Hopeless Situation (2022)

June 9, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

We never get a proper intro to most of these dudes

Directed and written by Jianhua Chi, starring Yuetao Liu, Xu Shaoqiang and Jinqiang Wang.

Surely a better movie title could've been dreamed up! — Promotional image for HOPELESS SITUATION. Surely a better movie title could’ve been dreamed up!

A band of warriors do their best to stop Japanese occupying forces from stealing ancient Chinese relics, leading to them exploring ancient tombs, being attacked by a giant lizard, a long-haired apeman and the reanimated corpse of a concubine. They also fight each other over the treasure they discover and must deal with ancient boobytraps too.

HOPELESS SITUATION is lumbered with a lame title and very artificial-looking digital effects. It also doesn’t help that the main group of characters (including a rifleman, a female fighter and a hunchback dude with an eyepatch) are not properly introduced to the viewer, so you’re not particularly invested in their plight.

An example of the film's less than photorealistic landscape special effects — An example of the film’s less than photorealistic landscape special effects

The obstacles these protagonists must face include ninjas, Japanese military bad guys and the aforementioned monsters…

The origin of the huge lizard isn’t explained: it’s just some big beast that lives in the mountain trails near Craggy Ridge. There are a couple of battles with this (sub-par) CGI reptile, which likes to fling people about, allowing for some kinetic-but-shoddy wirework stunts.

The big lizard sneaks up behind the one-eyed, hunchback warrior

Let's be honest: these CGI effects are not up to snuff — Let’s be honest: these CGI effects are not up to snuff

Once the Chinese adventurers reach caverns they are set upon by a shaggy, acrobatic ape-humanoid with a strange face. This white-furred wild man, portrayed by a stuntman in a creature costume, bounds around the cave walls and beats up some of the people, before he’s blown up with dynamite. This is a pretty decent sequence.

The simian-dude agilely leaps about the rocky walls

The apeman's face is quite nicely designed — The apeman’s face is quite nicely designed

The preserved body of a long-dead emperor’s concubine is the third otherworldly obstacle. She becomes a threat once someone foolishly takes a magic sphere from her mouth. She comes back to ‘life’, her face goes zombie-like, her eyes glow and she zips around the tomb, biting the throats of her victims.

Look into my eyes... — Look into my eyes…

Once the survivors escape the killer-concubine, they find themselves in grassland beyond the mountains, facing off against the Japanese villains… and then the huge lizard returns for a final fight!

With lots of action, decent comic book-like period costumes and a plot that includes betrayals and riddle-solving, it’s a shame that the special effects are just not good enough and the dialogue is too expository, preventing this Chinese action-fantasy flick from becoming the diverting adventure romp it had the potential of being.

Shock Waves (1977)

June 2, 2023 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Directed by Ken (RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD II) Wiederhorn, written by John Kent Harrison and Ken Wiederhorn, starring Brooke (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) Adams, Luke (ISLAND OF THE LOST) Halpin, Peter (THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) Cushing, John (THE HOWLING) Carradine, Fred Buch and Don Stout.

Just lurkin' around — Just lurkin’ around

A bunch of people find themselves stranded on an island, where they are stalked and killed by undead nazi super-soldiers who wear goggles, can breath underwater and prefer to march about the isle in an unhurried fashion.

Now, if only the zombie-troopers were giant-sized! How cool would that be?!

SHOCK WAVES, also known as ALMOST HUMAN, starts in a less than pacy manner, taking its time before the aqua-nazis finally make a proper appearance. John Carradine, as the grizzled boat captain, has a decent amount of screen time earlier in the film, before being bumped off, then horror icon Peter Cushing makes his appearance once the small group of crew members and tourists reach the big, empty house on the island. As the scar-faced ex-SS Commander, Cushing is the character who reveals the origin of the Death Corps troopers, but he’s not really given much else to do. He basically wanders around for a while, until he’s pulled beneath the water by a nazi zombie.

The mysterious owner of the island (Peter Cushing)

There’s a scene where the ship’s cook is attacked by an undead trooper and falls face-first into a bunch of spiky sea urchins, but the film is not gory or bloody, with most victims simply getting dragged underwater to drown.

Rose (Brooke Adams) encounters the cook's corpse, which is covered in sea urchin spines — Rose (Brooke Adams) encounters the cook’s corpse, which is covered in sea urchin spines

Now then, with all this criticism you might think that I didn’t enjoy SHOCK WAVES… but I did! And why do I like this flick, do you think? Yes! It’s because of the nazi water-zombies!

They're coming to get you! — They’re coming to get you!

'The deep end of horror!' — ‘The deep end of horror!’

These Third Reich undead dudes just look damn cool! They all sport short, white-blond haircuts, SS trooper uniforms, goggles and decent-looking corpse-esque makeup courtesy of Alan Ormsby. There’s not a whole army of them, unfortunately, just a half dozen or so of the aqua-ghouls, but they simply look really good as they slowly rise from the sea or a lake or a swimming pool. They also prefer to lurk in the distance, posing, letting the victims see them, taking their time to stalk their prey before killing them.

There’s not much plot, but Brooke Adams is a fetching final girl, Luke Halpin (who was one of the stars of the FLIPPER television show and resembles a 70s version of a young Boyd Holbrook here) is an acceptable male lead and, well, who cares too much if there’s not a lot of story so long as we get to see those amphibious zomboid troopers?!

Here are two posters to drool over…

Switch off your brain, grab a beer and give this a watch…

The Mighty Peking Man (1977)

June 1, 2023 Ken Miller 3 Comments

The lady, the leopard and the leviathan!

Starring Danny (THE SUPER INFRAMAN) Lee, Evelyne (LADY DRACULA) Kraft, Ku (THE WEB OF DEATH) Feng and Lin Wei-Tu, directed by Ho (THE OILY MANIAC) Meng-Hua for Shaw Brothers.

An expedition brings back a gigantic ape-man to Hong Kong, where he (surprise) runs amok. His jungle girl companion (Kraft) tries to help the hairy vandal, but it all ends in tears.

He ain't gonna stay captive for long — He ain’t gonna stay captive for long

C'mon, these Tonka Toys will be no match for our hairy hero! — C’mon, these Tonka Toys will be no match for our hairy hero!

The Peking Man romps around downtown Hong Kong

Shaw Brothers released this fantasy flick, also known as GOLIATHON, in the wake of 1976’s KING KONG remake and did rather a good job. Though the special effects have been ridiculed in such publications as The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, I found the sets and model work to be on par with similar scenes in Toho’s Godzilla movies. The Hong Kong city set is pretty large and decently detailed, with the usual pyrotechnical destruction occurring at the movie’s climax.

Smashin' more stuff! — Smashin’ more stuff!

Though the titular Peking Man is obviously a man in a costume, of a standard far below that of Rick Baker’s simian creation seen in the ‘76 KING KONG, the model face used for close-ups of Peking Man’s visage is up to snuff.

Okay, sometimes the ape-man does look a little goofy

Peking Man plays peeping tom... — Peking Man plays peeping tom…

One of the movie’s plus points is Evelyne Kraft who, as the loincloth-wearing amazon, is a fetching addition to the cast. Other ingredients include an elephant stampede and a man who has his leg bitten off by a tiger!

...who likes playing with her leopard! — …who likes playing with her leopard!

Surprisingly, a certain amount of pathos can be found in Peking Man’s plight because, generally, the ape-man is shown to be friendly, at least in the company of Kraft, thus adding to the tragedy of the finale, as the furry fury and his diminutive dame companion come under fire from buzzing helicopters.

Here are some posters…

Here’s a final shot: the jungle gal sitting in the Peking Man’s hairy paw…

She adored that big ol' ape-dude — She adored that big ol’ ape-dude

Witch from Nepal (1986)

May 15, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

This supernatural dude can turn into a cell-animated panther

Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Emily Chu, Yammie Lam Kit-Ying and Dick Wei.
Directed by Ching Siu-Tung, with action choreography by Ching Siu-Tung and Alan Hsu.

Whilst in Nepal, Joe (Yun-Fat) meets a mysterious girl who follows him back to Hong Kong. He discovers that he now has supernatural powers and, after the death of the attractive witch, has to combat an evil warrior (Wei) who wants the glowing pendant that Joe wears around his neck.

Featuring the blue-lit photography, slow motion and romantic atmosphere found in the best Hong Kong fantasies, this film, also known as The Nepal Affair and A Touch of Love, is for much of its running time simply a tale of a ménage à trois spiced up with some telekinesis and other minor feats of magic. But the film shifts gears towards the end as Joe, his girlfriend and some children are trapped in a graveyard by zombies who’ve just crawled out of the mud. A section of railings then bends towards a car and flies into the side of the vehicle like a series of iron spears!

Joe and the bad dude, who growls like a panther, have a final fight, which sees them knocking each other through buildings, culminating with the villain getting speared on a ceremonial dagger, causing his teeth and eyes to plop out and his skin to fly off his skull!

A decent modern-day Hong Kong whimsy, it is a shame that the evil character’s ability to transform into a cell-animated panther, shown at the very start of the film, isn’t reintroduced during the latter stages of the tale – and the scene where Joe makes sparking electricity cables draw two hearts in the night sky for his love is far, far too twee!

Mr. Vampire 1992 (1992)

April 23, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

You need to hold your breath if you want to 'hide' from a vampire! — You need to hold your breath if you want to ‘hide’ from a vampire!

Starring Lam Ching-Ying, Ricky Hui, Chin Siu-Ho, Sandra Ng, Suki Kwan, Billy Lau and Tsui Man-Wah. Directed by Ricky Lau, written by Lo Wing-Keung.

Lam Ching-Ying returns as… Master Lam Ching-Ying, an expert in vampirism looking into an outbreak of the undead in an area overseen by a General (Lau), who is married to Lam’s former love.

Lam and his two assistants (Hui & Siu-Ho) really have their hands full, however, because they also need to deal with an evil servant’s plot to grow the spirit of an angry aborted child in the belly of the General’s pregnant wife. Running out of options, they call on exorcist Birdie (Ng) to help out, and she’s more than happy to aid them, since she really has the hots for Lam!

Child spirits, who like to be fed eggs — Child spirits, who like to be offered eggs to eat

MR. VAMPIRE 1992 uses the notion that the spirits of aborted children remain in the form of kids as a major supernatural element to the story, with certain child-spirits becoming frustrated and dangerous due to the fact their mothers had several abortions, thwarting any chance of the spirits getting reincarnated. But this interesting concept is not really explored and is shoved aside in favour of scatological humour and general silliness.

Lam uses his powers to draw the evil child-spirit from his former lover's belly — Lam uses his powers to draw the evil child-spirit from his former lover’s belly

At one point the blue-faced child-spirit's visage is superimposed over the pregnant woman's face — At one point the blue-faced child-spirit’s visage is superimposed over the pregnant woman’s face

A mid-point sequence in a village entirely overrun by hopping vampires looks like more effort was made to ensure that it was well-lit and atmospheric, plus there’s a slo-mo parade of spirits in the woods that is nicely-handled.

This is the leader of the hopping vampires that infest the village

Billy Lau enjoys himself playing the vamp-infected General who can’t stop doing little vampire-hops every now and then, Sandra Ng is amusing as the Lam-obsessed Birdie, all the stuff about having to grind down vampire teeth to make a curative powder is fun, and the final-reel showdown, where Lam and co. battle an electrically-powered, bald, veiny demon-child, the acrobatic, tough-fighting maidservant and another bunch of hopping vampires, is diverting and decently-done.

Master Lam Ching-Ying files down the fangs of the General's father, who has become a vampire — Master Lam Ching-Ying files down the fangs of the General’s father, who has become a vampire

The spirit of an angry, aborted child zaps the heroes

The evil maidservant eventually explodes!

The above scenes manage to compensate, to a certain degree, for the parts of the film that are flatly-lit, pointless or tiresomely obsessed with pissing and shitting jokes.

He's a very angry spirit-youngster! — He’s a very angry spirit-youngster!

Basically, the film needed more action and less middling filler material.

The bit where Ricky Hui and Chin Siu-Ho disguise themselves to infiltrate the vampire-infested village is definitely the best part of the film — The bit where Ricky Hui and Chin Siu-Ho disguise themselves as the undead to infiltrate the vampire-infested village is definitely the best part of the film

Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983)

April 21, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

This movie is a frenetic, non-stop action-fest!

Starring Yuen Biao, Adam Cheng, Meng Hoi, Sammo Hung, Moon Lee, Brigitte Lin, and Tsui Siu-Keung. Directed by Tsui Hark, produced by Raymond Chow, with action by Corey Yuen, Meng Hoi, Yuen Biao and Fung Hark-On.

This fine fantasy flick, based on a 1932 book called ‘The Legend of the Swordsman of the Mountains of Shu’ by Huanzhulouzhu (the pen name of Li Shoumin), is so fast, frantic, absurdly action-gorged, fantastical and odd that it makes pretty much any film made in the west look snail-paced in comparison to it.

Ming wants to escape the civil war that is blighting his land

Set in a region called Zu, the film tells the tall tale of Ming (Biao), an army private, who becomes disillusioned with the civil war ravaging his land. He escapes to the Magic Mountains, which is a grim area plagued by demons and evil disciples. Meeting up with some magical warriors, Ming attempts to prevent the Blood Monster from ending the world.

By far the best portion of this movie, for me, is Ming’s initial venture into the mountainous region, a zone of misty boulders and temples, where the private encounters virgin-sacrificing cult members and demons that resemble blue-eyed Jawas with stretching bodies!

There's a blue-eyed 'Jawa'-demon behind you! — There’s a blue-eyed ‘Jawa’-demon behind you!

After teaming-up with three good monk-fighters, Ming confronts the Blood Monster, which first appears as a cascade of blood, then becomes a red sheet-covered entity. To the aid of the heroic foursome comes Long Brows (Hung): a grey-haired mystic who manages to keep the Blood Monster in check by clasping it with his magically extending eyebrows and beard! The Blood Monster protects its soul, though, by surrounding itself with the skulls of sacrificial virgins and tusks!

Long Brows, played by Sammo Hung, has got weaponised eyebrows!

Ming and his three companions go in search of two powerful swords capable of finally destroying the Blood Monster before it grows too powerful to be restrained by Long Brows.

The Blood Monster as a red, sheet-covered entity — The Blood Monster as a red sheet-covered entity

Tsui Hark adds so many fights, mystics, flying skirmishes, animated magic effects, arguments, twisting Buddha statues and multiple scene-changes that the cumulative effect of this non-stop, energetic assault to the senses is that you feel like your head might explode!

By the time the heroes are flying through red, swirling skyscapes, armed with glowing, magic swords, you wonder if you’re hallucinating it all!
Hark maybe tries to cram just too many optical effects into the finale and the end results are often less effective than, say, the mainly practical special effects seen in A CHINESE GHOST STORY, but there’s so, so much to enjoy here, why bother to quibble? And, let’s face it, what other movie contains a fight between a man and a woman zooming about on levitating large elephant statues and a stone griffin?!

Getting ready to fight on the elephant statues... — Getting ready to fight on the elephant statues…

Note: The English dubbed version starts off in the modern day, and is edited to suit a more western market.

This flick is an energetic assault to the senses

Frenetic, funny, bizarre, wacky, magical and mad as a box of frogs.

She's got the moves — She’s got the moves

The Peacock King (1988)

April 14, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Starring Yuen Biao, Hiroshi Mikami, Wong Siu-Fung, Narumi Yasuda, Gloria Yip, Eddy Ko, Gordon Liu and Philip Kwok, directed by Nam Nai-Choi for Golden Harvest.

It goes without saying that various people in this flick have special powers

Two young monks, Peacock (Biao) and Lucky Fruit (Mikami), must prevent the Hell King from destroying the world. Supernatural forces are able to enter the world via four holes to Hell, and the bulk of the tale concerns the hunt for these entrances. In fact, the film’s main weakness is that too much time is given over to whizzing to Japan, Hong Kong and Tibet, fracturing what chance there is of linear plot development.

However, the movie’s fun special effects more than compensate…

Early on we see small, many-eyed crawly thingies called ‘womanising ghosts’, which resemble more interesting versions of the stop-motion models crafted for the hologram chess game in STAR WARS.

These lil’ critters run around a sidewalk, chased by a dog.

Stop-motion ‘womanising ghost’ creatures peer out from a discarded fast food burger box

Another animation model comes into play when Hell’s Envoy Raga, played by Wong Siu-Fung, gets injured. Raga arches her back, develops telescopic, insectoid forearms and claws, and then, best of all, causes her now reptilian, elongated face to split lengthwise into a gaping, vertical, toothy maw!

Stop-motion puppet version of the split-faced monster

Animatronic model of the monster, used for close-ups

This very cool monster acrobatically leaps around the place as it battles the protagonists, with full-scale props and animatronics used in conjunction with the stop-motion puppet to bring this beast to the screen. This is definitely the standout sequence in the movie!

A look inside the Hell's Envoy Monster's mouth — A look inside the Hell’s Envoy Monster’s mouth

Peacock (Yuen Biao) gets pinned down by the beast!

Other special effects moments include a dinosaur model coming to life at a prehistoric exhibition, a genie-type giant and a flaming phoenix of light.

The full size dinosaur model at an exhibition... — The full size dinosaur model at an exhibition…

...is brought to 'life' by evil magic! — …which is brought to ‘life’ by evil magic!

Also known as Legend of the Phoenix, this modern day Hong Kong fantasy-action flick is flawed but great fun!

Okay then, one more look at the Hell’s Envoy Monster…

The split-faced creature loses an arm, but it keeps on fighting

Creatures on the Loose comic covers

April 7, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Detail of the cover for issue #16. Art by Gil Kane, Joe Sinnott and John Costanza

Marvel’s horror/fantasy anthology comic book Tower of Shadows was not very successful, selling pretty poorly, so it was renamed Creatures on the Loose starting with issue #10 (in March 1971).

This iteration featured a seven-page King Kull sword and sorcery story by Roy Thomas and artist Bernie Wrightson and other new stories, by artists Herb Trimpe, Syd Shores and Reed Crandall, but then its contents became all-reprint until issue #16 (in March 1972). Now we got the interplanetary swashbuckler hero Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars and then, in March 1973, the sword and sorcery hero Thongor graced the pages of the comic.

Man-Wolf, the werewolf son of J. Jonah Jameson, took centre stage next. His lycanthropic stories ran from issue #30 to #37.

Here are just some of the Creatures on the Loose covers…

Sword versus tentacles! Cover art by Herb Trimpe, Marie Severin and Morrie Kuramoto

'Moomba is here!' Art by Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Marie Severin and Artie Simek — ‘Moomba is here!’ Art by Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Marie Severin and Artie Simek

Krogarr's comin' at ya through the television! Art by Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Marie Severin and Artie Simek — It’s comin’ at ya through the television! Art by Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Marie Severin and Artie Simek

OMG! That hill is alive! Art by Gil Kane, Joe Sinnott, Marie Severin and Sam Rosen

Introducing Gullivar Jones, warrior of Mars! I liked these stories! Gil Kane, Bill Everett and Artie Simek — Introducing Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars! I liked these stories! Art by Gil Kane, Bill Everett and Artie Simek

'Slaves of the Spider Swarm!' Art by Gil Kane, Vincente Alcazar and John Costanza — ‘Slaves of the Spider Swarm!’ Art by Gil Kane, Vincente Alcazar and John Costanza

Thongor! Sword and sorcery wonderfulness by Jim Steranko

Lizard-Hawks attack! Art by John Romita, Ernie Chan and Morrie Kuramoto

'Sword vs sorcery in the land that time forgot!!!' I like the sound of that! Art by John Romita, Tony Mortellaro and Danny Crespi — ‘Sword vs sorcery in the land that time forgot!!!’ I like the sound of that! Art by John Romita, Tony Mortellaro and Danny Crespi

It's Man-Wolf! Woot! Art by Gil Kane, John Romita and Gaspar Saladino — It’s Man-Wolf! Woot! Art by Gil Kane, John Romita and Gaspar Saladino

Art by Gil Kane, Klaus Janson and George Roussos

A pretty eye-catching cover! Art by George Pérez, John Romita and Tony Mortellaro

I have this issue stored away somewhere. Art by Gil Kane, Tom Palmer and George Roussos

Stupendously amazing cover art by Gil Kane, Klaus Janson and Gaspar Saladino

'Frenzy in freefall!' Art by Gil Kane and Tom Palmer — ‘Frenzy in freefall!’ Art by Gil Kane and Tom Palmer

The last issue of Creatures on the Loose (number #37) was published in September 1975.

To finish, here’s the interior splash page art from issue #18. It’s bloody awesome! Feast your eyes…

Huge, aquatic monster alert! Art by Ross Andru and Sam Grainger

Gorgo (1961)

April 7, 2023 Ken Miller 3 Comments

Directed by Eugène Lourié, starring Bill Travers, William (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY) Sylvester, Vincent Winter, Christopher Rhodes, Martin (THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER) Benson and Joseph (THE GORGON) O’Conor. A King Brothers production.

The towering titan approaches Piccadilly Circus in London…

...and wrecks the 'Gorgo' sign! — …and wrecks the ‘Gorgo’ signage!

Captain Joe Ryan (Travers), his First Officer buddy Sam Slade (Sylvester) and his crew discover and capture a gigantic prehistoric creature off the coast of Ireland after an underwater earthquake releases it.

Some weird, dead sea creatures are discovered before Gorgo makes its appearance

Accompanied by an orphan called Sean (Winter), Joe and Sam take the large beast to London, where it is put on public display. But then… the critter’s even bigger mother arrives and demolishes the capital city in search of her offspring!

The captured baby Gorgo is driven through London

From the director of THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953) and BEHEMOTH THE SEA MONSTER (1959), this giant monster movie stands out for several reasons.

Firstly, the film really makes an effort to show the effects of the parent creature’s attack on the inhabitants of the city, with the streets jammed with fleeing crowds, many of whom are engulfed in falling masonry.

A wall topples towards panic-stricken Londoners

Secondly, the central idea of the story is really cool: Gorgo, the monster on show at a London circus, is only an infant… and its huge mother goes on the rampage to save the youngster!

In fact, it was such a good idea the story was ‘borrowed’ for the Japanese film GAPPA THE TRIPHIBIAN MONSTER (1967).

Young Gorgo is put on display in London... — Young Gorgo is put on display in London…

...and momma comes to get her offspring, wrecking lots of buildings! — …and mummy monster comes to get her offspring back, wrecking lots of buildings in the process!

Momma Gorgo gets to wreck such famous landmarks as Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus and Tower Bridge, plus a rollercoaster and a Royal Navy frigate.

This colourful creature feature eschews the need for a tacked-on love interest subplot, and the movie finishes with a happy ending… for the monsters! Hooray!

Check out some Gorgo-tastic posters…

Here’s an example of original poster artwork by Joseph Smith for GORGO. Joseph did another concept for the film that was actually used on all the posters, but he personally considered this design to be far superior…

19" X 24" — This illustration was 19″ X 24″

Francisco Fernández Zarza (aka Jano) created this gouache and tempera rendition of the Gorgo monster… making the critter look just like Japanese kaiju turtle-beast Gamera! It is a nicely painted poster, nonetheless…

It's Gamera! Er, I mean: it's Gorgo! — It’s Gamera! Er, I mean: it’s Gorgo!

The GORGO pressbook…

The cover for issue #11 of Famous Monsters of Filmland…

Gorgo illustration by the awesome Basil Gogos

Some covers and interior art for the Gorgo comic book series from Charlton Comics…

'Monster against spaceship' — ‘Monster against spaceship’

'The creature from beyond!' — ‘The creature from beyond!’

'Venusian terror' — Getting licked by a ‘Venusian terror’

'The capture of Gorgo' — ‘The capture of Gorgo’

'...Only this fantastic monster could decide the fate of humanity!' — ‘…Only this fantastic monster could decide the fate of humanity!’

'The return of Gorgo' — ‘The return of Gorgo’

Monster mom and baby drawn by the legendary Ditko

A behind the scenes pic of the monster suit under construction…

Those dots in the neck are presumably the holes where the suit actor peered through? — Those dots in the neck are presumably the holes that the suit actor peered through?

Finally, one more look at Britain’s finest kaiju…

Return of the Demon (1987)

April 5, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Starring Charlie Cho, Shing Fui-On, Dick Wei, Emily Chu and Wu Ma, directed by Wong Ying, produced by Charles Heung and Wong Ying.

I don't think Rick Baker worked on this werewolf makeup... — I don’t think Rick Baker worked on this werewolf makeup…

Only a person born in the ‘Hoi’ year, month and day can get the treasure hidden in the hands of a certain Buddha statue. But it’s all an evil trick to enable a superhuman, soul-sucking character known as the Monster to escape from the statue in which it is trapped.

Shing Fui-On’s character is big, tough and somewhat stupid, while Dick Wei plays the scabby-faced, brain-sucking villain as a real ass-kicker, in a movie that’s generally a surface-deep excuse for loosely-connected scenes involving spells, a female ghost, zombies, dog piss-drinking and fights.

Don't mess with this bad guy — Don’t mess with this bad guy

A lynching torture is treated as an opportunity for comedic acrobatics, a boulder is revealed to have a pulsing central core, broken eggs are used to age a spell-making Master (who also turns into a fun weredog), and a blue-lit cavern houses a large wheel on which zombies toil. There’s also a network of tunnels set in the rock walls of the cavern, from which the zombies shoot out if a bell is rung. These zombies have a needle in the centre of their heads: pull it out and they die.

RETURN OF THE DEMON is an enjoyable, though lightweight, serving of relentless Hong Kong action-horror goofiness.

Devoted to every kind of movie and TV monster, from King Kong to Godzilla, from the Blob to Alien. Plus monsters from other media too, including books and comics.