Search - Lady Terminator on DVD

Uproarious!

Christopher W. Curry | Indianapolis, IN | 10/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lady Terminator is an Indonesian film that tells the story of an anthropologist possessed by the spirit of the "Queen of the South Sea." This "Queen" was a sexually insatiable vixen who cursed one of her suitors by damning his great granddaughter to a miserable death.



Soon we're following the anthropologist as she plummets to the bottom of the sea and miraculously finds herself tied to a bed covered in rose petals. From the ocean to a bed in one big swoop! Amazing, eh?



Stick with me. Underneath the covers we see some slithering action and then out from the blankets comes a snake/eel that burrows its head in and then quickly disappears within the folds of the captive's (...). Apparently this nesting snake-eel sequence is the "Queen's" way of executing her possession of the anthropologist thus transforming our heroine into the Lady Terminator.



That's it folks. There's the set up. For the next 70 minutes we are treated to this female bounty hunter's tasty physical attributes as well her determination to unmercifully destroy everyone and everything within sight. Eventually our anthropologist-cum-vigilante discovers her quarry in a local shopping mall and a near unnerving amount of violence commences. This sexy femme fatale is loaded to the hilt with ammunition, laser eyes, unbridled vengeance and genitalia with teeth!



Does the dreaded "Queen of the South Sea" get her revenge or does the great granddaughter survive? Wade through the mind numbing savagery and gore to find out for yourself.



This DVD from Mondo Macabro is loaded with extra features including; A theatrical trailer, alternate scenes and an insightful documentary on Indonesian horror/exploitation films. The print of the film itself is a bit grainy though probably due to a 16 mm to 35 mm blow up. In addition to the grain are some obvious lines/scratches. Don't get me wrong I adore clear pristine prints when watching the likes of; Jodorowsky, Argento or Pasolini but with this kind of tripe (albeit good tripe) the imperfections only add to the overall effect. The Lady Terminator gleefully offers up thrills seldom seen here in the states.



By: C. Curry"

Kills brain cells

Jeffrey Leach | Omaha, NE USA | 07/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Let's quickly mention the countries most noted for filmmaking. The United States leads the way, of course, with a whole city devoted to churning out cinematic marvels. France has a long tradition of releasing thought provoking films in nearly every conceivable genre, and has recently added amazingly grim horror films to the mix. Britain occasionally throws out something interesting, as do Germany and Spain. Italy, it should go without saying, knows how to make films even though they've lost a lot of steam in the past few years. Who else? Oh, Asian cinema is really making waves here now with what seems like hundreds upon hundreds of horror titles that are completely restructuring the terror genre. Japan, Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong--from these places artful nightmares spring. Finally, we cannot discount the contributions from Indonesia. INDONESIA? Yep, 'tis true. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the Indonesian film biz received a boatload of government money to make a bunch of movies for export to the States and beyond. Thanks to a DVD company called Mondo Macabro, we can finally sit in our homes and enjoy the fruits of Indonesia's cinematic excursions. God help us all. Unfortunately, God is nowhere to be found.



Cue "Lady Terminator," an amazing amalgamation of action movie, Indonesian folklore, and a mountain of artery clogging cheese. Others below have performed an excellent post-mortem on this unholy terror, but I'll go ahead and throw out another summary. The film begins by introducing us to the legend of the Queen of the South Sea, a rather vituperative old biddy who spends her days lounging around the undersea palace luring young men to her bed. No mortal can satisfy her cravings, not with a snake located in a sensitive area that puts an end to these poor chaps. But one day a man arrives who does the impossible, and the Queen is furious. She curses the guy's granddaughter. The end. No, not really. We then flash forward to, well, the day when archeologist wannabe Tania Wilson (Barbara Anne Constable) is poking around a musty old library looking to finish her thesis on the Queen of the South Sea. Off she goes on a boat in search of the underwater palace, and before you can say "presto-chango," she's in a bed in the palace. The Queen possesses her body and embarks on a killing spree the likes of which would make Ahnuld blanche with horror. The massacre begins when Tania emerges from the sea and murders two young toughs, one of whom resembles in no small way Adrian Zmed.



Tania/the Queen then checks into a hotel (!), undergoes some sort of weird shaking tremor replete with flashing lights metamorphosis, and then goes out to kill even more people. Frankly, I'm at a loss to lay out a coherent narrative. The movie simply doesn't have one. We do meet an American cop by the name of Max McNeil (Christopher J. Hart) who quickly becomes wrapped up in protecting Indonesian pop star Erica (Claudia Rademaker), the granddaughter mentioned in the curse, from the wrath of the Lady Terminator. What follows is breathtaking in its audacity. Whole scenes from Cameron's "The Terminator" appear in this film, including a bar shootout, a car chase with guns blazing, the infamous eyeball scene, and the police station shootout. The latter is particularly amusing considering the poorly choreographed gunplay. Tania blows away billions of cops without reloading and, even though McNeil stands a few feet away returning fire, can't seem to hit the man with a single round. Erica's wise old granddad shows up to fire off some magical hocus pocus at the witch, but quickly dies as a result. Nothing can stop this lady, not even McNeil's hilariously pathetic American friends, one of whom sports a mullet that would kill mere mortals. I won't spoil the conclusion for you--although it's likely you won't make it that far.



"Lady Terminator" is the grand mal seizure of bad filmmaking. This is it, folks. Right here. Every aspect of this film is dumb on a metaphysical scale. Dialogue (yeah, right) assails the ears like rocks dropped from the Empire State Building. The pacing lumbers like a crippled dinosaur on tranquilizers. The dubbing is the worst I've ever heard, and the acting is stroke inducing. As for the special effects, well, a nine year old working with a tin of playdoh and some pipe cleaners could do a better job than this movie. God, I cringe just thinking about this turkey. But for some reason, I simply can't give this anything less than five stars. Why? Because it's so stupendously horrible that every other bad movie looks like an Oscar contender by comparison, and the temerity to blatantly ripoff "The Terminator" lock, stock, and barrel deserves some praise--or a swift kick to director Jalil Jackson's shins. I'm issuing a warning to you, however. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM IF YOU DESPISE BAD MOVIES! If you're one of those people who think "Gigli" is the end all be all of wretched moviemaking, don't give this one a second thought. "Lady Terminator" is strictly for the "so bad it'll make me sterile" crowd.



Star ratings don't really apply to a film like this one anyway. "Lady Terminator" is far outside the bounds of some arbitrary ratings system. I don't really know whether I ought to thank Mondo Macabro for this DVD or place a pox upon their house. They, Mondo Macabro that is, acquit themselves from unleashing this nightmare upon the western world in part by including some interesting extras, the most important of which is a lengthy documentary about Indonesian filmmaking. This supplement explains the legend of the Queen of the South Seas; the government's attempts to finance the movie business; and includes clips from other atrocities that look worse than "Lady Terminator." Also included are trailers, alternate scenes, a director's filmography, and a gallery of stills. Step carefully here, folks.

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How can anyone hate this?

Jose Angeles | Chazzwuzzles USA | 06/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, I'm surprised that people hate this and gave it anything less than 5 stars. We have non-stop blasting machine guns at a Terminator rip-off chick possessed by some Goddess that wants to kill the relative (a bad 80's pop singer) of some dude that made her stop her evil men killing ways (she killed the men after having sex with them of course). Pretty much, this movie rules! Best part is when a group of bonehead macho guys that look like G.I.Joe action figures come to life start cussing out Lady Terminator and attacking her with everything they got (tanks, rockets, machine guns), resulting in various explosions. The movie ends with the most profound words I've ever heard too, more profound than anything by a poet or philosopher, here they are:



"The struggles in our souls is never ending, the life of man is short and brutal, torn between good and evil, of the eternity around us, we know nothing. The stars look on. They have been here long before mankind appeared on our small planet..and will be here long after we are no more"



~ Dramatic Narrator in Lady Terminator"

The Terminator goes female... and mystical!

J. Meeley | WA, USA | 05/08/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This Indonesian cult film takes the over-the-top action, that is a staple of American action films of the 80's, adds in a dose of mysticism, lifts several key scenes from it's title namesake and blends it all up into a schlocky treat for the viewer. This isn't high art, nor does it pretend to be. It is a blatant riff on one of the most classic action films of the decade and never apologizes once for it.



Some of the scene are direct copies of James Cameron's classic original, such as the attack on the police headquarters, the removal of the eye, even the first kill being done to obtain clothing for her naked form. You will get a deja vu feeling more than once, while watching this film. The added angle of a mystical plot device, rather than a technological one, as well as making the lead antagonist female, made for some interesting changes in this film, which the original "Terminator" could never have had.



Still, despite copious amounts of violence, some very nice nudes scenes with our sexy lead, and some slightly interesting special effects, the film is far from what you would call "good." Some of the dubbed in voices are very poorly done. Plus, speaking as a guy, the way she kills men while mating with them is... well... let's just say it's probably every guy's worst nightmare and leave it at that. Plus, they never really gave much explanation on why the Queen of the South Seas revenge against the great-granddaughter of her betraying lover will give her what she wants. I guess giving emphasis to the plot had to take a back seat to the action and nudity. Not an uncommon thing in films of this nature.



Barbara Anne Constable, who plays the lead role of the anthropologist turned unstoppable tool of destruction, is really the linchpin of the film. None of the other actors turn in anything beyond competent performances, at best, but Barbara's deadpan expressions throughout the film, even as she uses sex to kill her victims, is just as fun to watch as that of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original "Terminator" film.



If you are looking for a seriously dramatic story, with stunning personal performances, well, you'll be sadly disappointed. But if it is wild bouts of action and violence, coupled with a sexual-themed tale of revenge you desire, this film gives you all you could ever want. It is easily one of the best selections from the Mondo Macabro catalog and would be a great party film. It's a watchable movie and entertaining in that "so bad it's good" way. Just don't give a lot of thought to what you are watching. You definitely need to check your brain at the door for this one."