. Ain't nothing standard about it.

I just saw the Indonesian horror flick SUNDEL BOLONG, and I have to say I'm dissapointed, with a cast such as Suzzanna and Barry Prima, I was expecting something excellent. What could have been a dark, weird and wonderful Indonesian horror movie focused more on comical aspects and lost me completely in the process. And I was really hoping that this was something special. SUNDEL BOLONG picks it self up the last 20 minutes, and get's pretty amazing! You should watch the movie just because of the last 20 minutes - But it was also a very slow movie and not a very good start on my Suazzanna and Barry Prima Double Feature evening! Incredible entertaining at points - Yes! An awesome movie - No!














The cover of the VCD also features a ''Flying head with intestines dangling underneath'' or more ''Flying skull'', and I was happy to see this featured in the movie as well! I'm always looking for ''Flying head with intestines dangling underneath'' movies.

''This is the story of the snake queen who is worshiped by many people. If you make sacrifices to her she may aid you in you endeavors. However she is very fickle and will often require that you sacrifice a loved one to her. One man has given over his wife and son in the name of wealth. The Queen has demanded that he also give up his daughter. This is too much and he asks for another way. She says that he may give up one member of the household who has enjoyed his wealth for one year. To that end the man seeks to marry off his daughter so that he can sacrifice the son in law. Things become complicated when the snake queen, in disguise falls in love with the young man creating a very odd love triangle''

Nyi Blorong (THE SNAKE QUEEN) is something completely different - This is why I fell in love with Indonesian horror. It's weird, fun and hilarious! The snake with a crown on it's head is just priceless. Haha.

Nyi Blorong has some very nice fantasy and horror elements.

I mad a bid for the Joconda tape on Ebay many months ago. I wanted it so bad, but lost. The tape went for 250$ And now that I've seen this fantastic movie I regret that I didn't bid more. The oppurtunity for getting the tape is very rare, so I may not get the chance for a long time, but I'm gonna bid more when I do.

I had fun throughout the movie, and overall, my double feature evening with Suzzanna and Barry Prima was very entertaining and fun.

None of the movies I saw had English subtitles, but where fairly easy to follow, and both films are based on Indonesian folklore, like most Indonesian movies.

Remember - I don't write reviews, at least not in the traditional way! This is my drunken journal of worldweird movies. Just so you know.

12 comments:

Jared said...

A shame about GHOST WITH HOLE (that English title is a personal fave). Never seen it, but from your review I really shouldn't be in any hurry to check it out either.

Jared said...

SNAKE QUEEN on the other hand, is completely awesome. Have you seen HUNGRY SNAKE WOMAN Patrick? One of the very best Indo horrors if you ask me.

Patrick B said...

I think you should give GHOST WITH HOLE (Lovely title and cool folklore tale) a chance. You may like it! I just think it was slow and too comical.

I haven't seen it, and haven't read much about it, but I know it’s a movie I want to see.

Is it available on VHS or VCD?

Patrick B said...

''Never seen it, but from your review I really shouldn't be in any hurry to check it out either.''

;)

''Remember - I don't write reviews, at least not in the traditional way! This is my drunken journal of worldweird movies. Just so you know.''

Hehe :P

Jared said...

I have a DVDr burned from the lbx Japanese VHS. Dubbed into English too. If you like maybe we can do a trade sometime in the future. PM on Cinehound with your email and I'll send you my MOVIES-TO-TRADE list when I get it completely updated.

Patrick B said...

A trade would be nice. Just have to get a burner first :) Hehe. I was gonna make a burn for Jack, but was happy when he got it on Japanese VHS a few weeks later.

But I'll sort it out and we can make some interesting trades in the future.

I can also make a list of my DVDr's of rare tape and a list of my tapes.

Jack J said...

I won SNAKE QUEEN on eBay (from Bill 'Onar') in October of last year for a whooping price of... 25 dollars!! :D

I have GHOST WITH HOLE on VCD and I agree it's not that good. As you said there's some good stuff in it but on a whole it's disappointing. Not every Suzzanna film is brilliant.

By the way, there are other "ghost with hole" films from Indonesia and they actually made one recently! The "ghost with hole" is, I believe, a well known horror character in Indonesian folklore. Much like the flying head. LOL.

Patrick B said...

Haha. You are really a bastard aren't ya? :D

Is ''Onar'' Bill Deathland?

Yes, it's a folklore - If you had read my post you would know that :( Haha

I've heard there are sequals, but almost everyone states that the first one, with Suzzanna, is the best. So I wonder how the others are? :/

Jack J said...

I did read your post but you're full of bollocks so I needed to say it anyway.

Yes, Bill from Onar is behind Deathland. He's also here:

www.buyhardfilms.com

Patrick B said...

I was wondering why he carried so many Onar releases. Hehe. Was thinking of buying some from him. Will have to do that then.

Jack J said...

Afair he uses Euro on his website and obviously Dollars on his eBay page so you might wanna figure out the exchange rate before you order. I remember once I placed an order and the dvds on the eBay page were cheaper.

Patrick B said...

Euro is 9 and Dollar is 6,5. I wish the dollar could go back to 4 again. Those where the days!