Director: Yuen Chor, Mou Tun-fei
Year: 1980
Country: Hong Kong
Alternate Titles: Die xian
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Two stories compiled from uncompleted films from the Shaw Brothers studio.
Review:
The Ghost-Living alone in their house, a woman and her husband become concerned about a stranger and his wife who they’ve just met despite all evidence to the contrary on their friendly natures. As it gets worse and soon grows to terrifying ordeals as her sanity is tested by everything happening around her, it all leads to a rather terrifying ordeal that might cost her life and sanity. Overall, there’s a lot to like here. The atmosphere is pretty impressive with the slow build-up of the haunting that’s in store as what goes on around her is handled quite well. The psychological mistrust that emerges after she sees strange actions that her husband doesn’t concern the neighbors makes for a fine time here before ramping up the terror considerably introducing the series of ghostly visions and figures appearing to haunt her. That this is genuinely terrifying helps to build sympathy for everything which helps to make the atmosphere of the situation that much more effective for the ghostly encounters to have their full benefit with some great shocks at its core. That becomes especially true in the final half where she learns of the truth behind everything which includes black magic, ghosts, zombie-like slaves, and a really surprising revelation that twists everything on its head. The segment does grow a bit long-winded with the repeated attempts to kill her and take over the family which causes a somewhat overlong running time which is a direct result of its origins coming into play, but beyond this factor, the segment doesn’t have much else wrong with it.
The Prizefighter-Down-on-his-luck, a hotel owner accepts help from a bizarre kids' game who magically finds his life changed when the game accurately predicts the winning lottery numbers. Granted more money than he’s ever had in his life, he begins to partake in the type of lifestyle and debauchery he had always dreamed of, but when it comes time to collect on his promise to the spirit board he finds himself in grave danger. Generally, this short had some highly enjoyable factors to it. This one works best as a highly effective morality tale which is how the best of these types of segments are supposed to work. Featuring the kind of setup that screams a person unable to learn a humble lesson despite every indication that that’s the whole point of their interaction and then being forced to pay for it later on, his arc here becomes quite appropriate with the confines of the genre. Seeing the change in him from the poor loser who can’t get anything in life to a person who’s got more money than he knows what to do with, can get any woman he wants to do whatever debaucherous activity he wants, and has the money to get away with it is a perfect way to pay off this setup. The need for revenge manages to bring about an expected but no less effective means of the spirit getting revenge that gets quite bloody, and while there’s an overly familiar sense here that leads to a rather obvious conclusion there’s not much in the way of flaws here.
Overview: ****/5
A generally effective anthology that gives the shelved projects a means of viewership, this one is a rather odd feature as the need to use its origins as a caveat before watching since that clearly affects the final product even if only slightly. If you’re fine with the concept at play here, are a Shaw Brothers’ completist, or are a hardcore anthology fan will have the most to like with the film while others who don’t appreciate those factors or can’t get past the origins should heed caution.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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