Sundelbolong (1981)

... aka: Ghost with Hole
... aka: Ketibaan Sial (Arrival of the Damned)

... aka: Sundel Bolong
... aka: Sundelbolong: Kisah Ini Diangkat Dari Legende Rakyat

Directed by:
Sisworo Gautama Putra

Though most outside of Asia probably have no clue what a sundel bolong even is, it's a specific type of ghost in Indonesian mythology. The spirit wears a white gown, has very long hair and a huge hole in its back and is a former prostitute who died while either pregnant or during childbirth. The hole signifies where the unborn fetus was "born in the grave" and exited through the back, while the hair is there to conceal the hole so the ghost can move about us mere mortals undetected. Because the term sundel bolong has no meaning to most non-Indonesians, the common English translated title is "Ghost with Hole." While that's not entirely accurate, seeing how "sundel" means "prostitute" or "whore" and "bolong" means "hole" and that would result in a title like "Whore with Hole" and thus probably rope in the wrong kind of audience, you can see why they went with that. Similar ghosts matching the physical description of the sundel bolong are present in the folklore of several other Asian countries, such as the pontianak in Malaysia, though these aren't necessarily former prostitutes. In Indonesia they even even have a second term for a female ghost matching the exact same physical description of the sundel bolong that died while pregnant but isn't a former lady of the night called a kuntilanak. Numerous movies have been made about all of these ghosts, though this appears to be the very first film made about this particular one.

One of my favorite discoveries researching this title was learning that all of these different ghosts are so popular that they've inspired their own series of action figures from the company Setan Lokal. The same company seems to be responsible for the "Indo Psychos" line of real-life Indonesian serial killer action figures (!!!), which takes tasteless to a whole 'nother level, but we'll just ignore that and concentrate on these cool supernatural ones...

The newlywed bliss of just-married Alisa (Suzzanna) and boat captain Hendarto ("Berry" / Barry Prima) doesn't last long after he receives a letter - during his wedding reception! - telling him he'll have to go away for a spell. After he sails off into the sunset toward some unknown destination, Alisa tries to adapt to life alone in their home, knitting and anxiously waiting by the phone for a call. She does receive a call, but not from her husband. This one asks her to come to the Rudy Boutique clothing store because they're considering employing her as a model. When she arrives, she bumps into an old acquaintance, except this is someone from her past she'd rather not associate with now. You see, before she married into an upper class suburban existence, she was an afro-wig-sporting prostitute. And the two people she happens to bump into are Mami (Ruth Pelupessi), her former madam, and Rudy (Rudy Salam), the sleazy boutique owner. Rudy coerces her into the backroom of his shop, where he threatens to expose her past if she doesn't have sex with him. She refuses, slaps him in the face and promptly takes off.

As Alisa is driving home that night, she's forced to stop because of a station wagon parked in the middle of the road. The driver appears to have passed out. When she attempts to help, a bunch of men jump her, chloroform her and throw her in the car. She's taken to an abandoned warehouse where she discovers Mami and Rudy were both in on the plot to kidnap her. She's tied up and raped by Rudy and then all four of the thugs. Alisa attempts to seek justice later on, but the court throws out her case, lets her assailants go free and rubs salt in the wound by humiliating her. Returning home a defeated and depressed woman, Alisa soon finds herself vomiting and bleeding. Fearing she's pregnant from the rape, she goes to a doctor who is unable to help her (and she later envisions is chastising her; likely due to the fact she's considering abortion) and then starts losing her mind. Unable to cheer her up all this time, her motherly servant Bi Ijah (Marlia Hardi) finds Alisa dead in the bathroom. Lying in the pool of blood is a small fetus; presumably from Alisa's attempt to terminate the pregnancy herself.

Hendarto returns to find his new bride dead. Bi Ijah fills him in on what she knows, the two take flowers to the grave and, when they return home, the same flowers are on the bed. While out driving late at night, Hendarto runs into an innocent, cat-loving young woman named Shinta, who's a dead ringer for his former wife (and is also played by Suzzanna). He takes her home for tea but she promptly disappears into the night after a brief conversation. Soon after, there are a bunch of ghost sightings around town and people associated with Mami and Rudy start dropping like flies. Of course, Alisa has returned as a vengeance-seeking sundel bolong, who sometimes now goes by the new "Shinta" persona or other forms to lure victims.

The sundel bolong is depicted here pretty closely to how it's described in Javanese mythology, though this one can take on the appearance of any woman it wants, shows up as a pocong (shrouded) ghost in one scene and even decides to transform into a skull-faced leyak / krasue (detached flying head with entrails) at one point. Hey, I guess, why not? Alisa / Shinta drowns a guy in the bathtub, causes a guy to wreck his car after lifting it up by the bumper, bends steel bars with her hands and visits a food stand where she devours a plate full of meat and drinks soto ayam soup from a steaming pot, which all leaks out of her back hole!

The ghost uses various methods to kill, including busting her arms right through a wall to strangle a guy, trapping a guy inside a white brick building and impaling him with her own tombstone, tossing someone off a balcony right onto electrical wires and detaching her arms, multiplying them and then sending them after some goons who get their throats clawed out and impaled! Sensing how his number's coming up soon, Rudy enlists the aid of a black magician to try to exorcise the ghost but he ends up getting crushed under a tree and set on fire instead. While all that's going on, Hendarto survives an attack by Rudy's thugs and teams up with the police to put a stop to things.

Expecting straight up horror schlock, I was surprised by how serious the first half of this plays out. While it moves slowly, it does a decent job establishing the lead character and her plight going into the more fast-paced supernatural revenge spree of the second half. Touching on topics like abortion and depression was unexpected, as was the use of surrealism during Alisa's baby nightmare scene, which also memorably employs a few babies with actual birth defects. However, the tone is all over the place once Alisa is dead and back to avenge her death. While the kills themselves are frequently imaginative, a lot of these bits are silly and clearly played for laughs. This tonal shift results in less than compelling viewing. Further hampering the horror and potency of the ghost's revenge are comic scenes featuring pedicab driver Amin (Dorman Borisman) and the brothel bartender (Bokir) having run-in's with the ghost. Some of these bits are comically sped up like on The Benny Hill Show.

On the plus side, Suzzanna is great and you can see why she was able to build a career in horror by examining her work here. Her role gives her the opportunity to flex her acting muscles during the dramatic first half, be scary as the ghost and even amuse with her dry dialogue delivery dealing with some blathering idiots when she's forced into the some of the more comedic scenes. There's a reason her films continue to frequently run on Indonesian TV to this day. The cast also includes Indo horror regulars H.I.M. Damsyik as thug Jeffrey, Eddy Hansudi as (the pigtailed) thug Dadung, Rukman Herman as thug Tom and El Koesno as thug Bram, plus Jafar Freeyork (from Putra's PRIMITIVES, along with Prima and Herman) and S. Parya (THE WARRIOR).

This was a hit in its home country and the third highest grossing domestic film of its year. It was remade as Suzzanna: Bernapas dalam Kubur (Suzzanna: Buried Alive) in 2018 with Luna Mora taking over the lead role, which has been renamed Suzzanna in honor of the late star who originated the part. Suzzanna got to play a similar role in Telaga Angker ("Lake Eerie"), though this time a murdered pregnant author who returns as a ghost. This sundel bolong also was the basis of numerous other Indonesian horror films including The Legend of Sundel Bolong (2007) and Kafan Sundel Bolong (2012).

★★1/2