Thursday, March 31, 2022

Census Bloodbath: Big Bad (Capsule Review)

Year: 1981
Director: Sisworo Gautama Putra
Cast: Barry Prima, Lydia Kandou, Rudy Salam
Run Time: 1 hour 27 minutes

Plot: A killer stalks a small Indonesian island and, one by one, kills off a group of men who are hunting for sunken treasure and a trio of camping teens.

Analysis: A note: Srigala AKA Wolf was only available to me in unsubtitled Indonesian, so some of the nuances of the plot were lost on me. However, considering that the film is quite obviously a rip-off of Friday the 13th, it wasn't too hard to guess at what was going on. 

Actually, let me backtrack. This movie was billed to me as a Friday the 13th rip-off, but other than some POV shots and a Crazy Ralph analogue, there wasn't much in the first 2/3 of the film to sell me on the idea of it ripping off anything other than Bay of Blood, which Friday was already doing. However, the second the kills start kicking in (right at the beginning of the third act, making the film preposterously draggy), it lurches into the Friday template so devotedly that I could have quoted the English script word for word. It copies everything, down to the random reveal of a middle-aged woman as the killer, the boring three-act chase scene that ensues, and even the closing scare gag. Thankfully they at least cut the seven minute scene of Alice making coffee, so they had one good instinct here.

However, copying the kills of Friday the 13th not only without Tom Savini but apparently without an effects team at all, is a no-go. The murders are all relegated offscreen, into silhouette, or achieved with the mildest smear of stage blood. It's an embarrassing dearth of interesting murder sequences, which were the one thing other than the score that propelled Friday into the stratosphere. The score of Srigala sucks too, come to think of it. At every turn, Srigala fails to capture the eminently copiable charms of the film it's trying to recreate.

Occasionally, some regionalisms sneak in to liven up the proceedings, like a completely unmotivated boat chase that is the most exciting moment in the entire film. Or the sequence where the girls are fighting over a hot dude and begin to go full kung fu movie, striking poses before leaping toward each other. But these moments are few and far between, and there's only so much that the studly Indonesian star Barry Prima in low-cut collars can assuage my pain during the rest of the leaden proceedings. 


Killer: Indonesian Mrs. Voorhees
Final Girl: Pink Girl
Best Kill: The guy who gets his head slammed in a car hood, because that's the easiest to accomplish with minimal special effects, and an incredibly relatable, flinch-inducing feeling.
Sign of the Times: While they failed to rip off most of Friday the 13th, they nailed those teeny tiny shorts that all the men wear.
Scariest Moment: Pink Girl has a dream that zombies emerge from the lake.
Weirdest Moment: Boss Man has a car bearing down directly on him, so he throws a rope at it.
Champion Dialogue: N/A
Body Count: 8
    1. Scuba Man is killed offscreen.
    2. Yellow Girl is axed in the head in silhouette.
    3. Cuck Guy has his head slammed in a car hood.
    4. Shirtless Scuba Guy is harpooned.
    5. Boss Man is hit by a car.
    6. Hot Guy is killed offscreen, presumably stuck with arrows.
    7. Flashback Guy is killed offscreen.
    8. Indonesian Mrs. Voorhees is stabbed in the chest with her own knife.
TL;DR: Srigala is a rip-off of Friday the 13th that is doing everything so demonstrably worse that there's no reason to watch it.
Rating: 3/10
Word Count: 618

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