Mondo Macabro as Trashy/Cult Film Archive: The Case of Classic Indonesian Exploitation Cinema

Source: Plaridel • Vol. 15 No. 2 • July - December 2018

Mystics in Bali T-Shirt this Halloween!

From Mondo Macabro FB page:

Coming to a T-shirt this Halloween! Designed by the very talented Denis St. John! What do you think?

Me and Pete Tombs

Last Thursday and Friday were probably the most productive days in years. I met many great people in London. And one of them was MondomacabroDVD's Pete Tombs.

I knew Pete since 2007 when I found a DVD title Mystics in Bali in a DVD store in Amsterdam, It was Joko Anwar who introduced me with this kind of classic transnational exploitation Indonesian films from his multiply blog back in 2007. And he gave me Pete's email address. So I wrote an email to Pete and had a long interviews.  For me, Pete is important, not only for distributing this kinds of films, but he also wrote a chapter on Indonesian cinema in his book Mondo Macabro:  Weird and Wonderful Cinema Around the World (1998).  and a short documentary .  that time, those were the only sources on Indonesian films as cult and exploitation movies.

Fascinated by this kind of movies, in 2008, I was writing a paper for my final assignment for a master module at Universiteit van Amsterdam. I haven't realized that time, that this presentation would lead me to my PhD study i am doing currently. But surely, it took long journey, from 2007 to 2012, for me to take this path as one of my passions.

After graduated from UEA, I returned home and wrote some popular articles on Pete Tombs and his MondomacabroDVD, as well as global exploitation films from Indonesia in general,  including  Pete Tombs, Penjaga Taman Film Ekspolitasi Indonesia (Pete Tombs, Park Ranger of Indonesian Exploitation Cinema),   Cult Fan Boys Ketemu Jaka Sembung dan Leak (Cult Fan Boys Meet Jaka Sembung and Leak),    Sekali Lagi Tentang  Film Horror Indonesia  (again, on Indonesian Horror Films). Jaka Sembung dan Dunia Islam

And in 2009, I went to Melbourne for B for Bad Movies conference at Monash University. I presented a talk titled The Other Side of Indonesia: New Order’s Indonesian ExploitationCinema as Cult Films, which got published in the same year.

And, in December 2012, I flew to Norwich to start my PhD research on the same topic. And, last month, I just guest-edited a special issue for Plaridel journal on the topic, and I got many interesting papers from great scholars all over the world, all discussing the same topic: exploitation, cult, and b-movies.

In a way, I can conclude that Pete Tombs is one of the most influential person for my current research.

I knew Pete from 2007, but I just met him two days ago. And it was a great chat.
Thank you, Pete.

RIP Lilik sudjio, the director of "Queen of Black Magic"

I just read from El –Badrun’s Facebook status, that #liliksudjio just passed away today  (9 dec), at 07.30, in Jakarta.

Liliek Sudjio  was the first director who received Citra awards in the 1^st Festival Film Indonesia. He outdid Usmar Ismail, “the father of Indonesian cinema”.  He directed Ratu Ilmu Hitam (Queen of The Black Magic, 1979), one of the earliest exploitation films exported overseas in the early 1980s and recirculated in the 2000s.

But Liliek’s works are beyond that. He directed several superhero movies such as GundalaPutra Petir (Indonesia's Flash)  and Darna Ajaib (Indonesia's Wonder Woman). He also directed comedy starring the icons of  the 1980s namely Gepeng and Benyamin Sueb.

In 1968, he was one of the chosen director that has been selected by Dewan Film Nasional (National Film Council) to produce a film related to the project of “searching of Indonesian faces on screen”. Instead of making art-house films, like other directors, he chose to make genre film, Djampang Mentjari Naga Hitam (Djampang Searches for the Black Dragon).

a review on Queen of Black Magic in DVD Drive-In http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/n-s/queenofblackmagic79.htm

a review on Queen of Black Magic (Oh The Horror) http://www.oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=319  
A review on Queen of Black Magic (Fright) (http://www.fright.com/edge/QueenOfBlackMagic.htm)