
Color, 1982, 86 mins. 38 secs. / 90 mins. 9 secs.
Directed by Arizal
Starring
Barry Prima, Eva Arnaz, W.D. Mochtar, Dicky Zulkarnaen
Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray) (US R0 HD) / WS (2.35:1) (16:9)
Currently experiencing a
major wave of international exposure and popularity, Indonesian genre cinema has been
astonishing viewers for decades with fans of the label Mondo Macabro (or Pete Tombs' earlier book of the same time) getting mentally pulverized by films like Mystics in Bali or Satan's Slave. The action-horror hybrid is a particular favorite, as demonstrated by cult classics like Lady Terminator or the insane Special Silencers, a film impossible to see in anything resembling decent quality until the 2024 Mondo Macabro Blu-ray finally restored its intended scope glory.
Our story involves the truly unique tactics used by scheming Gumilar (Mochtar) to take over his Indonesian village, using red meditation pills called "special silencers" he obtained by murdering his grandfather. As it turns out, improper use of these pills causes opponents to have big red tree branches burst out of their bodies, an assassination technique achievable by simply dropping a tablet in someone's drink.
One of his targets is the town mayor whose daughter, Julia (Arnaz), arrives just in time to see him die. Helping her is dirt biker Hendra (Indonesian star Prima), who helped her with a broken-down Jeep, and their combined combat abilities will come in handy dealing with the power-mad Gumilar and his henchmen.
Complete with vine swinging, gore, kung fu fights,
murder by a sackful of snakes, booby traps, and a completely bizarre scene involving shoe filth, Special Silencers is a film that astonished anyone dogged enough to track it down and suffer through the horribly cropped copies out there, most taken from a Dutch VHS. With barely a single dull second, this is another outrageous vehicle for Prima who gets to do some fun stunts including a Bruce Lee-style final showdown you have to see to believe. It's not surprising that this came from the wild mind of director Arizal, who gave the world stunners like Lethal Hunter and Final Score, though here the mayhem is mostly confined to massive bodily damage instead of the wholesale destruction of buildings and vehicles.
An all-time classic party movie still waiting to be discovered, Special Silencers plays far better on Blu-ray than ever before thanks to a strong restoration from the original negative. Obviously this wasn't shot or preserved under the most hi-tech conditions around, but it's a tremendous improvement over anything we've had before and very satisfying to watch. You also get DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono tracks for the amusing English dub and the original Indonesian track, with optional English (translated) subtitles.
A new audio commentary by Andrew Leavold covers the ins and outs of Indonesian cinema in the early '80s while trying to parse out exactly when this was shot, completed, and releases
(not as simple as you'd think), as well as tidbits about the director and cast, the odd video release history, and the cultural aspects of its setting and supernatural elements. You also get the option to watch an extended version, which slugs in VHS bits (a bit over three minutes' worth) for footage that was too damaged in the negative to salvage. Taken from the Dutch release, these extra additions are almost entirely dialogue but do clarify a few things, so you might want to give it a watch if you want the entire experience. Also included is the great 2001 episode of the Mondo Macabro TV limited series devoted to bizarre Indonesian cinema (25m7s) including films like this one, The Warrior, and The Devil's Sword, with appearances from several key figures including Prima himself. Finally the disc wraps up with the extra VHS scenes as a standalone reel (4m28s) which runs longer due to adding the restored shots before and after for context, plus the English credits from VHS and the usual Mondo Macabro promo reel.
Reviewed on July 27, 2024