Hex After Hex (1982)

The giant 'living' statue is behind you, buddy!
The giant ‘living’ statue is standing behind you, buddy!

Starring Lo Meng, Lily Chan, Lau Dan and Ma Chao. Directed by Kuei Chih-Hung for Shaw Brothers.

Lo Meng's painted face is featured in the opening credits
Lo Meng’s painted face is featured in the opening credits

A ghost (Chan) purposefully causes a car crash so that she can inhabit the body of the dead neighbour of Ma Su (Meng). Calling herself Pok Pok, she begins a relationship with the muscly Ma Su, who is at first unaware of her supernatural origins.

Poster
Poster

HEX AFTER HEX begins immediately after the events of HEX VS WITCHCRAFT (1980), which was itself a sequel to the much better, much more serious first film HEX (1980).

Lily Chan plays Pok Pok
Lily Chan plays Pok Pok

HEX AFTER HEX contains the same kind of broad humour, slapstick and silly, jumbled, undisciplined storyline as the previous movie in the series. Cross-eyed actor Ma Chao, who is never one to knowingly underact, returns for a third time, playing an arsonist who has the Shaw Brothers logo branded on his backside!

Darth Vader, er, I mean 'Black Knight' appears at one point
Darth Vader, er, I mean ‘Black Knight’ appears at one point
After making a bunch of demolition workers turn naked by hitting them with his (plastic-looking) lightsabre, the Black Night disappears
After making a bunch of demolition workers turn naked by hitting them with his (plastic-looking) lightsabre, the Black Night disappears

Other briefly diverting moments involve Pok Pok taking on the likeness of a lo-fi Yoda, then invoking a Darth Vader lookalike called Black Knight, who strikes at demolition workers with his green lightsabre, magically making their clothing vanish!

Pok Pok licks a lollipop...
Pok Pok licks a lollipop…
...then she transforms into this Yoda-like creature to freak out the demolition workers!
…then she transforms into this Yoda-like creature to freak out the demolition workers!

The film’s main subplot focuses on the heartless, stingy boss of a property business, who Pok Pok sets out to bankrupt after he evicts everyone from the building that she and Ma Su were living in. Pok Pok’s scheme involves becoming the company secretary, hanging out with the boss when he gambles, then making him think the worthless horse statuettes he is purchasing are actually made of solid gold. This storyline, unfortunately, is protracted, not particularly interesting or funny, and sidelines the Ma Su character for a big portion of the running time.

Pok Pok briefly decides to look scary
Pok Pok briefly decides to look scary

Matters become more engaging after Ma Su discovers that Pok Pok is a ghost, studies skills to allow the Tai Sheung God to enter his body, and tries to banish his spirit girlfriend.

Ma Su during his ritual to bring the Tai Sheung God into his body
Ma Su (Lo Meng) during his ritual to bring the Tai Sheung God into his body

Ultimately, Ma Su retains feelings for Pok Pok and saves her from a ritual which causes a statue of Thomas Jefferson to become animated, controlled by a priest’s movements, forcing Ma Su to invoke the Monkey God into his body so that he can fight the automaton.

The statue mimics the priest's movements!
The statue mimics the priest’s movements!
The Thomas Jefferson statue reaches out for Ma Su
The Thomas Jefferson statue (which resembles Lee Van Cleef if you ask me) reaches out for Ma Su

This scene, using a quite impressive statue costume, is way more professional looking than the special makeup effects seen earlier in the movie, such as Pok Pok’s cheap ghost mask and the crummy Yoda puppet.

Ma Su jumps onto the statue's shoulders and uses Monkey Style kung fu!
Ma Su jumps onto the statue’s shoulders and uses Monkey Style kung fu!

To cap off this man-vs-statue encounter, the Thomas Jefferson statue, bizarrely, reveals itself to be a kind of slot machine and starts spitting gold Krugerrand coins out of its mouth?!

Loads of gold Krugerrands start to spill from the statue's mouth!?
Loads of gold Krugerrands start to spill from the statue’s mouth!

Everyone gets rich! Hooray! The end!

3 thoughts on “Hex After Hex (1982)”

    1. They don’t have any stop-motion. Only the first HEX film is actually a properly well-made movie. The two sequels, including this one, are just silly time-wasters, really. This one has a couple of memorable moments (such as the statue), but the flick is certainly no classic.

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