Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic provides a wonderful introduction to the Indonesian film legend, however it’s a enjoyable watch even should you’re already conversant in her work. Nearly the one prerequisite for enjoyment is being a horror fan, as a result of David Gregory’s documentary is filled with clips from Suzzanna’s gloriously over-the-top filmography, particularly her much-loved early-’80s entries.
“The Queen of Indonesian Horror,” as she got here to be identified, was born throughout World Battle II; she knew from an early age that she needed to be a film star. When she was only a teen, her first movie function introduced her important acclaim. However she didn’t really ascend to her style throne till the Eighties, when she starred in a sequence of grotesque shriekers taking part in characters—inevitably, a lady who rises from the grave seeking vengeance—primarily based on well-known monsters from Indonesian folklore.
As you’d count on, Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic explores the life and profession of Suzanna Martha Frederika van Osch—she was half-Dutch, which explains the final identify. However it additionally digs into her influence on Indonesian cinema by concerning the nation’s difficult political and cultural historical past, significantly because it ran alongside her rise to fame. It’s context that provides a lot extra to her story—as does the movie’s inclusion of her private struggles, particularly the dying of her son when he was simply a young person, to assist us perceive the feelings that guided her performances.
And talking of these performances, whereas Suzzanna—as she was credited on-screen; she added a “z” to make her identify sound extra mysterious—had magnificence and expertise, she additionally had an inherent spooky high quality that, as modern Indonesian horror director Joko Anwar says within the documentary, places her on a degree with Boris Karloff, Vincent Worth, and Bela Lugosi. Her eyes—haunting, mournful, electrical—had been her trademark, and as a fan factors out right here, “She might play a task with simply her gaze.”
Suzzanna cultivated an off-screen mystique that paralleled the roles she selected; she performed magical rituals as she was entering into character, and plenty of followers believed she herself had supernatural powers, an outlook she appears to have inspired. She was unusually devoted to her craft; at one level we hear from a make-up artist who remembers Suzzanna particularly wanting to make use of dwelling snakes in a headdress she wore in Nyi Blorong to make sure most authenticity.
All through the documentary, it’s emphasised how Indonesian tradition is strongly influenced by its legends and ghost tales. Among the many producers, students, admirers, mates, and relations who present up as speaking heads, there’s additionally a Javanese mythology professor. This angle helps viewers who aren’t Indonesian perceive the importance of Suzzanna portraying conventional folklore characters, most of whom have the identical lengthy, darkish hair and high-pitched cackle-laughs and are motivated by themes revolving round being pregnant, childbirth, and revenge. Normally, it’s revenge towards a very deserving man, however Indonesia’s merciless higher lessons additionally felt the sting of her wrath, which additional elevated her to hero standing amongst her followers.
Seemingly few interviews with Suzzanna exist; what we see of her past movie clips is taken from press conferences, the place she averted discussing her private life. However Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic does dig right into a late-in-life scandal revolving round her second husband. We meet him early within the movie as he reveals us across the house they shared, together with the room the place Suzzanna died in 2008.
Should you discover he nonetheless appears relatively younger, that’s as a result of, as we later discover out, they met when he was taking part in her teenage son in Sankuriang. They married regardless of their vital age distinction—after which co-starred in one other movie, once more as mom and son!—and the romance led to inheritance-adjacent rigidity with Suzzanna’s daughter and son-in-law. That rift later erupted into violence and what seems to be an ongoing feud even after her dying.
It’s messy drama—with Suzzanna’s response to it captured by an emotional exhibiting for the press—that also can’t overshadow what’s contained in Suzzanna’s filmography. However it does make Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic a documentary that has extra twists and turns than your typical restrospective.
Together with the documentary now streaming on Shudder, the horror platform has added 4 of cult-favorite movies which might be prominently talked about in it: Sundelbolong (1981), The Queen of Black Magic (1981), Nyi Blorong (1982), and Sankuriang (1982). It’ll be tough to withstand instantly diving proper into them after you glimpse all of the clips teasing their lurid delights.
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