Starring Eddie Chan, Leung San, Lau Dan and Au-Yang Sha-Fei, directed by Liu Hung-Chuen, produced by Lo Wei, with action choreography by Mai Kei.
I’ve got a splitting headache!
If somebody is lit by a green light, it means they’re evil, right?
Possessions, supernatural occurrences and death await a rich family following the purchase of a jade vase.
You aways get priests in this kind of film
Maggot-face
The somewhat phallic-looking ornament, which is smashed early on in the movie, is really just an excuse for a string of occult happenings, including levitation, the vomiting of birthday cake and worms, the eating of a recently exhumed dog’s guts, and rape by a white haired, slimy demon. As the title suggests, there is the brief shot of a green fetus-thingy bursting from a dead woman’s stomach, plus a face-ripping that reveals maggots beneath the flesh, and the bravura on-screen head-crushing of one of the characters trapped in a shrinking room.
Assaulted by a white-haired monster
Splattered head!
The standard of the special FX varies: a shot of a holy man, who is twisted into the earth by grasping hands, is achieved simply by using double-exposed images, as are shots of the possessed younger son gliding about the place. However, the scene of the son splitting in two down the middle, as a demon bursts out of him, is a novel effect. This devil critter is beheaded almost immediately and, in a show-stopping example of Hong Kong weirdness, a succession of human heads on long necks streak from a severed neck, followed by a fountain of fluid! After an Evil Dead-style shot of the demon head decomposing (via jerky animation), the toothy skull zips toward the camera for a freeze-frame ending!
The severed monster’s head…
…zooms toward the camera!
Making little sense, this film becomes more and more ludicrous, but it remains an enjoyable spectacle throughout, eschewing the usual Hong Kong filmmaker’s tendency to include comedic interludes.
Starring Ricky Cheng Tien-Chi, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Lee Kim-Sang, Chang Fu-Chien and Wang Quen, directed by Chang Cheh for Chang He Film Company.
Thai poster
Joey (Tien-Chi) does a deal with the Black Prince of Hell, allowing nine demons into his body in exchange for the chance to save his friend Gary and avenge himself against those behind the violent takeover of family estates. Gaining a fancy caped costume, Joey uses the demons, who take the form of either nine small skulls or eight acrobatic kids & a woman, to destroy all his enemies, which include various uncles and cousins conspiring against him.
The rather flamboyant Black Prince of Hell
One of the demons is an attractive she-vamp!
Those skulls hanging around his neck are the demons
Unfortunately for Joey, these nine demons must drink human blood every day, so he becomes a compromised character, seeking righteous revenge but also needing victims to feed his demons.
Sometimes, to appease the skull-demons, Joey allows them to feed on himself
When the skulls feed on victims, red veins rapidly appear
The many studio sets help give the production a Shaw Brothers vibe. The movie is sometimes garishly-lit with reds and greens, and its bizarre ingredients include floating, smoking (obviously plastic) skulls zipping about the place and smiling demon-kids, all dressed in traditional Thai-style garb, chowing down on people’s throats.
The demon kids
The adult female demon
Additionally, this crazy fantasy-horror-actioner culminates in an unconventional battle between Joey and warriors wearing mini water skis. These guys nimbly scoot around the surface of a shallow pool, until Joey uses his powers to freeze the water, prompting his opponents to use long lengths of bamboo to create a framework above the ice, allowing the fight to continue, with Joey letting loose his demons once again and his adversaries brandishing flaming torch weapons against him. Ultimately, the power of Buddhism prevails, Joey rids himself of the demons and promptly explodes, freeing his spirit to be reincarnated.
This film stars Donnie Yen, Pauline Yeung, Ben Lam, Chui Hei-Man, Kathy Chow, Ken Lo and Sibelle Hu, is directed by Lu Chin-Ku, with action choreography by Tsui Fat. It is a Cheung Yau Martial Arts Direction Company/Chung Ngai Movie Production.
Donnie Yen with a gun!
In modern day Hong Kong, a teacher’s female student guests are all murdered by an evil Cambodian being called the Moon Monster (Lo), who is a long-haired dude similar to Dick Wei’s character in Return of the Demon (1987). The teacher, played by Donnie Yen, is suspected of the murders at first, until the Moon Monster assaults a policeman’s wife and receives several bullets in the torso before being electrocuted. After pulling out the guts of a mortuary attendant, the undead Monster returns to Cambodia, followed by Yen, his brother, a policeman and his wife…
The Moon Monster tears out the mortuary attendant’s intestines
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Blu-ray slipcase cover from 88 Films
This diverting movie mixes supernatural shenanigans with gun action and some good fisticuffs from Yen, who was at the start of his career here, long before starring in IP MAN and JOHN WICK 4.
DVD cover
A Cambodian princess (Yeung) of the High Wind Tribe is introduced halfway into the film. She is able to fly and helps the protagonists with her magical sword that can fire yellow lightning!
Don’t mess with this princess!
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In the fun climax, machine gun action mingles with magical mayhem, as the Monster suffers from a bad case of facial blisters when the sword is driven into the top of his head.
Okay, so the film doesn’t have that extra something to allow it to live up to the promise of the title, but it’s worth a watch.
Directed by Nathan (THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD) Juran, starring Edward Judd, Lionel Jeffries, Martha Hyer, Miles Malleson and an uncredited cameo by Peter Finch.
US one sheet poster
When a team of astronauts land on the moon, they discover an old Union Jack flag and a document, which states that the moon has already been claimed… for Queen Victoria!
Cavor with his Cavorite
Back on Earth, an investigation team locates the last of the original Victorian crew, a very old Arnold Bedford (Judd), who tells them the story of how he and his girlfriend Katherine (Hyer) met up with an idiosyncratic inventor called Joseph Cavor (Jeffries). As the story unfolds, we see that Cavor has invented a gravity-defying substance called Cavorite, which allows them to fly a sphere all the way to the moon. Once there, the intrepid trio discovers a lunar civilisation composed of various types of intelligent, insect-like beings, referred to as selenites…
A stop-motion selenite looks on
This light, comedic slice of Victorian-era science fiction, shot in Panavision, features fine performances from Lionel Jeffries and Edward Judd. I think Jeffries is especially good as Cavor, who is the standout character in a script written by Nigel (THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT) Kneale. The story is, of course, an adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel.
Lionel Jeffries is wonderful as Cavor
Together with this film, Edward Judd was in several other sci-fi flicks that I like: THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, INVASION and ISLAND OF TERROR
Selenite versus human!
The Grand Lunar and several higher-status selenites are stop-motion creations courtesy of Ray Harryhausen, while the worker selenites are children in costumes, which I think works okay as they aren’t focused on in detail.
Worker selenites (kids in costumes) dismantle the sphere
A worker selenite
The stop-motion Grand Lunar: leader of the selenites
The giant mooncalf is also created via stop-motion by Ray Harryhausen: its attack on the heroes is my favourite moment in the movie.
The giant, caterpillar-like mooncalf is ace!
Bedford is attacked by the mooncalf!
The movie boasts some pleasing moonscape sets, subterranean vistas, plus a clever modern day wraparound plot device, which all add to the enjoyment of the viewing experience.
One of the cool underground vistas
One of Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion selenites
Cavor prepares to meet the Grand Lunar
Some posters for the movie…
UK quad poster
French poster
US one sheet poster
West German poster
Turkish poster
US insert poster
West German poster
Italian poster
US half sheet poster
Here are some Italian Fotobustas (lobby cards)…
Fotobusta
Fotobusta
Fotobusta
Fotobusta
Cover for the Gold Key comic adaptation…
Comic book cover
Some colourful art…
Illustration by Daryl Joyce
Okay, let’s focus on the lovely mooncalf…
In the movie the mooncalf gets zapped!
The selenites strip the mooncalf of its flesh, leaving a skeleton
The special visual effects for the film were provided by Ray Harryhausen, who worked alongside British special effects expert Les Bowie at his Slough studio to produce the complicated travelling matte sequences that combined live action footage with the miniatures. Ian Scoones, who frequently collaborated with Bowie, drew the concept artwork for the mooncalf skeleton. Here you can see Scoones’ skeleton drawing on the top right, next to Ray’s initial concepts for the look of the mooncalf stop-motion model’s face and body…
Cool concept work
Finally, here’s a publicity shot of Martha Hyer…
Martha also appeared in the killer bear movie NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY
This Basque-language horror-fantasy movie is directed by Paul Urkijo Alijo, written by Paul Urkijo Alijo and Asier Guerricaechebarría, and stars Kandido Uranga, Uma Bracaglia and Eneko Sagardoy.
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ERREMENTARI: THE BLACKSMITH AND THE DEVIL is a re-telling of an old fable, set in the Basque area of Spain, after the First Carlist War. We follow little orphan Usue, who ends up in the home of feared local blacksmith Patxi, who has made the demon Sartael his prisoner…
Don’t let Sartael out of his cage!
This is a great-looking film, with a fine feel for the period, featuring lots of shots of muddy roads, dingy homes and dirty-faced people. The cinematography and lighting is very good.
I like the look of the film
Some soldiers
The demons in the movie are really well-done: they are old-school medieval-style beings, mainly created practically, via make-up, costumes & prosthetics, with nice CGI touches (their pointy tails.)
A stout, toothy demon
I like the look of this devil!
The captured demon Sartael is a wonderful, memorable character and the other demons seen later in the story, when the protagonists find themselves heading to the gates of hell, are nicely executed.
Huge demon!
A demon’s ass with a face on it…
Big-eyed demon
Pointy-nosed demon
Also known simply as ERREMENTARI, this was the first full-length movie by director Paul Urkijo Alijo, and it is a top-notch Spanish horror fable worth seeking out.
Starring Yu Lung, Ching Li, Tina Chin Fei, An Ping, Wei Hung and Chen Hung Lieh, directed by Tetsuya Yamanouchi for Shaw Brothers and Jih Mao Film Company.
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At one point Na Cha grows multiple arms!
After eating a sacred peach and accidentally knocking the other seven peaches down to the mortal world, young Na Cha must deal with the human-looking devils that have appeared on Earth after various animals have chowed down on the mystical fruit.
A toad eats one of the sacred peaches
This seems like a kids fantasy film to begin with, but soon we’re presented with shots of groping couples making out and scenes of folks being killed by the devils, who have a penchant for turning themselves into the likenesses of loved ones.
A dragon looms up above a village…
…and the beast starts burning down the place!
There’s a decent kaiju moment when a giant dragon burns down a village, plus a subplot involving the devils attempting to prevent a military fleet from setting sail, and an airborne skirmish between Na Cha, a devil eagle and the dragon. To even the odds in this fight with the puppet predators, Na Cha grows in size and becomes multi-armed for a while!
Na Cha throws a sword into the devil eagle’s wing
Goat dude
NA CHA AND THE SEVEN DEVILS is a watchable Hong Kong-Taiwanese fantasy adventure coproduction that, just like similar mythical tales, continually introduces extra characters as the story progresses, including a snake dude, a bull dude and a goat dude, plus an immortal hero with a third eye called Yang Jian, who is aided by Celestial Dog: a canine companion wearing its own natty yellow costume!
Starring Stephen Fung, Sam Lee, Alice Chan, Chan Wai Ming, Benny Lai, and Frankie Ng Chi-Hung, directed by Steve Cheng.
Nom, nom, nom…
Dr Harry (Lai) smuggles a sample of weaponised virus from a lab that’s attempting to create ‘painless warriors’, but he is bitten by one of the test subjects (Jude Poyer) and slowly turns into a zombie-like being, triggering an outbreak of the undead at a rural Hong Kong police station.
Green gunk dribbles from Dr Harry’s mouth during sex…
There’s too much extraneous chat and a string of pointless scenes padding out the beginning of this movie, but matters become more interesting once Harry starts drooling green gunk during sex, rips apart the occupants of a police cell and then becomes a super-strong, scabby-faced ‘New Human’, who can bend bars.
Harry gets pretty strong
Could’ve been better…
Instead of being a super-soldier thriller, as suggested by the opening sequence, BIO-COPS evolves into a zombie outbreak flick and is really rather silly. Quite a few zombies seem to like to hide in lockers, a cop gets his arse bitten by petty hoodlum Cheap (Lee), who’s just pretending to be a zombie, and Frankie Ng Chi-Hung simply looks embarrassed playing zombified Hung Hing triad gang boss Kow.
For a ‘zombie’, Harry talks quite a bit
Reminiscent of BIO-ZOMBIE (1998) in some ways, this film is nowhere near as good as that flick, though the diverting latter zombie siege moments, involving submachine guns and pump-action shotguns, do enliven the story, but the finale lacks fizz, turning into a talky confrontation between cop hero Marco (Fung), his girlfriend May (Wai Ming) and Harry, but at least it ends with Harry having a grenade shoved into his mouth. Boom!
Starring Lau Kar-Leung, Tang Lai-Ying, Mark Cheng, Wong Jing, Hsu Shu-Yuan and Stuart Ong, written by Wong Jing and directed by Dennis Yu.
We see the cat creature in her true form during the prologue, but must wait until the last five minutes to see the cat-woman again
An evil cat demon-spirit reappears every 50 years and a descendant of the demon-fighting Cheung family has always been there to combat it, in a cycle of events that spans the past 400 years. Now the final cat spirit has been set free on the Earth and Master Cheung, who is suffering from cancer, enlists the help of young chauffeur Ah Long (Cheng) to destroy the evil once and for all. Armed with a bow and three charmed arrows, Long & Cheung hunt down the energy-absorbing feline entity, which first possesses Long’s boss Mr Fan and then his personal assistant, Tina.
The possessed Mr Fan likes to eat live carp
DVD cover
Evil Cat is standard 80s Hong Kong horror-fantasy fare, with the requisite amounts of humour and suspense, with decent action scenes overseen by master martial arts director Lau Kar-Leung, who also plays spirit-fighter Cheung.
A cop has a hand rammed right through his body
Written by Wong Jing, the film gains momentum once Tina (Shu-Yuan) gets possessed, triggering scenes in which she bites off the tongue of a pop star during sex in a car, rams her hand through a policeman’s body, and withstands multiple gunshot hits when cops blast at her during an energetic police station rampage.
Lots of swirling spectral lights as the evil cat spirit enters Tina’s body
Tina turns nasty
The plot’s supernatural lore is patchy at best, with the cat-demon easily jumping from host to host, even when it is stabbed by the supposedly lethal magic arrows, but the movie doesn’t worry itself too much about the fuzziness of its mythology, concentrating instead on supplying incident after incident, intent on reaching its climax, where the evil spirit finally reveals its true form: a pale, white-haired cat-woman.
During the police station rampage the possessed Tina really gets shot-up by the cops…
…and the policemen keep on shooting Tina… and she doesn’t die!
Evil Cat doesn’t really stick in the memory, but it is never dull and certainly passes the time nicely enough.
We see the evil cat spirit’s true form again during the finale
She could definitely audition for the Andrew Lloyd Webber show…
Starring Lau Siu-Ming, Wong Shu-Tong, Michelle Yim, Chan Chi Chi and Eddy Ko, directed by Tsui Hark for Seasonal Film Corporation.
Tien Fung, leader of the Ten Flags clan, investigates the mystery of killer butterfly attacks in the deserted Shum Castle, accompanied by some of his troops and lone woman warrior Green Shadow. Entering the catacombs beneath the castle, they encounter esteemed scholar Fong (Siu-Ming), Master Shum, his wife and a mute maid named Chee. The butterflies continue to kill, hidden rooms are discovered and renowned fighters known as the Thunders enter the story.
Tien Fung and Green Shadow inspect a dragon carving in Shum Castle
Poster
Butterflies munch on a victim’s hand
Tsui Hark’s first film is an assured, thoroughly engrossing Hong Kong new wave wuxia murder mystery with creature feature elements. The empty Shum Castle itself, often shown from the outside, looming above the long grasses, adds immeasurably to the atmosphere of the film, as does the effective use of Jerry Goldsmith’s PLANET OF THE APES score. Wong Shu-Tong is steely, stoic and thoughtful as Tien Fung and Michelle Yim is playful and acrobatic as Green Shadow.
Wong Shu-Tong is a cool dude in this movie
Butterflies on a corpse
The film offers a realistic reason for characters being able to fly about, by showing them using various line-firing gizmos, but there are still fantastical components to the story, like a fire crow bird that explodes on contact with people and the notion that butterflies can actually kill a person, though these lethal Lepidoptera assaults are actually explained away as being the result of the use of ‘butterfly-controlling medicine’.
Master Shum is assaulted by a swarm of butterflies
Be careful… this bird can blow up!
The introduction of a helmeted armoured man becomes the focus of the latter stages of the movie, with the killer butterflies taking a back seat, as fights involving dart-ejecting weapons and explosive projectiles ultimately lead to a nihilistic finale.
The mysterious armoured dude
Art by Maya Edelman
The secret plans and rivalries eventually revealed to be the reasons behind the events may fail to be particularly compelling, but THE BUTTERFLY MURDERS remains a very moody, intriguing, enjoyable viewing experience.
Starring Billy Chong, Lo Lieh, Sung Gam-Shing and Fang Mien, directed by Lee Chiu for The Eternal Film Company.
Green-lit ghoul
During the annual Ghost Festival, bare-chested hero Chun (Chong) is visited by the eyeless, green-faced spectre of his dead dad, who informs his son that he was a victim of murder. Chun decides to go to Yellow Dragon Town to get revenge for pops, but it won’t be easy as the villain controls a bunch of henchmen and is aided by a black magician priest (Gam-Shing). After Chun is pestered by hopping undead corpses in a playful scene, he’s inspired to go back to the location of a book of magic, which he uses to raise a group of mangle-faced undead to do his bidding.
DVD cover
These undead know how to make their own crucifix
This film is a great deal of fun!
Just to illustrate this, let’s look at what happens in a nicely-mounted confrontation between Chun and his ghosts versus the bad priest: the magician uses a magical cape and two long-tongued spirits in pointy hats to fight Chun’s ghosts, but Chun stands his ground and retaliates, using his glowing magic book to turn the black magician’s spirits into puddles… but the movie’s weird factor is suddenly turned up a notch as the priest piles on the pressure… by summoning Count Dracula! Wonderful stuff!
Zapped by the magic book!
Billy Chong’s fight moves are a joy to watch, plus we get to see a deadly ghost with stretching arms, a long-range flamethrower breath attack, women’s underwear thrown at the wizard to weaken him and a scene where the main villain (Lieh) is chased by the burning scalps of his victims!
These surreal elements, added to fine action courtesy of martial arts directors Alan Hsu and Sung Gam-Shing, make this a very entertaining kung-fu-horror-fantasy yarn.
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Chun’s eyeless, green-faced dead dad
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.
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