The sub-genre of Hong Kong horror films enjoyed its heyday in the late '70s and early '80s, one of my favourite eras for cinema in general. The emphasis on these films, whose titles ranged from BLACK MAGIC to THE BOXER'S OMEN, was on gory black magic rituals and the effects of said rituals on the unfortunate victims. Imagine people spewing insects, suffering from bursting pustules and generally becoming possessed, and you'll have the general idea. BEWITCHED is the archetypal Hong Kong black magic flick, a well made effort full of originality. That's the main draw for the Western viewer.
My only real problem with this movie is the pacing in the first half. To be honest, after an arresting maggoty-corpse opening, it's slow, more of a police procedural than anything else. A suspect in custody ends up telling what seems to be his life story, a mini narrative that takes forty minutes to play out. There's some gratuitous slow-motion beach nudity thrown in, in an obvious effort to sustain the viewer's interest, but the main question will be "where's the magic?". Well, the good news is that the second half of this film is where it gets good.
It's packed full of evil rituals, fights of wizardry and the participation of real-life wizard Hussin Bin Abu Hassan playing a very scary villain. Possessed people eat raw meat and kill one another, knives levitate to stab their victims and there are some extremely nasty moments, like when the bad guy drinks from a vat of foetuses. Seemingly, directors always liked to throw in one extended magic fight into these films. The one here is pretty nifty, incorporating some great effects (a little bat-creature is my favourite), flashing lights, weird bloodshed and a generally spooky atmosphere.
Melvin Wong, whose career seems to have been based on policeman roles, does well in the film and the rest of the cast are enjoyable too. I especially liked the virtuous monk, whose presence at an airport at the film's climax makes for an unforgettable showdown. Fun is also to be had from the random deaths, like when a chauffeur is dragged under a car, his face torn off. The film is really memorable, though, for those queasy moments that go far beyond the boundaries of good taste. One such moment sees the black magician examining the rotting corpse of a pregnant woman before drawing black oil from her nostrils – one of the most nauseating moments in the whole flick. There are more, though, especially the various spells that come up subtitled on the screen. The worst is probably the 'worm spell', which is pretty self-explanatory and, genuinely, the stuff of nightmares. Director Kwei Chih-Hung really knows his stuff and creates a frightening atmosphere of dread throughout the movie, what with the ominous music and the 'what the hell's going on?' storyline. This is raw, visceral terror on a level with HOSTEL.
My only real problem with this movie is the pacing in the first half. To be honest, after an arresting maggoty-corpse opening, it's slow, more of a police procedural than anything else. A suspect in custody ends up telling what seems to be his life story, a mini narrative that takes forty minutes to play out. There's some gratuitous slow-motion beach nudity thrown in, in an obvious effort to sustain the viewer's interest, but the main question will be "where's the magic?". Well, the good news is that the second half of this film is where it gets good.
It's packed full of evil rituals, fights of wizardry and the participation of real-life wizard Hussin Bin Abu Hassan playing a very scary villain. Possessed people eat raw meat and kill one another, knives levitate to stab their victims and there are some extremely nasty moments, like when the bad guy drinks from a vat of foetuses. Seemingly, directors always liked to throw in one extended magic fight into these films. The one here is pretty nifty, incorporating some great effects (a little bat-creature is my favourite), flashing lights, weird bloodshed and a generally spooky atmosphere.
Melvin Wong, whose career seems to have been based on policeman roles, does well in the film and the rest of the cast are enjoyable too. I especially liked the virtuous monk, whose presence at an airport at the film's climax makes for an unforgettable showdown. Fun is also to be had from the random deaths, like when a chauffeur is dragged under a car, his face torn off. The film is really memorable, though, for those queasy moments that go far beyond the boundaries of good taste. One such moment sees the black magician examining the rotting corpse of a pregnant woman before drawing black oil from her nostrils – one of the most nauseating moments in the whole flick. There are more, though, especially the various spells that come up subtitled on the screen. The worst is probably the 'worm spell', which is pretty self-explanatory and, genuinely, the stuff of nightmares. Director Kwei Chih-Hung really knows his stuff and creates a frightening atmosphere of dread throughout the movie, what with the ominous music and the 'what the hell's going on?' storyline. This is raw, visceral terror on a level with HOSTEL.