Mondo Macabro DVD release, censored?

amishgoat

1st let me say that Queen of Black Magic is a great slice of Indonesian horror, chock full of flying heads, exploding bodies and some hilarious overdubs. That said, I noticed something that others may have not when watching my newly purchased Mondo Macabro DVD release of the film. In the film there are 2 scenes, one when Murni is being trained in the black arts and the other towards the latter half of the film where she is bathing in a river, that I believe are censored. In the first 'censored' scene, Murni appears to be sitting naked while the black magician walks around her. In that scene its a little harder to tell if its a censor 'fog spot' or if its the actual smoke that is being produced by the black magician, but it appears as if there is some fogging around her that would prevent the viewer from seeing any possible nudity. The second scene I mentioned is quite obviously censored. The film cuts to a scene where Murni is bathing in a river and its a clear day outside. Yet there appears to be fog around what would be her naked body. If that wasn't obvious enough, at one point she ducks down into the water and you can see the fog spot follow her body. Not sure if there is another print out there without the fogged scenes (its possible there isn't since it is an Indonesian film and we all know how stiff censors in eastern countries can be) but if there is an uncensored print, it is disappointing that Mondo Macabro did not seek this one out instead of giving us the version with fogged nudity. Then again it is entirely possible that they fogged it on purpose much like the way Takashi Miike did with MPD psycho. All in all the film rules and this should not take anything away from it. I just despise censorship and thought I'd bring this to the attention of anyone wanting to purchase the film.

score 8/10

amishgoat 6 July 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1905590/