Nearly unknown in the United States, Suzzanna Martha Frederika van Osch — better known as Suzzanna — was crowned the queen of Indonesian horror.
The youngest of six Javanese-Minahasan-Sundanese-German-Dutch children born to singer Johanna Bojoh and actor Willem Van Osch, Suzanna started acting in 1958, winning a contest to appear in Usmar Ismail’s Asrama Dara. By the end of the 1960s, she was married to actor Dicky Suprapto — who this film gets into, as he left her and would not grant a divorce — and then, by 1972, she was the most popular actress in the country. Her film Bernafas dalam Lumpur had a frank depiction of sexuality that was incendiary in its home country, leading to it being banned.
Suzanna’s real fame came from her horror films. With long black hair and a terrifying stare — sort of like an Indonesian Barbara Steele — Suzzanna played frightening villains in a series of movies that thrilled and also frightened audiences. She also kept the appearances of magic up in the stories of her personal life, as some claimed that she prayed to a “lady of the sea” and that she drank jasmine flowers to remain young. Or that story that when she made Nyi Blorong that the wig of snakes that was placed on her head was calm whenever it was near her.
Her death — said to be from diabetes complications — in 2008 was just as mysterious as the life that she led, to the point that some claimed she was murdered.
What she leaves behind is a career filled with many movies playing women done wrong. That’s apparent in nearly every actress’ career. Where she differs is that once the act has been done to her, she returns and gets her comeuppance. Sure, her back may be leaking and leeches could be pouring out of them. But then she’d affix that stare at her enemies and found a dignity that many women done wrong in cinema never attain.
Directed by David Gregory, this documentary combines clips of her most famous films with interviews with family members, colleagues, filmmakers and historians. What emerges is exactly what should from a film like this: a burning desire to seek out all of Suzzanna’s films and devour them with the magical appetite she used to chow down on 200 satay sticks and an entire vat of soup in Sundelbolong.

Suzanna: The Queen of Black Magic is part of the new Severin box set, All the Haunts Be Ours Volume 2. It has extras including a conversation with director/co-producer David Gregory and co-producer Ekky Imanjaya, as well as a trailer.
You can order this set from Severin.
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