I was not in any particular rush to sit down to watch the 1989 Indonesian horror movie "Santet 2: Wanita Harimau" after recently having literally suffered through the movie that is the 1988 predecessor "Santet".
But with "Santet 2: Wanita Harimau" being an Asian horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I eventually found the time to sit down and watch the movie. Though I have to admit that I harbored zero expectations to director Sisworo Gautama Putra's 1989 sequel.
Writer Naryono Prayitno did a slightly better job with "Santet 2: Wanita Harimau" in comparison to what he managed to put together a year earlier with "Santet". The story was more coherent and more enjoyable than the previous movie, but still far from being a masterpiece.
I just still don't understand the urge to put singing and dancing scenes into what is supposed to be a horror movie.
There were some returning actors and actresses from the previous movie, which counted for something in terms of continuity. And the acting performances in "Santet 2: Wanita Harimau" was also better this time around, as the characters were less reminiscent of cartoon comedy characters and written more as actual characters.
Well, at least if you enjoyed the 1988 "Santet" movie, then you will also enjoy this 1989 sequel. But on the other hand, if you didn't enjoy the previous movie, then you won't enjoy this sequel either. I was in the latter camp, so I found little enjoyment in this movie.
The effects in the movie were pretty terrible. But at least the scenes with the insanely fake tiger had me laughing, so that counted for something, I suppose.
My rating of "Santet 2: Wanita Harimau" lands on a generous three out of ten stars. Slightly better than the predecessor, but still not really a movie worth spending 92 minutes on watching.
