JAKARTA - Kimo Stamboel is still crazy for blood. Perhaps nothing could more accurately describe the execution that Kimo carried out on the Queen of the Dark Arts. If other directors build a universe, aka the background world in the film, Kimo takes a different path. Care for the wind with all the creation theory universe. Because, the Queen of the Dark Arts is a hell created by Kimo.
The story of the Queen of the Dark Arts takes place in an orphanage that holds various dark mysteries of the past. One day, the three original children of the orphanage, Hanif (Ario Bayu), Anton (Tanta Ginting), and Jefri (Miller Khan) returned with their wives and families to visit Pak Bandi, the caregiver of the orphanage who is seriously ill, played by Yayu. Unru.
All disasters occurred during that visit. One by one, they were attacked by terrible sorcery. A woman who practices black magic tries to get revenge on Hanif, Anton, and Jefri from the past. Revenge is not only targeting the three, but also their families.
Until last week - before the show of the Queen of the Dark Arts - at least, Rumah Dara (2009) could be Kimo's best slasher film. Under the name Mo Brothers, Kimo and Timo Tjahjanto succeeded in creating a series of scenes full of blood and extremely brutal death.
However, the Queen of the Dark Arts offers another privilege. It is much more magical. In the film remake project of the same name, starring the horror film queen, Suzzanna in 1891, Kimo is more free to play brutal fantasies. The whole film Ratu Ilmu Hitam feels very fantasy. Kimo doesn't take the audience into any world he wants to go to.
However, any ignorance of the universe creation theory is unforgivable. In fact, no one will care about where all the massacres took place. No village names were mentioned, no city names were listed, in fact there was no place other than the building of an orphanage and a mysterious road that was shown.
However, the film slaughterhouse doesn't really need all of that. As long as blood spurts and death after death is able to aggravate the bowels, that's enough. Kimo knows very well what he is doing. It paid what a slaughter film had to pay to quench the thirst of its audience.
The magical death offered by the Queen of the Dark Arts had its own consequences for the production team. If in other films such as Rumah Dara and Headshot (2016) Kimo uses more special effects (SFX), in the Queen of Black Arts Kimo plays a lot with Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI). This challenge was answered well by the team. The Queen of the Dark Arts CGI is arguably of good quality.
From the side of the story, the Queen of the Dark Arts carries a neat and strong plot. Despite neglecting the construction of the universe, the Queen of the Dark Arts is successfully stitched together as a story full of mystery. The answers to the questions built by Joko Anwar - who plays the scriptwriter - have been answered since the beginning of the film through a series of scenes that are slowly repaid in 3/4 of the film.
The method is quite fun. From the start, the audience was made accustomed to the exposure to the background of the conflict - using the flashback method - through the orphanage's personal documentation, either photos or videos. It is this series of documentation that actually brings the audience to the most plausible reasons why all calamities occur, how the sins of the main characters lead them to the 'torment of hell' created by the Magic Queen.
"I don't believe there is hell after death. So, I created hell for you. I will make sure you get it!"
Queen of the Dark Arts
Kimo's freedom of work orgasm
This is not Kimo's first film without Timo (Mo Brothers). Last January, Kimo directed a horror film titled DreadOut. This film, which is a collaboration between GoodHouse Production, CJ Entertainment, Sky Media, and Nimpuna Sinema & Lyto, failed to make an impression.
DreadOut doesn't taste like Kimo. He acknowledged a number of obstacles in script writing. In DreadOut, Kimo tries to step aside from his trademark as a butcher filmmaker. That said, producers and film studios want DreadOut to be a film that can be enjoyed more widely.
"I don't take my audience who loves gore. This time, I'm trying to grab a wider audience. God willing, I'll be 17 years old. Censorship is still in process," said Kimo, written by CNN Indonesia.
Queen of the Dark Arts is Kimo's return to his true self as a blood-crazed filmmaker. His collaboration with Joko Anwar was very successful. Especially for Joko, the Queen of the Dark Arts has even surpassed the writing of the Hellenic Woman script.
Easy. Ratu Ilmu Hitam presents a plot twist that is more responsible than that of the Blessed Land Woman. If Perempuan Tanah Jahanam leads the deepening of the background of the conflict through a long flashback show that is all released at the end of the film, the path to a plot twist in Ratu Ilmu Hitam is actually strung slowly and neatly.
Finally, welcome to the hell created by Kimo. Do not miss. Because, "not even knowing is a sin, my dear."
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