Showing posts with label HONGKONG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HONGKONG. Show all posts
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Black Magic (1975) Meng Hua Ho
Black Magic (1975) aka Jiang tou
Genre: Horror
Dvdrip Xvid Avi - 720x304 - 29.970fps - 1.45gb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073206/
A magician makes money by charging people to cast love spells on the objects of their affection. Complications arise when he decides that he wants a customer's bride for himself.
Black Magic is a Shaw Bros. film made back in 1975. Some think it is their first horror film but it is not. The movie is basically a modern story (modern of '75) of old Asian folklore. This movie spawned many films that were similar but none were quite on par with this. Usually, the others were far more violent and that is what they relied on. This movie didn't need to be gory in-order for it to be good.
The story is about a very selfish rich woman. She can have anything she wants. Anything except a certain man who wants nothing to do with her. So she goes and finds the help of a Black Magic Magician to put a love spell on him. The spell works until the mans wife and friends find the help of another magician to break the spell and kill the Black Magic Magician.
That is the storyline for the most part. You would have to watch the film because there is a lot more going on than just that.
This film is certainly not as violent as some of the Shaw Bros. films that I have seen, but, it is a nice change from all of their Martial Arts films, which are excellent as well. The story is well done and you actually start caring for some of the characters. So when bad things happen to them you start getting really frustrated.
Genre: Horror
Country: Hong Kong | Director: Meng Hua Ho
Language: Mandarin | Subtitles: English (.srt file)
Aspect ratio: Cinemascope 2.35:1 | Length: 91mnDvdrip Xvid Avi - 720x304 - 29.970fps - 1.45gb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073206/
A magician makes money by charging people to cast love spells on the objects of their affection. Complications arise when he decides that he wants a customer's bride for himself.
Black Magic is a Shaw Bros. film made back in 1975. Some think it is their first horror film but it is not. The movie is basically a modern story (modern of '75) of old Asian folklore. This movie spawned many films that were similar but none were quite on par with this. Usually, the others were far more violent and that is what they relied on. This movie didn't need to be gory in-order for it to be good.
The story is about a very selfish rich woman. She can have anything she wants. Anything except a certain man who wants nothing to do with her. So she goes and finds the help of a Black Magic Magician to put a love spell on him. The spell works until the mans wife and friends find the help of another magician to break the spell and kill the Black Magic Magician.
That is the storyline for the most part. You would have to watch the film because there is a lot more going on than just that.
This film is certainly not as violent as some of the Shaw Bros. films that I have seen, but, it is a nice change from all of their Martial Arts films, which are excellent as well. The story is well done and you actually start caring for some of the characters. So when bad things happen to them you start getting really frustrated.
Black Magic 2 (1976) Meng Hua Ho
Black Magic 2 (1976)aka Gou hun jiang tou aka Revenge of the Zombies
Genre: Horror
Country: Hong Kong | Director: Meng Hua Ho
Language: Mandarin or English (2 separate audio tracks) | Subtitles: English (.srt file)
Aspect ratio: Cinemascope 2.35:1 | Length: 92mnDvdrip Xvid Avi - 704x296 - 23.976fps - 894mb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074211/
Doctors dealing with patients noticed something weird going on, such as zombies with spikes in their heads and when removed, they melt down, patients vomiting up worms, spontaneous combustions, exploding bodies, demon fetuses and the disappearance of women. A male-witch is responsible for all these calamities going on, but no other doctors believe this, until someone must go out there and stop him and prove that he caused all the gory, bizarre crisises.
"Bewitched Tame Head" is one of the most memorable scare films of the far east and of my native Hong Kong. It is a lot of fun, but don't be eating a full meal yet!
A doctor is investigating some strange and disturbing happening in his hospital, such as people being covered in gaping scabs all over body, parasites, worms and snakes under people's flesh and girls having abortions, only to find out that they have "aborted" undead monster fetuses. If that is not enough, there is a pretty damn wicked mage who grabs out the corpses of dead females, pound spikes into their skull and make them become the living dead, only if you remove the spike, the undead shall melt away and living girls being used as guinea pigs by the wicked mage.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Her Vengeance (1988) Ngai Kai Lam
Her Vengeance (Uncut) aka Xue mei gui (1988) DVDRIP
Director: Ngai Kai Lam (Story of Ricky) / Country: HK
Aspect ratio: Widescreen / Color / 92 mns
Language: Cantonese / Subtitles: English (srt file)
File: avi / Xvid / 1118 mo
Director: Ngai Kai Lam (Story of Ricky) / Country: HK
Aspect ratio: Widescreen / Color / 92 mns
Language: Cantonese / Subtitles: English (srt file)
File: avi / Xvid / 1118 mo
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092254/
"Her Venegeance" is easily one of the darkest HK films I have seen.The film is as great as I expected. Very dark and merciless and surprisingly anti-violent in its theme after all which is of course great thing and makes the film much more noteworthy piece of work. The violence is raw and the inhuman rape scene is shot in dark cemetery with incredibly dark blue lightning so the scene is as strong and intense as they come. Also veteran actor the late great Lam Ching Ying does a great role as a wheelchair bound uncle who first tries to make the protagonist forget her thoughts about revenge but after all starts to prefer revenge himself, too, and after that, the hell is on the loose and the final bloodbath is very insane again. Among the greatest HK dark thrillers of all time.So if you are a fan of extreme Asian cinema give this gem a look.
"Her Venegeance" is easily one of the darkest HK films I have seen.The film is as great as I expected. Very dark and merciless and surprisingly anti-violent in its theme after all which is of course great thing and makes the film much more noteworthy piece of work. The violence is raw and the inhuman rape scene is shot in dark cemetery with incredibly dark blue lightning so the scene is as strong and intense as they come. Also veteran actor the late great Lam Ching Ying does a great role as a wheelchair bound uncle who first tries to make the protagonist forget her thoughts about revenge but after all starts to prefer revenge himself, too, and after that, the hell is on the loose and the final bloodbath is very insane again. Among the greatest HK dark thrillers of all time.So if you are a fan of extreme Asian cinema give this gem a look.
Lost Souls (1980) Tun Fei Mou
Lost Souls aka Da She (1980) DVDRIPDirector: Tun Fei Mou/ Country: HK
Aspect ratio: Widescreen / Color / 90 mns
Language: Cantonese / Subtitles: English (sub file)
File: mkv / 1526 mo
Aspect ratio: Widescreen / Color / 90 mns
Language: Cantonese / Subtitles: English (sub file)
File: mkv / 1526 mo
TF Mous' unique style of exploitation kicked off with this grim gem which centres around the unfortunate travails of a group of Chinese boat people who arrive in Hong Kong by stealth and are immediately targeted by low-level people traders.
The director of the superb MEN BEHIND THE SUN and the equally downbeat BLACK SUN has a knack for legitimizing his sex and violence with politically and culturally sensitive subject matter.
This Shaw Brothers production, produced in 1980, bears the admirable hallmarks of Mous' later work. The action is well staged, the set-ups are creatively photographed, and the pacing is brisk. There is a solidity and sharpness present in the work of this fine director that places him in the top ten per cent of exploitation masters. He has more in common with Japanese pinku directors such as Teruo Ishii than his Hong Kong contemporaries such as King Hu, Chang Cheh and Jimmy Wang Yu. His art is gruesome, extreme and almost fetishistic in its intensity.
The "lost souls" of this cinematic bad dream are a ragged group of male and female refugees who find themselves shackled in a makeshift prison run by a bisexual warden and his rape-loving cohorts. The women, in particular, are subjected to a Marquis de Sade-approved catalog of abuse and torture. The male of the species doesn't get off lightly, either; one character is graphically sodomized with an intensity that is rare for any Hong Kong film, let alone one greenlit by Run-Run Shaw (bless his adventurous hide!).
There is a surplus of lurid nudity (I'm not complaining, mind you) and much bloodshed and general nastiness. Everything is lovingly lensed in appropriately grotty locations and Mous never gets shy about his more extreme depictions or the sexualization of the abuse. In fact, it's quite clear that Mous revels in the sadistic excesses of this less-than-cheerful exercise and I, for one, respect him for it.
Mous' cinema is a cinema of transgression masquerading shamelessly as social comment. One can only admire such audaciousness.
The director of the superb MEN BEHIND THE SUN and the equally downbeat BLACK SUN has a knack for legitimizing his sex and violence with politically and culturally sensitive subject matter.
This Shaw Brothers production, produced in 1980, bears the admirable hallmarks of Mous' later work. The action is well staged, the set-ups are creatively photographed, and the pacing is brisk. There is a solidity and sharpness present in the work of this fine director that places him in the top ten per cent of exploitation masters. He has more in common with Japanese pinku directors such as Teruo Ishii than his Hong Kong contemporaries such as King Hu, Chang Cheh and Jimmy Wang Yu. His art is gruesome, extreme and almost fetishistic in its intensity.
The "lost souls" of this cinematic bad dream are a ragged group of male and female refugees who find themselves shackled in a makeshift prison run by a bisexual warden and his rape-loving cohorts. The women, in particular, are subjected to a Marquis de Sade-approved catalog of abuse and torture. The male of the species doesn't get off lightly, either; one character is graphically sodomized with an intensity that is rare for any Hong Kong film, let alone one greenlit by Run-Run Shaw (bless his adventurous hide!).
There is a surplus of lurid nudity (I'm not complaining, mind you) and much bloodshed and general nastiness. Everything is lovingly lensed in appropriately grotty locations and Mous never gets shy about his more extreme depictions or the sexualization of the abuse. In fact, it's quite clear that Mous revels in the sadistic excesses of this less-than-cheerful exercise and I, for one, respect him for it.
Mous' cinema is a cinema of transgression masquerading shamelessly as social comment. One can only admire such audaciousness.
The Seventh Curse (1986) Ngai Kai Lam
The Seventh Curse (1986)
aka Yuan Zhen-Xia yu Wei Si-Li
Genre: Adventure | Action | Horror | CAT. III
aka Yuan Zhen-Xia yu Wei Si-Li
Genre: Adventure | Action | Horror | CAT. III
Country: Hong Kong | Director: Ngai Kai Lam
Language: Cantonese | Subtitles: English (idx/sub files)
Aspect ratio: Widescreen 1.85:1 | Length: 77mn
Dvdrip H264 Mkv - 720x384 - 29.970fps - 1.14gb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092273/
Dvdrip H264 Mkv - 720x384 - 29.970fps - 1.14gb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092273/
A young heroic cop in the jungle of Thailand attempts to rescue a beautiful girl from being sacrificed to the "Worm Tribe" she belongs to. As a result, the cop is damned with seven "Blood Curses" which burst through his leg periodically. When the seventh bursts, he will die, but Betsy, the beauty he saved stops the curse with an antidote that lasts only one year, so on the advice of Wisely (Chow yun Fat) he heads back to Thailand to find a permanent cure. Action ensues as the cop and cohorts battle the evil sorcerer of the Worm Tribe, a hideous bloodthirsty baby like creature and "Old Ancestor," a skeleton with glowing blue eyes that transforms into a monster that is a cross between Rodan and Alien.
Hong Kong film maker Ngai Kai Lam (aka Laam Naai Choi aka Simon Nam) is one crazy fellow and I really admire his work. His filmography includes films like the truly over-the-top ultra violent hellhole prison spectacle STORY OF RICKY (1991), EROTIC GHOST STORY (1990) and THE PEACOCK KING (1989) to name just a few. His style is very hysterical and he easily belongs to the most interesting HK "genre directors" I know.
THE SEVENTH CURSE (1986) is a Hong Kong version of the traditional fantasy adventure films like Indiana Jones and Wisely films in Hong Kong (BURY ME HIGH and LEGEND OF WISELY.) CURSE stars Chow Yun-Fat (!) in a little role as Wisely who starts to help the hapless blood cursed protagonist Dr. Yuan played by the veteran Chin Siu Ho. He is a kung fu martial artist doctor who was cursed in Thailand as he visited it about a year ago. Now he's having some VERY severe symptoms of something very dangerous in his body: his body starts to "explode" in gory manner bit by bit and soon it turns out that the seventh "explosion" will be the deadly one. So he goes back to Thailand with an irritatingly curious and noisy reporter woman (Maggie Cheung) to search for the Worm tribe that cursed him. What follows is over-the-top continuous series of HK insanity in the gore, amazement, worms, black magic and so on departments! Definitely beware the blood curse while you visit Thailand next time!
The film is based on the original script by I Kuang who has written an incredible amount of HK films including some of the "dark horror" classics like BLACK MAGIC (1975) and BLACK MAGIC, PART II (1976) both directed by Hoh Mung Wa aka Ho Meng Hua. I Kuang also plays the little role of the narrator in the beginning of THE SEVENTH CURSE and he seems like a very nice guy. I'm pretty sure I Kuang has also written Yeung Kuen's incredible SEEDING OF A GHOST (1983) but I'm not 100% sure about this. Still SEEDING and CURSE have many things in common and have similar gross out moments and scenes of black magic carnage. SEEDING goes even farther in the dark horror department and that is also why it's so great film. CURSE has plenty of comical moments, too, and humor and also has some day time exteriors unlike SEEDING.
The film has one incredible scene after another. There is some martial arts and gunplay but what's the most memorable in this film is of course the black magic/voodoo related theme that is practised among the Worm tribe. This results of course some truly grossing gore scenes like human body turning into a bag full of living worms (very nasty!) as the hapless victim rips his own flesh off while worms come out everywhere. No need to say but if you fear of slithery creatures and worms, do not try to watch this motion picture; otherwise you'll have nightmares for the rest of your life. The alien creature (called "little ghost") the head villain/sorcerer uses is also a jaw dropping thing and very lethal. It goes inside the victim and then explodes through its stomach in the tradition of ALIEN (1979). There's also buckets of blood in various other scenes that will make the film too much for some. SEEDING OF A GHOST has some ultra fierce gore geysirs and scenes of carnage from the beyond and CURSE comes close to that occasionally but still never quite reaches the same level, and maybe it's because CURSE is produced by the "businessman film maker" Wong Jing who probably thought the film would have been too much for audiences if it was too dark and explicit and thus wouldn't make enough money. Even now the film is way beyond what Hollywood would ever dare to even think about.
The atmosphere and cinematography is also very great in the film and so the effects add to the real atmopshere and horror elements of the film. The scenes in the jungle are almost gorgeous in their lightning and menacing mist coming through and between the trees and rocks. Also the cheap but impressive effects used in the worm tribe scenes are fine and never dull. Also the finale battle between the sorcerer and the "little ghost" is again something outrageous.
Perhaps only thing that is an obvious negative point in the film is Maggie Cheung's character which is way too noisy and stupid in the film. But then again it is nice and interesting to see her in a film like this! Also a film that includes a bazooka wielding Chow Yun-Fat in its climax can't really be without its merits, I think. Overall, THE SEVENTH CURSE was more than I had expected and naturally it makes me even more interested in the work of Ngai Kai Lam. This film is among the things that make Hong Kong cinema so unique and special and also among the reasons that make me use word "insane" so often depicting these films, because they are, but in a very positive and innovative way!
Hong Kong film maker Ngai Kai Lam (aka Laam Naai Choi aka Simon Nam) is one crazy fellow and I really admire his work. His filmography includes films like the truly over-the-top ultra violent hellhole prison spectacle STORY OF RICKY (1991), EROTIC GHOST STORY (1990) and THE PEACOCK KING (1989) to name just a few. His style is very hysterical and he easily belongs to the most interesting HK "genre directors" I know.
THE SEVENTH CURSE (1986) is a Hong Kong version of the traditional fantasy adventure films like Indiana Jones and Wisely films in Hong Kong (BURY ME HIGH and LEGEND OF WISELY.) CURSE stars Chow Yun-Fat (!) in a little role as Wisely who starts to help the hapless blood cursed protagonist Dr. Yuan played by the veteran Chin Siu Ho. He is a kung fu martial artist doctor who was cursed in Thailand as he visited it about a year ago. Now he's having some VERY severe symptoms of something very dangerous in his body: his body starts to "explode" in gory manner bit by bit and soon it turns out that the seventh "explosion" will be the deadly one. So he goes back to Thailand with an irritatingly curious and noisy reporter woman (Maggie Cheung) to search for the Worm tribe that cursed him. What follows is over-the-top continuous series of HK insanity in the gore, amazement, worms, black magic and so on departments! Definitely beware the blood curse while you visit Thailand next time!
The film is based on the original script by I Kuang who has written an incredible amount of HK films including some of the "dark horror" classics like BLACK MAGIC (1975) and BLACK MAGIC, PART II (1976) both directed by Hoh Mung Wa aka Ho Meng Hua. I Kuang also plays the little role of the narrator in the beginning of THE SEVENTH CURSE and he seems like a very nice guy. I'm pretty sure I Kuang has also written Yeung Kuen's incredible SEEDING OF A GHOST (1983) but I'm not 100% sure about this. Still SEEDING and CURSE have many things in common and have similar gross out moments and scenes of black magic carnage. SEEDING goes even farther in the dark horror department and that is also why it's so great film. CURSE has plenty of comical moments, too, and humor and also has some day time exteriors unlike SEEDING.
The film has one incredible scene after another. There is some martial arts and gunplay but what's the most memorable in this film is of course the black magic/voodoo related theme that is practised among the Worm tribe. This results of course some truly grossing gore scenes like human body turning into a bag full of living worms (very nasty!) as the hapless victim rips his own flesh off while worms come out everywhere. No need to say but if you fear of slithery creatures and worms, do not try to watch this motion picture; otherwise you'll have nightmares for the rest of your life. The alien creature (called "little ghost") the head villain/sorcerer uses is also a jaw dropping thing and very lethal. It goes inside the victim and then explodes through its stomach in the tradition of ALIEN (1979). There's also buckets of blood in various other scenes that will make the film too much for some. SEEDING OF A GHOST has some ultra fierce gore geysirs and scenes of carnage from the beyond and CURSE comes close to that occasionally but still never quite reaches the same level, and maybe it's because CURSE is produced by the "businessman film maker" Wong Jing who probably thought the film would have been too much for audiences if it was too dark and explicit and thus wouldn't make enough money. Even now the film is way beyond what Hollywood would ever dare to even think about.
The atmosphere and cinematography is also very great in the film and so the effects add to the real atmopshere and horror elements of the film. The scenes in the jungle are almost gorgeous in their lightning and menacing mist coming through and between the trees and rocks. Also the cheap but impressive effects used in the worm tribe scenes are fine and never dull. Also the finale battle between the sorcerer and the "little ghost" is again something outrageous.
Perhaps only thing that is an obvious negative point in the film is Maggie Cheung's character which is way too noisy and stupid in the film. But then again it is nice and interesting to see her in a film like this! Also a film that includes a bazooka wielding Chow Yun-Fat in its climax can't really be without its merits, I think. Overall, THE SEVENTH CURSE was more than I had expected and naturally it makes me even more interested in the work of Ngai Kai Lam. This film is among the things that make Hong Kong cinema so unique and special and also among the reasons that make me use word "insane" so often depicting these films, because they are, but in a very positive and innovative way!
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