Bewitched – original title: Gu – is a 1981 Hong Kong supernatural horror film directed by Chih-Hung Kuei (Hex after Hex; Curse of Evil; Corpse Mania; et al). It stars Fei Ai, Melvin Wong and Fanny Fen-Ni.
A semi-sequel, Mo aka The Boxer’s Omen, followed in 1983.
Wong, a Hong Kong detective, investigates the death of a girl, only to find out that the perpetrator is her father, Lam Wai.
Under interrogation, the grief-stricken father insists that he was obeying the will of an evil Thai wizard. Wong decides to travel to Thailand himself to investigate these claims but also becomes cursed…
Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk
Reviews:
” …the film is well made, with Kuei utilising weird colours and discordant music to drum up an other worldly atmosphere, effectively keeping the viewer on edge with the constant threat of surreal and unpredictable developments as black magic again and again shatters the rational peace of the modern world.” James Mudge, Beyond Hollywood
“This is still first and foremost an exploitation film, and among the many nasty bits are two elaborately staged duels between the monk and Magusu, the evil wizard. The first one is a staggeringly surreal 10 minute stand off between the magus and the necromancer. It’s filled with ghoulishly creative back and forth exchanges of various magical counter moves…” Cool Ass Cinema
“The scenes of the various voodoo ceremonies aren’t exactly scary and are really drawn out. The battles between the good and evil monks locked in mortal combat are pretty lame and the use of flashing lights and endless chanting gets repetitive after a while. There’s still some good stuff here.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum
” …gleefully explores one weird or grotesque spell after another, displaying their nasty ingredients in detail and even showing the spell’s name as a scene title before it happens. The result is an endless stream of incantations, flying objects, remotely induced headaches, liquids extracted from corpses, maggot vomiting, drinking of fetus and viscera soup, crazy light effects, green pus, bat transformations, and lots more.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre
“Gross stuff aside, this is quite aesthetically pleasing, as well. The art direction and settings are both superb, and the visual presentation, which uses film overlap, intentional blur and some really neat lighting trickery to cause colorful rainbow-like flickers to emerge from various light sources is also great.” Justin McKinney, The Bloody Pit of Horror
“Kuei Chi Hung directs this prequel of sorts to The Boxer’s Omen in genuine Hong Kong exploitation fashion, combining horror with gore and many disgusting images. However, the film is quite technically accomplished, with great art direction and visuals…” Panos Kotzathanasis, Taste of Cinema
Filming locations:
Hong Kong
Pattaya, Thailand
IMDb | Image credits: The Bloody Pit of Horror
