The Queen of Black Magic

Brimming with brutal, haunting visuals that are further amplified by the rock solid ensemble and scare scenes with character history at the core.

The meaner it gets, the more you care, and The Queen of Black Magic earns every twist of the knife.

Stamboel builds toward an unforgettable, gory finish that won't stop, but the film does require some patience in getting there.

Stamboel weaves scares from haunted house horror with nauseating gory gags and witchy bits promised by the title to make a scary movie that's a real knockout.

Gruesome, nerve-wracking and nervy, Stamboel's film should become a new horror classic.

A better-than-average throwback, especially during its table-setting opening scenes.

Its greatest strength is in its clever collection of scares, seemingly ceaseless in their shock value.

Perhaps a familiar setting - the haunted orphanage - but pushed right through the gates of Hell.

Director Kimo Stamboel and writer Joko Anwar (he directed 2019's Impetigore and the exceptional remake of Satan's Slaves) tap directly into the part of the brain where nightmares live, and they shower your cerebral cortex with it.

If this kind of artful sadism was employed in a deeper and more meaningful story, it could create something genuinely powerful.