Reviews
Other
LADY TERMINATOR
A new bad movie classic! What starts out as a fairly typical
Eastern sorcery n' magic yarn somehow mutates into a scene for scene rip-off of
THE TERMINATOR. Containing wall-to-wall sex and violence, 1988's LADY
TERMINATOR is a briskly made B-movie perfect for viewers wanting to give their
brains a ninety-minute rest.
The Package
The biggest surprise associated with LADY TERMINATOR is
that this Indonesian obscurity made it to the US at all. With its gratuitous
violence, graphic sex and the fact that it ignores any and all copyright laws,
it's the type of thing domestic distributors nowadays tend to avoid like the
clap.
Yet somehow
LADY TERMINATOR slipped through the cracks and wound up with a US video release
in 1989, but went out of print almost immediately (I wonder if THE TERMINATOR'S
distributors had anything to do with that, seeing as how it's a blatant
rip-off)--it appeared on DVD, however, in 2004. Furthermore, a special "video
editor" is listed in the opening credits, inviting speculation that LT was
re-edited for stateside distribution (which it was, of
The Story
The film is based on the true-life legend of the
South Sea Queen, which has inspired quite a few Indonesian exploitation films.
Here we have Tanya, a college cutie who unwisely journeys to the lair of the
evil SSQ, an eighteenth century monarch who's vowed to wreak vengeance on the
offspring of an unfaithful lover. Tanya has barely stepped off her boat when
she finds herself magically whisked away to the Queen's haunted palace and tied
spread-eagled to a bed. The Queen's ghost, in the form of an eel, slithers into
Tanya's vagina (serpent rape is actually a fairly common practice in Eastern
horror films--see the disgusting HELL SERPENT from the Philippines and the even
more offensive LEWD LIZARD from Hong Kong).
It's here that LT turns into a third rate TERMINATOR
rehash. The now-possessed Tanya travels back to the mainland, dons a black
leather outfit and embarks on a sex and slaughter spree. Her ultimate target is
a pretty young rock singer who just happens to be the offspring the Queen is
looking for...
THE TERMINATOR'S James Cameron
has a definite lawsuit on his hands, but LT's filmmakers do manage to work in
some novel twists. The Lady Terminator, unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger, makes it
a point to have sex with a few of her victims (so the horny eel inside of her
can bite off the offending organs!) before shooting them. She's also granted
some neat magical powers: she's impervious to bullets (along with just about
everything else) and can shoot laser beams from her eyes capable of destroying
entire buildings.
The Direction
Director Jalil Jackson (real name: H. Tjut Jalil)
keeps things moving with non-stop action and some nicely choreographed car
chases, explosions and fight scenes. Nevertheless, the expected low-budget
scuzziness does periodically rear its head. A shot of the Lady Terminator
walking down a darkened hallway toward the camera is impressive...unfortunately,
it's used again and again, even in scenes where it's clearly out of place (such
as a brightly lit shopping mall). Of course, it remains to be seen whether this
was the fault of Jackson, the original director, or Jim Markovic, the "video
editor").
And what's with the ending?
The camera pans up to an obviously fake starry sky, while a narrator lectures us
about Man's eternal conflict between good and evil, and then goes on to point
out a few interesting constellations(???). Hey, there are worse ways to spend
an idle evening.
Vital Statistics
LADY TERMINATOR
Studio Entertainment/Soraya Intercine Film
Director: "Jalil Jackson
Producer: Ram Soraya
Screenplay: Karr Krvinowz
Cinematography: Chuchu Suteja
"Video Editor": Jim Markovic
Cast: Barbara Ann Constable, Christopher J. Hart, Laudia Angelique Rackmaker,
Joseph P. McGlynn, Adam Stardust, Ikang Fawzi