Holy Virgin vs the Evil Dead
Director: Tony Lou Chun-ku
1991
Rating: 7.5
That Old Red Moon
is rising, time for some nudity and dying.
Today I came across a list of non-USA films
that multiple critics thought were the best 100 ever made. I am shocked that
The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead wasn't on it. Bicycle Thief was but
no Holy Virgin. I have seen Bicycle Thief and as far as I recollect no entrails
are ripped out, no arms and heads are detached, no flesh eating fish, no
kung fu and no naked women running around. Someone steals a bicycle. Woo-hoo.
Really what would you rather watch? For me that is an easy one.
Over the years this film has gained a bit
of a cult reputation for being totally insane and extremely cheesy - like
a Philly steak and cheese dripping over your face. This is for Hong Kong
film fans only. Anyone else would be going "But that makes no sense" or "this
is rubbish" or "the writing is idiotic" or "where is the acting". Exactly.
You have to have been distilled for years in the brine of Hong Kong films
to understand that none of that matters. This is the Hong Kong Film School
Theory of just throwing everything you can think of on the screen with the
limited budget you have and stand back and let the fun begin. Trash-o-rama
in a good way. This is a supernatural kung fu gunfights at the OK Corral
film with just the right amount of blood and sleaze. But in truth much of
it is tame by today's standards and from comments I have seen people go in
expecting a lot more graphic gore and are disappointed.
It is a red moon night and Professor Donnie
Yen with nerd spectacles is outside with a group of female students having
a meal when an evil demon comes flying in hungry for female flesh and manages
to kill them all sending both appendages and clothes in all directions. Donnie
tries to stop it but in 1991 Donnie is not yet a star though he has appeared
in some solid action films - Tiger Cage I and II and In the Line of Duty
4. Within a year or two he was in Dragon Inn, Once Upon a Time in China II
and Iron Monkey - but often as the villain. For years we all made fun of
him and his dreadful acting, so who would have thought that to some degree
he was the one to keep HK wuxia alive when it was taking a nosedive. The
boy from Massachusetts has done well and I will never say another bad word
about him. At least I will try my best.
Now this evil demon is played by Ken Lo
of Drunken Master II and many other martial arts films. So two terrific martial
artists so far and add another when one of the cops who investigates is Ben
Lam. Lam isn't as well known as the other two generally getting stuck in
B action films but he is great. His cop partner is Sibelle Hu of many Girls
with Guns films to her credit. I would like to say she bangs a few people
around but all she does is threaten suspects a lot and then disappear halfway
through the film saying "Goodbye. I am off to get into movies" which I assume
is close to the truth. Director Tony Liu made a bunch of Girls with Guns
films - Devil Hunters, Killer Angels, Dreaming the Reality, Angel Terminators
II - so I am surprised he didn't put Sibelle to better use.
But he has two other fighting females in
his back pocket - Chui Hei-man - who has some nifty moves with clothes and
without. We see a lot of Chui in this film. A lot (wink wink). Donnie, Ben,
Chui and a friend Robert Mak, who also has some martial arts moves, go to
Cambodia to track down this demon. In Hong Kong film most of SE Asia is just
bad luck and evil - you don't go there unless you want to die in a horrible
way. There they come across the White Princess who has magical powers and
a desire to kill the demon - formally known as the Moon Monster.
She is played by Pauline Yeung (Dragons
Forever) and is quite cool. Not in any way an action star but she acquits
herself well with the help of body doubles. It all gets crazy with 20 naked
women running around, a raging gun battle, a monster who can't be killed,
everyone getting the crap beaten out of them and Ken Lo getting his privates
rubbed. Out of the 93 minutes of running time, something nutty is happening
in probably 70 of that - 80 if you include the nudity and sex. Not everyone's
cup of tea but it hit my pleasure zone. I am not sure why I never saw this
before.
Oh, not that it matters but I am a fan
of Kathy Chow and her overbite and should mention that she shows up in this
for a while but also I assume had another film to jump to because she leaves
quite quickly and rudely without her head.