"Surreal" is one of the most overused words in our language, and is frequently attached to things or experiences even mildly unusual. Consequently, I try to limit my use of the term; but The Snake Queen is one film I can definitely call "surreal" without hesitation.
Starring Indonesia's two most famous stars, Suzzanna and Barry Prima, plus other recognizable faces, The Snake Queen is concerned with morbid folklore that will be familiar to fans of Lady Terminator or readers of the indispensable Pete Tombs book Mondo Macabro.
For those who have enjoyed other Indonesian supernatural fantasies like Queen of Black Magic or White Alligator Queen, The Snake Queen is basically cut from the same cloth and offers more of the same colorfully cracked sensibility, with rough, handcrafted magic effects, gruesome imagery, and daffy humor of both the intentional and unintentional varieties.
Among the odd sights awaiting the viewer are Suzzanna's torso attached to a snake body, a dancing apparition with a detachable fireball head, a psychedelically rotating lovemaking scene, a maggot-riddled sinner's corpse, and a green-faced levitating victim of possession.
The other reviewer wrote that this movie was "beautiful and well done". More accurate, I think, would be to say that The Snake Queen is beautifully bizarre and that, after you watch it, your brain will probably be well done.
