Witchcraft vs Curse
Director: Various
Year: 1991
Rating: 2.5
One question. How in hell did Michiko Nishiwaki get roped into appearing
in this film? Money often works. A holiday in Thailand? An elephant ride?
Did they allow her to keep the headband? At any rate it sure suckered me
into this totally cheesy sleazy supernatural sex romp with nudity from Hong
Kong to Bangkok. Michiko is best known of course for her Girls with Guns
films and though there are plenty of girls, there are no guns here. Often
not a lot of clothing either. Not that I am offended by this stuff really
but it was just so boring that I hit the fast forward button a few times
during the body to body contact - at 66 years old I feel like I have seen
enough simulated sex to last a lifetime - even a Buddhist one.
You won't find a film like this appearing in Hong Kong theaters any more.
Nudity and sex to a large degree began disappearing from their films in the
new Millennium. I am not sure exactly why. Perhaps to do with the Handover
and the Chinese market which would not allow a film like that or the Internet
where you can find anything you want with the click of a search button. But
back before the Internet in the early 90s they had a Golden Age of erotic
films. They classified them as Category III and often that label could generate
interest and ticket sales. In the same year as this, Hong Kong also released
Robotrix, Sex and Zen, Hidden Desire and Erotic Ghost Story II to decent
sales. But those films also had good production values and some well-known
stars - Amy Yip, Shu Qi and Veronica Yip - this film has none of that unless
people went in hoping to see Michiko in a state of undress - sorry not to
be - more likely a state of embarrassment.
The film opens in a classical manner like most great films do - a woman taking
a shower - a well-endowed woman taking a shower - with the appropriate name
of Hung. She is preparing to meet the son of a wealthy family that she and
her mother want her to marry. She hasn't seen him for years as he was in
the USA. But when she gets to his house he is cavorting with his girlfriend
Pai Lin who has come from the states as well. This isn't good so mom and
daughter do the natural thing - they call in the neighborhood Taoist sorcerer
who puts a spell on the son Yuk Lung by having him possessed by an Adultery
Ghost - a very horny Adultery Ghost who soon is banging away at Hung. Mom
invites the other mother over to witness this. Wedding Bells are ringing
in the distance.
Pai Lin and her gweilo roommate realize this is awfully fishy and so also
do the natural thing - get a better wizard - where can you get a better wizard
- Thailand of course. There Simol (Michiko) is holding court with her cult,
a dwarf and elephants giving out the evil laugh that we know so well from
Hong Kong films. One of her followers asks her to revenge him for a cheating
wife - switch to her in the shower and her lover - who both soon blow a gasket
of blood. But Simol agrees to help them and thus begins a long distance exchange
of curses and spells with each procuring five naked girls to help out. The
elephants pitch in with spells as well. It's bad. I kept expecting some weird
creepy crazy stuff with the appropriate gore - heads exploding, guts being
pulled out, flying eyeballs - I mean this is Thailand where that stuff always
happens in HK films - but no - just naked girls dancing around or trying
to get an orgy going and a fight between a rattlesnake and a mongoose. There
was a day when that might have piqued my interest but no more. Age takes
its toll.
