Vacaciones de terror 2 (1990)

... aka: Pesadilla sangrienta (Bloody Nightmare)

... aka: Terror Vacations 2: Diabolical Birthday

... aka: Vacaciones de terror II: cumpleaños diábolico (Vacations of Terror II: Diabolical Birthday)

... aka: Vacation of Terror II

... aka: Vacations of Terror 2

Directed by:

Pedro Galindo III

Hard to believe anyone was eagerly anticipating a sequel to the very mediocre haunted house / cursed doll flick VACATION OF TERROR (1989), but they made it anyway. This one, which does not involve any kind of vacation despite the title, is directed by the first film's co-producer and brings back star Pedro Fernández in the role of Julio Aragón. From what little I remember of the previous film, Julio had accompanied his girlfriend's family to a remote old house for a summer vacation when the ghost of a witch started trying to kill everyone off. Now Julio has moved on with his life, runs an antique / curio shop and his mullet appears to have doubled in size. He's also not dating the same chick and also never even discusses the events of the first film. His love interest this time is played by real-life Latin pop star Tatiana, who really gets to stretch her acting muscles here playing a Latin pop star. OK, to be fair, she's cute, appealing enough and her acting isn't bad, and this is somewhat better than her next movie, FATAL NIGHTMARE (1990), where she was terrorized by a psycho armed with a Freddy-like clawed glove.

Tatiana's character, Mayra Mondragón, is a rising celebrity who's just recently been getting hounded by the press. Somehow (must be the power of the mullet), Julio manages to swindle a date out of her when she stops by his shop. As soon as Mayra leaves, a crazed man (Alfredo Gutiérrez 'El Turco') starts trashing the place and screaming about "the doll from hell!" He promptly runs outside and is hit by a car. Before he dies, he gives Julio some talismans to help ward off evil and recommends our hero consult something called "The Book of Tormented Souls." So off to the library Julio goes. He finds the book, rips out a few pages, sticks them in his pocket and leaves. Guess he forgot his library card.

Joaquín Cordero (DR. SATAN, PANICO), who's too good an actor for something like this but fine nonetheless, plays Tatiana's wealthy movie producer father, Roberto. He's planning an elaborate, Halloween-themed nighttime party for his daughter Tania's (Renata De Los Ríos) 7th birthday at his closed down film studio. To make things extra special, he's put his fx guy, Ramón (Ernesto Carregha), in charge of making it scary for all of the guests. His idea of "scary;" black streamers, strings of plastic pumpkin lights, balloons and cardboard cartoon replicas of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster and skeletons, plus a bouncy synth-pop performance of "Chicos, Chicos" from Tatiana, doesn't quite get the job done. Thankfully, Tania is in possession of a cursed dolly, which goes through some strange metamorphosis and eventually transforms into a clawed mini-creature. Well, that's not really scary either, but it at least proves to be a little more entertaining.

The little creature slashes up Ramón underneath the birthday cake table, which causes blood to spurt out of a fountain, which causes the party to clear out quicker than expected. Later that night, Mayra and Tania very stupidly go back to the studio because Tania forgot some silver coins her father had given her. When they get there, Julio, who's revealed to be some kind of demon slayer, is still lurking around trying to find the creature, which has since grown into a big, ugly, slimy, monstrous "bruja" (witch) with claws, fangs and a tail. Tania ends up getting sucked into some kind of otherworldly void, which means Julio and her sister have to find a way to defeat the witch before morning.

As far as the witch's motivations are concerned, the book lays it all out in pretty simple terms. She's from hell and cannot accept the fact she's dead, so this is really all about jealousy and lashing out by capturing the purest souls they can and using them as instruments of evil. The only way to defeat her is by embedding a silver seal in her flesh.

Since there's barely any plot to speak of, this usually comes off less like a movie and more like a collection of cheap spook show effects, with Julio and Mayra (later joined by the father) endlessly running around the foggy, closed-down studio encountering one horror after another. There are souls trapped inside of screaming coins, plastic pumpkins turning into fireballs, a phone shooting out slime, a toothy jack-o-lantern coming to life, a girl turned into a little Play-Doh doll, a room doing 360 degree spins, a room rapidly filling with water from the ceiling down, a melting gun, an earthquake, the ground cracking open and swallowing someone whole, a stabbing via doll tongue (!) and the witch impersonating the little girl to attack someone in a moving vehicle. These scenes range from extremely silly to fun and imaginative.

In many respects, this seems more geared toward children and young teens than adults. Though there's some blood and slime, there's no explicit gore, no nudity, no sex, barely any profanity and a low body count, with almost all of the deaths taking place entirely off-screen. You could snip brief shots here and there and probably end up with a PG or PG-13 rating. The production itself is fairly solid for a budget movie, with great shooting locations, some nice atmosphere, acceptable acting and a witch that's both well designed and well performed (by Luis Camarena). This is also slightly more enjoyable than the original film.

The director, part of a Mexican filmmaking dynasty that goes back to the early days of cinema (similar to the Cardona clan), also made THE DEATH OF THE JACKAL (1984), its sequel Massacre in Rio Grande (which is listed some places as having been released in 1984 and others 1988), HELL'S TRAP (1989), Panic on the Mountain (1989) and Theater of Horror (1991). Though I'm not sure the relation (brothers or cousins perhaps?), the co-writers and co-producers were Eduardo Galindo and Santiago Galindo, who had also worked on the first film.

The earliest sign of a home video release I could find was a tape from 1995 that looks like it was issued from a subsidiary of Video Treasures out of Troy, Michigan (Platino Video and Mex-American Home Video are both credited). They re-titled it Pesadilla sangrienta / "Bloody Nightmare" and the write-up on the back of the box includes both English and Spanish language plot descriptions.

This is now very easy to find all over the place. For us English speakers, it made its English-subbed debut in 2008 as part of BCI Eclipse's 8 film set "Crypt of Terror: Horror from South of the Border, Vol. 1," which also included the first Vacation, Trap, CEMETERY OF TERROR (1985), both English and Spanish language versions of DON'T PANIC (1988), GRAVE ROBBERS (1989) and The Demon Rat (1992). In 2023, Vinegar Syndrome released a Blu-ray and paired with the first film. All of the new interviews on the VS release cover just the original film, not this sequel.

★★

Wanita Harimau: Santet II (1989)

... aka: Black Magic II

... aka: Black Magic 2: The Female Tiger

... aka: Tiger Woman: Black Magic II, The

... aka: Santet 2

... aka: Witchcraft II

Directed by:

Sisworo Gautama Putra

Poor Katemi (Suzzanna) just can't catch a break. In the previous film, her squeaky-clean life as a devout religious teacher's wife was shattered when the couple were framed for using black magic, leading to his death and her being reduced to becoming the unwilling pupil of an actual black magic crocodile queen. Though Katemi ended up killing quite a few people, she was able to repent, save her soul and return a life of normalcy. Praise Allah! Unfortunately, the previous queen - Nyi Angker - wasn't actually the top black magic bitch in the neighborhood. She herself was a student of an even more powerful witch named Nyi Loreng (Rina Hasyim - MIRACLE BABY), who just randomly pops up in Katemi's wardrobe late one evening wearing an amazing wig. The witch has her own list of demands, starting with her insistence that Katemi start practicing black magic again, When she refuses, Nyi Loreng simply takes over her body so she no longer has a choice in the matter. Now, on nights with a crescent moon, she'll transform into a killer tiger. The ultimate goal is to get revenge on handsome young cleric Achmad Pramuji (Jeffry "Daniel" / Waworuntu), who was able to pray away Nyi Angker until she exploded in the previous film.

Meanwhile, the cursed village of Karang Seta has tried to reinvent itself with some major changes for the good. They've removed the "n" from their name (it used to be "Setan"), non-corrupt Saleh (Doddy Sukma - SATAN'S BED) has recently been elected as leader and they even appear to have hired a proper policeman named Nasir (H. Nasir T.) to try to keep crime in check. However, he's been saddled with buffoonish Bokir as his assistant and apparently that buffoonery is contagious because Nasir is yukking it up himself in no time.

To celebrate, they throw an outdoor concert featuring a hijab-sporting all-female rock band (!) called Nasida Ria. I had to stop and immediately look these ladies up to make sure they were for real. Yes, they are indeed for real, and they're pretty unique and actually kind of great. These ladies perform numerous stringed instruments (including electric guitar and violin), but also several different styles of drums (including traditional and bongo), tambourine, flute and keyboard, plus the lead vocals and harmonizing are on point AND the song they perform here (which seems to be titled "The World Is in the News") has political and social messages. Nasida Ria, who have apparently been around for almost half a century, released 35 studio albums and are in a constant state of updating talent, have a stated purpose of making catchy, upbeat music to spread positive messages and social commentary. As for what the heck they're doing in this silly black magic horror-comedy is anyone's guess, but I was happy to be introduced to them. They even throw some colorful lights, smoke and fireworks into their show.

Unlike in the previous film where Katemi kept her black magic influence hidden, here she's completely upfront about it as soon as it begins. She informs Pramuji and the police that Nyi Loreng is possessing her, transforming her into a tiger and wants to force her to kill Pramuji. She's instructed to pray harder to banish the witch and is able to keep her away, though only temporarily, using that tactic, but the witch still keeps coming back to haunt her. Katemi's recent troubles have also played hell on her social standing in the community. She has to live on the outskirts all by herself, is constantly the subject of gossip, is refused service at a market and is taunted by adult and children alike. Most believe she should be forced to leave the area. At the end of her rope, Katemi decides to kill herself. However, before she can even get her head in a noose, some villagers show up with torches and set her hut on fire.

A defeated and disheveled Katemi manages to survive and makes her way through the jungle until she ends up in a blue-lit cave, which is the home (and burial site) of Nyi Loreng. The undead witch now finds Katemi weaker and much more pliable than she was earlier, and thus easier to manipulate. Soon, the "tiger woman" is prowling around the village causing a near panic among the locals and prompting a tiger hunt, though it's more of a tiger capture since - as it is pointed out here - the animals are a protected species in Indonesia.

The same guy cast as the main baddie in the previous film is back again. But he was burnt to a crisp after being transformed into a werewolf and hit by fireballs, you say? Well, this time he plays Brahma, the son of the dead guy. Lest you mix them up, the son likes to wear a silly black wig with either a gigantic cowboy hat or glittery headband, and the apple didn't fall far from the tree as far as nefarious criminal activity is concerned. I. Gusti Jagat Karana is the actor playing him and in case you were wondering about this man's unique face, no, it's not make-up and, yes, he's disfigured. I'm not sure if he suffered a burn or had some kind of disease but his face, and only his face, is covered in bumps, lumps, cracks and wrinkles and he has a fat, swollen nose. Brahma is not only involved in smuggling marijuana into the village (hidden inside fish) but he's also out for revenge against Katemi for killing his father and the one responsible for burning down her hut.

In between the horror, we're treated (if that's the word for it) to the comic shenanigans and musical talents of Bokir. In a major subplot, he finds himself bored with his chubby, frumpy wife, Oji (Neny Ribut Rawit), who he compares to a cement truck, and is secretly pursuing a flirty young widow named Rina (Rina Lidya Rawit). Surprising even him, Rina appears to be receptive to his propositions for sex behind the wife's back, but all is not what it seems. Bokir and Nasir are also involved in a recurring series of bad gags detailing how inept they are, including trying to arrest the wrong guys (one with a skin condition and the other a man who can't pronounce his own name properly due to a cleft palate). They also play charades with a stuttering dwarf who can only grunt. Gotta love when disabilities are played for cheap laughs!

As for Bokir's fantasy dream musical number, it's pretty amazing if you like strange, goofy stuff. It starts out in a flower garden gazebo at night with sitar, pungi and bongo players, a bubble machine, confetti, a fireworks show, Suzzanna seductively fluttering her eyelids and licking her lips and Bokir singing about unrequited love. Then it transitions to a helicopter before going down to the jungle for a Tarzan and Jane fantasy where Suzzanna is harassed by an amorous man-in-a-suit primate until Bokir fights it off with a rubber knife and then the two lovebirds ride off into the sunset on an elephant!

After a zillion and one detours, we return to supernatural horror in the last 25 minutes. A possessed woman pukes up green slime and sea critters, a hand bursts through the back of someone's head and out the mouth (did Peter Jackson see this?) and a disembodied living hand with an eyeball on the palm tries to strangle somebody and then turns into a catfish (?!) Katemi, back to using black magic, sneaks into the drug den and kills two of the men with raw fish. Nyi Loreng, a sporadic-at-best presence in the film, finally shows up again for the finale, where she briefly transforms into a younger seductress (played by Lela Anggraini) and has a kung fu battle with the pious male lead armed with fire-shooting tiger mittens.

This sequel basically does the exact same things the first one did, and follows the original's plot and structure nearly beat for beat, only really boosting the music and comedy elements. How defiant of genre and consistent tone the whole thing is will either be a plus or a minus depending on what you like, but being beaten over the head a thousand times about how Islam is the one and only true religion ("There is no God except Allah!") grows tiresome after awhile.

That said, you never know what direction this is going in from one scene to the next. Gruesome death scene, or lighthearted comedy? Serial adulterers trying to hide from their wives by wearing foliage or one of Suzzanna's many awe-inspiring wardrobe / wig changes (including appearing in male drag a few times)? A pro-drug poster referring to weed as "heaven's leaf" or a goofy-looking plush tiger rocketing through the air? Seductive chicken thigh eating or catch of the day impalement? Hey, you get it all! The cast, right down to all the extras playing villagers, seem like they're having a great time regardless of what's going on, which makes this charming and pleasant most of the time. Not the stuff of nightmares, mind you, but it's pretty fun.

 

Like the original, this was given a new lease on life after languishing in VCD hell for decades courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome's 2024 Blu-ray release. Though there are better and worse films out there, both Santet films are a nice introduction to the crazy pleasures of 80s Indonesian genre cinema.

★★1/2