Director: H. Tjut Djalil (as Jalil Jackson)
Year: 1989
Country: Indonesia
Alternate Titles: Pembalasan Ratu Pantai Selatan, The Revenge of the South Sea Queen, Snake Terminator: The Snake Wench Dies Twice, Terminator Woman, Shooting Star, Nasty Hunter
Genre: Supernatural Slasher
Plot:
After going on a holiday trip, an anthropology student investigating the legend of a vicious South Seas Queen in the area becomes possessed by her spirit which sends her on a rampage across the city trying to kill off the descendant of an old enemy, forcing a cop to defend the target from the rampage.
Review:
There's quite a lot to like with this one. What really works nicely here is the highly enjoyable and entertaining way it goes about delivering the cheesy action scenes featured throughout here. As the initial setup places the possession at the beginning of the film and happens nearly immediately, there's a chance to riff on many classic scenes from the original in a more genre-friendly setup. The dispatching of the punks on the beach includes sexually conquering them before ambushing them for their clothing so as not to walk around nude, taking out numerous friends or innocent bystanders, as well as the various involving her discharging powers to manipulate those around her, come off as familiar retreads. Those scenes are given more of a horror vibe as the idea of the unfazed being wantonly dispatching anyone it comes across in its quest to kill off her target carries the same weight as before but turns into a more chilling concept that is played with nicely.
That, in turn, becomes the setting for the film switching gears into a full-on action film in the second half. The sequences of her taking out those in her path are filled with cheesily-filmed but energetic gunplay sequences where the amount of firepower that she takes from the police officers trying to stop this crazed woman shooting up the local hotspots or that she dishes out. With furious shootouts taking place in a nightclub performance, during frantic chases in careening cars along city streets, and the glorious police station massacre, there are plenty of brutal and bloody sequences with victims firing tons of rounds on the impenetrable killer only to receive plenty themselves which rip their bodies apart in graphic fashion. Featuring an over-the-top finale full of helicopter-mounted rifle fire, explosions galore, and a truly indestructible showcase for the possessed being chasing after her target despite the efforts to stop her. It's fast and frenetic resulting in a delirious pace and tempo that provides cheesy gore and action for nearly the duration of the film's running time, making for a fun time.
In the end, though, this one still has one huge overarching flaw on display. For as much good as the action here keeps things running along, it also can't escape the low-budget charm that's on display here. With the constant explosion of deaths emerging throughout here, the use of cheap make-up effects and prosthetics is increasingly high and that manages to be the case. The body squibs that showcase all the bullet wounds and gunshots in the numerous massacres look rather cheap and flimsy, much like the scene where she repairs the damage to her eye. Not only is this sequence a direct rip-off of another film entirely but the gore for this is just laughably bad and looks cheesy in the wrong way. The other slight issue is the aforementioned rip-off sequences that run rampant in the film, which shouldn't be a surprise but is still a big drawback. It runs through the motions and copies plotlines, themes, sequences, and even lines of dialog from the other film in a cheesy, straightforward manner that never leaves any surprises at all here. Otherwise, this one doesn't have too much to really hold it back.
Overview: ****/5
Featuring a ton of cheesy action, over-the-top gore, and some generally non-detrimental issues that are wholly expected to be found in a film like this, this one emerges as exactly the kind of film you would imagine it would be for better or worse. Those who can appreciate this kind of wild exploitation offering, or looking for this approach in their films will have plenty to like here while anyone looking for other kinds of genre fare or turned off by the flaws should heed caution.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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