Suzzanna: The femme fatale of Southeast Asian horror
By Cam Khalid
The final girls at the heart of every Tinsel-terror-town I’ve witnessed do not look like me. I’ve never gotten to see a brown or Southeast Asian woman defeat Michael Myers, get out of Camp Crystal Lake or even escape one of Jigsaw’s traps. In order to see someone who remotely resembles me triumph over evil, to see a version of myself on the screen, surviving against all odds against a deadly foe, Hollywood horror has to be swapped for Asian titles. In particular the ones from the Malay Archipelago.
But though the horror is just as terrifying, the final girls and scream queens from this side of the world are not the same.
Growing up in Singapore, I was fed an unhealthy diet of scary stories which feature nocturnal creatures. As I got older, I became acquainted with these vampiric villains and ghastly ghosts through Asian films such as Pontianak (1957), Nang Nak (1999), Ringu (1998) and Ju-On (2002). What piqued my curiosity, however, is the fact that these films – as well as the folktales – feature a common character of the undead: the vengeful female phantom.
It wasn't until I further devoured Asian horror films as a teenager that I was bewitched by the late Suzzanna Martha Frederika van Osch, better known as just Suzzanna. Best known as the “Queen of Indonesian Horror”.
A household name in the 80s, the Indonesian actress was widely known for playing strong women with supernatural powers. But instead of squeaky clean superheroes, she mostly filled the roles of spirits, witches, and manifestations with otherworldly detachment. Making the most of her long jet-black hair, pale skin and big glaring eyes, she delivered the stuff of nightmares through blood, guts, and gore galore classics such as Ratu Ilmu Hitam (1981) and Sundel Bolong (1982).
Creepy makeup and effects aside, these low-budget films are known for mediocre acting and lacklustre plots – the usual suspects of black magic, demonic rituals and exorcisms. Even Suzzanna’s mediocre acting couldn’t save the day. But alas, I found myself going through her filmography with a thrill of excitement, albeit behind a security blanket.
There’s just something about Suzzanna that draws me in, like watching Anya Taylor-Joy’s eyes doing all the heavy lifting in every film. You get hypnotised. Then you wonder: how could someone who strikes terror in you also be the same person you find drop-dead gorgeous (pun intended)?
Upon mentioning this to fellow writer Delfina Utomo, who grew up in Indonesia at the height of Suzzanna’s scream queen reign, she points out that colourism was a thing in her motherland where the film industry would cast ‘blasteran’ (half-white) actors to appeal to audiences who “worshipped the Eurocentric features.” It’s worth noting that Suzzanna is of Javanese-Manado-German-Dutch heritage.
Instead of milking her looks as a damsel in distress, she used her pale skin and sharp features to portray terrifying – but strong – female characters. “Also, the mysterious-ness of her private life, choice of films, and lifestyle just made her more fascinating. She was more than just an actress, she was a concept,” Utomo adds.
That’s just it. She was more than an actress. Sometimes it takes more than their acting chops for us to be invested in such actors. Take Rose McGowan and Glenn Close for example. They’re great actresses in their own ways, but their link to cults have made them even more interesting (sorry, not sorry).
As with Suzzanna, I found myself opening the pandora box of oddities, all to uncover the mysteries around her. Whether having an enigmatic public persona was always part of her branding plan or thrust upon her, it came to eventually define her. When I discovered that she had an off-screen affinity for the occult, it deepened her mystical aura even further. I was itching to travel down the rabbit hole a little deeper to know more.
According to Vice, filmmakers who have worked with Suzzanna claimed that she would excuse herself to another room to seek blessings from “the lady of the seas” during shoots, and eat jasmine flowers. Some claimed that this a practice to ward off rival stars, while others said that it’s done to maintain her beauty. But it’s not all horrid and morbid.
Suzzanna would also bring an element of fragility that would make audiences empathise with her. Oftentimes, this stems from the complexities of her good-gone-bad characters, with increasingly sympathetic motives as their story unfolds.
In Sundel Bolong (1982), a terrifying tale of rape and revenge, Suzzanna’s character is gang-raped and dies from abortion complications. When the courts rule her rapists not guilty and drop the case, she returns from the dead, complete with pallid complexion, untamed mane and off-white ensemble, to take matters into her own bloody hands. It’s glorious poetic justice.
Similarly, Suzzanna’s characters in Ratu Ilmu Hitam (1981) and Titisan Dewi Ular (1991) are also hellbent on exposing the manipulative men as the true villains. Which then begs the question: which is the lesser of two evils – the wicked woman wraith or the malign male mortal?
Heading even deeper into the labyrinth of complex characters, we see Suzzanna’s terrifying ghost as the protagonist in Malam Satu Suro (1988). It is a rare horror film that elicits as many ugly sobs as it does screams. Suzzanna plays a dead woman who lip syncs to a love ballad by [Indonesian singer] Vina Panduwinata because she can no longer be with her husband and child in the mortal world.
While Malam Satu Suro (1988) follows the same trajectory as Sundel Bolong (1982), it does also occasionally fall into cringe-worthy bathos. But then again it remains a wholly unique film that utilises the Queen of Indonesian Horror’s talents and embraces the weird and wonderful.
Suzzanna played up her regal reputation when she portrayed the Queen of the Southern Sea who preyed on helpless men. Based on a popular myth in Indonesian culture, Nyi Blorong (1982) which translates to ‘The Snake Queen’, is Indonesia’s answer to feminist icon Medusa, complete with the serpent locks albeit the different powers. The film’s makeup artist once recalled that the featured snakes were real and allegedly dangerous, but “oddly tame” when they were placed atop Suzzanna’s head. He believed that her spiritual practice had something to do with the scaly critters’ behaviour as well as her sense of sangfroid. Interesting.
When she died in 2008, fans suspected that it was foul play due to her esoteric practices. However, the official story is that she died of health complications, shortly after shooting her final horror flick Hantu Ambulance (2008). Nonetheless, her legacy lives on. Today, Suzzanna has become a source of inspiration for many modern Southeast Asian scream queens. Their characters adopt her signature gothic style and embrace equally dark backstories: sexual assault; domestic abuse; complicated childbirth; and violent unnatural death. Her influence can be plainly seen in Satan’s Slaves (2017), Rong (2019), Revenge of the Pontianak (2019), and the Edgar Wright-approved Roh (2019).
There's even a Netflix original named after the horror queen, Suzanna: Buried Alive (2018). A slightly toned down remake of Sundel Bolong (the gang-rape storyline is omitted) starring Indonesian actress Luna Maya as Suzzanna (not to be confused with the horror queen despite being a spitting image of her), the pregnant wife of a wealthy factory manager who dies as a result of a robbery-gone-wrong and comes back from the dead to avenge herself. This tribute to the legend herself makes for a great introduction to Indonesian horror, particularly for those who are fans of Carrie (1976), Halloween (1978), or I Spit On Your Grave (2010).
To me, and many other fans, Suzzanna wasn’t just a horror queen. She was the Southeast Asian icon I was scouting in the many horror films I watched. She was also the epitome of a strong woman unwilling to accept being victimised by men. Her films tell the stories of female suffering and abuse but watching her subvert the conventional notion that women are docile beings by getting even is endlessly satisfying. After all, revenge is sweet.
Cam Khalid is a writer who covers a range of beats including music, film, nightlife, and film. She calls both Singapore and London home, but let's face it: she mostly lives on the internet. Her main schtick is amplifying the voices of the underrepresented.
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