“The Queen of Black Magic” Film Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
Everything Indonesian horror master Joko Anwar, director/writer of Impetigore (2017) and Satan’s Slaves (2017), has touched recently has turned to gory gold, and his latest screenplay continues that run. Director Kimbo Stamboel does a super job helming the project, aided by a game cast and an incredible array of supernatural set pieces.
Childhood friends Hanif (Ario Bayu), Jefri (Miller Khan), and Anton (Tanta Ginting) grew up in a remote orphanage together, and they reunite at the place as adults when head of the orphanage Mr. Bandi (Yayu A.W. Unru) is on his deathbed.The men bring along their wives — Nadya (Hannah Al Rashid), Eva (Imelda Therinne), and Lina (Salvita Decorte) — and their children, which turns out to be a terrible idea when secrets from the past begin to see the light, and supernatural terror comes calling in all manner of grue-soaked, bug-ingesting, skin-crawling ways.
Anwar uses the 1981 original film of the same name (both are titled Ratu Ilmu Hitam in Indonesian) as a springboard for an absolute creepfest, and Stamboel does the screenplay justice by focusing well on the family drama and making its protagonists characters for which viewers care before turning the carnage loose on them. No one is safe, not even children, and youngsters are victims of a real-life monster as well as the titular witch. The adult cast is terrific, and the younger cast members — led by (Muzakki Ramdhan) as Hanif’s son Haki — are solid, as well.
Accompanying the heavier subject matter are loads of shocking, eerie set pieces and well-rendered gore gags of both the practical effects and CGkind. Those who are easily troubled by both real-life and supernatural harm toward children, and those of the faint of heart and light of stomach, will find The Queen of Black Magic a challenge, but horror movie viewers with strong constitutions will find the film well worth watching.
The Queen of Black Magic streams exclusively on Shudder from January 28th in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, and via the Shudder offering within the AMC+ bundle where available.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com, which has now ceased publication because of the death of its editor/publisher Joe Kane but is available in back issues) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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