Mystics In Bali

I'm sure some long running UK fans of the Mondo Macabro (Eurotika!/Pagan) line were slightly unsettled when they heard that Mondo Macabro were about to launch themselves onto the US market, would this be the end of a beautiful British relationship? Well fear not as it's full steam ahead with some more UK exclusive releases coming our way kicking off with the aptly selected wonderfully weird Indonesian shocker 'Mystics In Bali'.

H Tjut Djalil's black magic opus follows the misfortunate antics of young American tourist Cathy who has traveled to rural Indonesia anxious to learn the secrets of how to practice black magic, in particular the local style used by the cult of Leyak. With the aid of a smitten local lad she soon hooks up with a cackling old witch (with an extendable glow in the dark tongue and a penchant for bottled pints of blood) who agrees to teach her the ways of Leyak, but you soon have to question the motives of a tutor whose first order is for the all too willing Cathy to remove her skirt. Luckily for young Cathy there's nothing more sinister here than to enable our witch to tattoo her upper leg with some tasteful black magic artwork. As Cathy's lessons begin proper she learns such delightful practices as evil cackling (Mondo Macabro trivia fans may like to note that the evil cackle heard in their mainstay theme comes from this very movie), new wave indian dancing, shape shifting and transforming into animals! Now this all might seem well and good but as we all know there's always a catch to these sort of transactions and poor Cathy soon discovers that her witch chum has other plans for her…well to be precise plans for her head! Yes, Cathy's head (complete with dangling spine and innards) is used to fly around the village and attack pregnant woman and eat their unborn fetuses direct from their wombs via their crotches! Is Cathy destined to spend the remains of her life as a headless tool for the evil witch guru or can her love interest Hindra do anything at all to save the day?

'Mystics In Bali' is indeed one seriously demented movie that entertains through its strength in being so damn absurd. A low budget treat from the early eighties, it pretty much delivers what you'd expect from the period - that is unintentionally amusing wooden acting and downright hilarious bad dubbing sidled with equally badly scripted dialogue and editing so erratic you cant afford to be anything but forgiving. On the other hand though the film has certain charm that leaves you with nothing but warm appreciation of what is unfolding onscreen, well what genre fan could not be appreciative of the unborn baby eating flying head scenario - this alone makes this one well worth your attention! But it has to be said also that in general the effects throughout are impressive with some first rate creature effects that stand out against the bulk of the feature. Truly bizarre, bad and ballsy - 'Mystics In Bali' easily meets the criteria of the Mondo Macabro remittance of being a prime example of the 'wild side of world cinema'.

The anamorphic widescreen transfer here is yet another impressive Mondo Macabro presentation, whilst the downright obscurity of a movie such as this means that the print on show is not going to be pristine it's still clear, colourful and detailed with only minimal print damage that wont detract from your viewing fun. The 2 channel English dub is clear and pretty much what you'd expect from a cliched studio dub session from that period, soulless but amusing none the less. The extras may be formulaic to what folk expect now from Mondo Macabro but as the saying says 'if it ain't broke then there's no need to go fixing it' and the Mondo Macabro extras are indeed of an expected high standard. Things kick off this time round with the excellent UK TV broadcast episode of the Mondo Macabro show covering the Indonesian genre scene, an engrossing documentary full of simply fascinating insights into the scene in general, its history and the key movies throughout its heyday complete with interviews with those involved. Following this there is a selection of fun text sections including a nice illustrated companion piece to the main documentary, the expected filmography section here covering the work of director Djalil and finally an extensive (and somewhat bewilderingly amusing) detailed guide on how to become a Leyak - we did not try this out here at SGM Towers in case of our heads flying off so be warned if considering trying this at home!

'Mystics In Bali' is one weird movie indeed, yes it is quite a bad movie but thankfully it truly can be appreciated for being one of those rare obscure beasts that is so bad that it is indeed good! Bizarre entertainment of the highest order and another solidly impressive presentation from the team at Mondo Macabro - check it out now!

Review by Alan Simpson

You too can learn the ways of the Leyak by ordering 'Mystics In Bali' by clicking here.