Queen of Black Magic (1981) Blu-ray Review

Mondo Macabro

Blu-ray Release: May 12, 2026 (standard edition)

Video: 2.35:1/1080p/Color

Audio: Indonesian and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono 

Subtitles: English

Run Time: 89:58

Director: Liliek Sudjio

Note: Mondo Macabro is releasing standard edition versions of both Queen of Black Magic and Mystics in Bali on the same day. I’m writing two separate reviews, but I’m recycling the introductory paragraphs.

A wedding ceremony goes dreadfully wrong and the groom, Kohar (Alan Nuary), suspects black magic. He tracks down Murni (Suzzanna), the woman he believes is responsible, and throws her to her death over a high cliff. But she is rescued from the dark jungle by a strange hermit (W.D. Mochtar), who tells her that she must seek revenge. They accused her of black magic – now, she must learn to use that magic against them. (From Mondo Macabro’s official synopsis)

Indonesian genre cinema saw a major boost over the last decade, thanks to streaming distribution models, the efforts of a new crop filmmakers, including Gareth Evans, Timo Tjahjanto, Kimo Stamboel, and Joko Anwar, who brought a new flavor of martial arts action and Southeast Asian horror to international audiences who’d grown tired of the Hong Kong and Japanese influences of the early ‘00s. These films are themselves rooted in a series of films that emerged in Indonesia during the post-coup era, when censorship standards and western media regulations loosened.

Alongside their rip-off/remix-loving counterparts in Italy, India, Turkey, and Hong Kong, the Indonesians did their best to ape Hollywood, but the lack of industry infrastructure and strong cultural identity instead produced an entirely unique series of cinematic artifacts. This golden era of Indonesian exploitation cinema was kicked off in large part by two influential classics from director Sisworo Gautama Putra – The Warrior (Indonesian: Jaka Sembung, 1981) and Satan’s Slave (Indonesian: Pengabdi Setan, 1980). 

Hollywood horror was popular in the region and Indonesian filmmakers had dabbled in horror prior to Satan’s Slave, beginning, by most accounts, with Awaludin & Ali Shahab’s Birth in the Tomb (Indonesian: Beranak Dalam Kubur) in 1972, which, like The Warrior, was based on a comic strip. That film made a star of a young actress named Suzzanna Martha Frederika van Osch, better known as Suzzanna by the time she headlined Liliek Sudjio’s The Queen of Black Magic (Indonesian: Ratu ilmu hitam, 1981), and a number of movies based on the legend of Nyi Blorong, the Snake Queen. 

Powered by Suzzanna’s rising star, The Queen of Black Magic became wildly successful, creating a template for other black magic movies in the vein of their Hong Kong counterparts from filmmakers Ho Meng-Huathe and Kuei Chih-Hung. Sudjio and screenwriter Imam Tantowi were probably also referencing allegorical witchhunter movies, like Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968) and Otakar Vávra’s Witchhammer (1970), and the teen outcast horror fad inspired by Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1975), in that both Murni and Carrie are marginalized, bashful young women who unleash supernatural powers against their tormentors. 

If we really break it down, Queen of Black Magic is an Indonesian version of a rape/revenge thriller, in that Murni is forced into pre-marital sex with her lover, Kohar, who then betrays her, marries another woman, accuses her of witchcraft, and tries to kill her. Contrary to movies like I Spit on Your Grave (1978), the film has an overriding moral stance against vigilantism. We’re encouraged to sympathize with Murni as a victim of vigilante justice herself and someone who is being exploited by a mentor figure hoping to use her to secure power. The moral is further colored by the region’s Islamic majority. In a Hong Kong movie, sorcery can be countered with more sorcery, but, here, black magic can only be opposed by piety and prayer.

Believe it or not, Queen of Black Magic is actually one of the more conventional Indonesian horror films of its era, at least when compared to the absolute bat-shittery of Tjut Djalil’s Mystics in Bali (Indonesian: Leák, 1981) and Lady Terminator (Indonesian: Pembalasan Ratu Pantai Selatan, 1988). Don’t worry, though, it’s still quite outré, including bursting boils, bubbling veins, a Scanners-esque head explosion, and a showstopping auto-decapitation that ends with the severed head flying around the room and biting people.

Bibliography:

• Fear Without Frontiers: Horror Cinema Across the Globe, edited by Steven Jay Schneider (FAB Press, 2003) – specifically, Witches, Spells and Politics: The Horror Films of Indonesia by Stephen Gladwin

• Mondo Macabro: Weird and Wonderful Cinema Around the World by Pete Tombs (St. Martin's, 1997)

Video

Queen of Black Magic hit US VHS release via Twilight Video under the title Black Magic Terror, though I’m not sure how legit that release was. Mondo Macabro released an anamorphic DVD way back in 2008. It is long out-of-print and folks are asking hundreds for a copy on the resale market. As I’ve mentioned in my other Indonesian cult reviews, these movies weren’t treated very well, so there was a time when fans feared that none of them would make it to HD. That changed recently, though they’re still culled from less-than-ideal materials, which is something to keep in mind when watching them. Mondo’s 2.35:1, 1080p Blu-ray debut was remastered from the original negatives, which are actually in better shape than expected. 

The colors are vivid and diverse in a way that standard definition could never pull off, though there are times that elemental damage causes it to pulse a bit between saturated and muted palettes. Similarly, the black levels can appear somewhat washed out. Grain appears mostly natural, as do other textures and details, aside from some slight bleeding along bright edges. Overall, the only notable artifacts are some scratches, a few odd lens flares, and a handful of wonky composite shots, in which grain is magnified and a bluescreen effect leads to edge noise (I’ve included examples in the caps on this page for illustrative purposes).

Audio

Queen of Black Magic is presented with original Indonesian and English dubs, both in uncompressed DTS-HD Master Audio mono. As in the case of Hong Kong and Taiwanese films from the era, most of these Indonesian cult films were shot without sound and dubbed in post. Having originally experienced most of these films with English dubs, I’m somewhat partial to them, so I watched the majority of the film that way. That said, the Indonesian track has some volume and clarity advantages, especially in terms of the dialogue. In comparison, the English dub is sort of muffled. For the record, the eclectic score is entirely made up of library music (some of it stolen), which was the norm at the time, similar to how Shaw Bros. operated in Hong Kong.

Extras

• Joko Anware on Queen of Black Magic (7:00, HD) – The director of Impetigore (2019), the Satan’s Slave remake (2017), and writer of the Queen of Black Magic remake (2019, directed by Kimo Stamboel) chats briefly about the film, its pertinent themes, and director Liliek Sudjio.

• Indonesian Light & Magic (10:08, SD) – An archival video visit to El Badrun’s studio, where the filmmaker/effects artist shows off his creations and looks back on his career. I believe pieces of this featurette were used for Mondo Macabro’s 2001 TV doc Fantasy Films From Indonesia, available in full on their Special Silencers (1982) Blu-ray.

The images on this page are taken from the BDs and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.