Mystics In Bali

Mystics in Bali (1981)

When an American girl named Cathy decides to investigate Leak Bali, a type of black magic she ends up with more than she bargained for. She arrives in Bali after having studied voodoo with the intention of learning all she can about the local black magic for a book she is writing. Luckily for her the man she is seeing is able to help her track down someone who may be willing to teach her. After making contact with a master practitioner of the art of Leak Bali she is accepted into their ranks. Little by little the knowledge is passed onto her, until she has learned enough for her book. But by then her master already has ideas about her usefulness and continues to use her to obtain ultimate power.

Sorry if the synopsis above is a little hard to follow. I did my best to try and make sense out of the plot, which is confusing and jumbled together. But that really didn’t effect how much I enjoyed this movie. Mystics in Bali is one of those rare movies that is entertaining without making much sense. The movie dives right into the action without wasting time explaining anything or giving any of the characters a back-story. Before you know it they have met the creepy old woman and are willingly doing all sorts of strange things to garner her favor. The performances are difficult to judge because of the dubbing, which is hilarious. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not, but it works great. If I have one complaint it is that some scenes seem to go on forever.

This movie has some of the greatest special effects that I’ve ever seen, in spite of how poorly they were executed. Not only do we have a witch that warns them she will look different each time they see her, which allows for all sorts of crazy makeup effects. But we have a giant tentacle that draws pictures, flaming balls that zoom around “fighting” each other, and a head attached to entrails that flies around collecting blood for the witch! There is one scene where she is feeding on a pregnant woman that is both hilarious and terribly disturbing.

Guys you have got to see this movie. The very first line that I wrote down in the notes I took while watching this movie is “Holy freaking shit” and that line itself best sums up Mystics in Bali. It is by no means a great movie or is it well executed or written. But it is the strangest, most uniquely entertaining movie that I’ve seen in a long time. Trust me you haven’t seen one like this before and aren’t likely to see one like it again. I recommend that you check it out.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer