Curse of Evil
Director: Kuei Chih-hung
Year: 1982
Rating: 6.5
Director Kuei Chih-Hung spent most of his career
at Shaw Brothers initially as an assistant director where he worked on such
fine films as Hong Kong Rhapsody, Hong Kong Nocturne, King Drummer, Inter-Pol,
Operation Lipstick and The Monkey Goes West - before finally getting an opportunity
to direct in 1970. He directed a few dramas, then the excellent The Lady
Professional about a hit woman before finding the niche that he became famous
for - hard hitting crime and graphic horror films. When the Shaw Brothers
moved into the more exploitive horror genre in the seventies, Ho Meng-Hua
(Black Magic, Oily Maniac) and Kuei Chih-Hung were their two top directors.
Kuei began with the sleazy The Bamboo House of Dolls and then knocked out
The Killer Snakes, Hex, Hex vs Witchcraft, Corpse Mania, Hex After Hex, Spirit
of the Raped and The Boxer's Omen. Curse of Evil falls nicely into that gruesome
batch made in the faltering days of the Shaw Brothers.
It begins slowly and then picks up speed until it becomes a frontal assault
on good taste. Nudity, rape, murder, monsters, vomiting and insanity follow.
Be glad you are not part of the Shi family. Bad luck seems to be in their
blood stream. They are a wealthy family but some 30 years previously around
1900 a band of bandits broke into their home and killed 13 member of the
family and threw them into the well. Only the matriarch and her baby son
survive. Jump ahead 20 years as she celebrates her birthday and watches her
son die at the dinner table from what nobody knows. His wife soon follows
leaving behind two young daughters that the Grandmother brings up. People
say that they are cursed by the Dragon King who is affronted by the bodies
in the well. Another 10 years brings us to the meat of the film - bloody
meat.
It is now a household that should be a Reality Show - the grandmother in
a wheelchair, two sweet daughters, a handful of gossipy servants, the hot
tutor and a family of cousins who moved in. The cousin son is trying to molest
all the females after hypnotizing them, the cousin daughter is trying to
seduce the tutor and the cousin mother and son are trying to kill the grandmother.
Then it begins. A bird attacks one of the servants, another catches fire,
mutant flesh eating frogs begin attacking people and a large slithering slimy
creature begins raping and murdering the household. And then on top of that
a serial killer shows up. The amazing thing is that no one leaves! Oh, someone
else died today - found their head in the pantry - ho hum. The cops show
up and go "interesting" and nothing else. I would have thought flesh eating
pink frogs and a lustful monster would have gotten more attention from the
public. The final 20 minutes is quite wonderful as all hell breaks loose.
As in most of Kuei Chih-hung's horror films the cast is not very well known.
Many of the established Shaw actors didn't really want to be in a film like
this. So it stars a bunch of total unknowns to me other than the grandmother
who was a character actress, Wang Lai, who showed up in hundreds of films
from the 1950's up to the 90's and then in smaller parts Lily Li and as the
cop Jason Pai Piao. The only real downside to the film are the special effects
of the monsters - the frogs in particular are so poorly done that you find
yourself laughing every time they show up to chew on someone because they
are so clearly fake but adorable. Also, their own timeline makes no sense
if you bother to worry about it - the son who dies at 20 has what looks to
be a 6 year old daughter? He started young.
This is up on the Celestial YouTube channel but no subs as of yet. They never
released an official version on DVD though.
