Mystics in Bali is the sort of cult film that I just love. There's some bugnuts insane horror stuff in there, but the overall story and execution is just so... off? In a good way though, one that is just super entertaining to me. I'm not sure if it's a translation thing (it's an Indonesian film and actually focuses on a legitimate piece of Balinese folklore), or an international edit that cuts out some pertinent stuff, but what you're left with is a fun concoction of bizarre effects, bad dubbing, and an overall groovy feel.
Mystics in Bali wastes no time in cutting to the chase. After a rad opening sequence featuring lots of Balinese percussion and cool looking masks, we are introduced to Cathy - an American student studying in Bali. She sounded that way, anyways - some reports have her as Australian. At any rate, a she's white foreigner. Hanging around with Cathy is her Balinese boyfriend Hendra. They *seem* to be romantically involved anyways, but anytime they are about to kiss or whatever, they are "comically" interrupted. But right away, Cathy is all "I want to learn Leyak" (a Balinese form of black magic), and Hendra is all "Sure! It's the most dangerous form of black magic, but I can help you out. Let me arrange a meeting with the Leyak Queen." (Besides interrupted intimacy, their relationship basically consists of Hendra doing whatever Cathy tells him to do.) Cathy wants to write a book about the dark arts, and figures the best way to learn about it is to get trained by the evil Leyak Queen. And it's apparently not that difficult of an application process, because before you know it Cathy is training with the really weird - and *constantly* cackling - Leyak Queen.
But to no one's surprise (except maybe hers), Cathy is quickly taken advantage of by the Leyak master. The two of them (grossly) transform into different animals, and do really weird stuff that I won't spoil. For a taste, please see the wikipedia entry on the Penanggalan, the creature Cathy turns into. Part of the fun is just letting it surprise you - so I'd suggest just watching the thing for the best experience. Anyhow, the village elders realize that the Leyak Queen is getting more powerful with Cathy as her servant, so they must fight back. And good times were had by all.
The best part of Mystics in Bali is just the oddness of it all. I don't want to spoil anything, but there is enough random craziness to make the film well worth watching. Flying severed heads, people turning into animals via crazy special effects, magic powers. Some of it is surprisingly gross, but it's all pretty awesome.
And while the film isn't wall to wall craziness, the story behind it is almost always fun. Things move at a pace that is unrealistic but always entertaining (see: Cathy being a Leyak master after two training sessions). And the dubbing has a hammy/mismatched quality to it that I almost always got a kick out of... the diction of the dubbers is full of awkward pauses and unnatural breaks in just about every scene. I love that stuff. And speaking of the dubbing, I have to mention the laughing of the Leyak Queen. She just goes on and on and on with her high pitched laughing. It's funny at first, then gets annoying, but eventually gets so ridiculous that it swings back around to being funny again. Your mileage may vary though. There's some pretty good music in there too. Honestly, Mystics in Bali is just sampling gold.
Horror-wise, it's never really all that scary, and it's almost too bizarre to ever really get invested in the characters. It's the sort of film where you're just too busy processing the WTF'ery of it to really be too concerned about what happens to Cathy or Hendra. But still, you get some decent and occasionally shocking grossness here and there, and while the effects aren't all that good, they're almost always fun in a campy way.
Mystics in Bali certainly won't be for everybody. It's not a traditionally "good" movie - it's just too confusing and weird to win over anyone besides fans of the bizarre. But if you like crazy exploitation films - especially those with bad dubbing - I'd say it's absolutely worth checking out.
I would recommend this film.
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