Devil Fetus (original title Mo Tai or 魔胎) is a 1983 Hong Kong film directed by Lau Hung Chuen (cinematographer on We’re Going to Eat You; ) from a screenplay by Wen-hua Cheng (Haunted Jail House; Exorcist Master) and Ging-Jiu Lo. It stars Eddie Chan, Yung-chang Chin, Pak-Kwong Ho, Dan Lau, Sai-gang Lau, San Leung, Pui-pui Liu, Hsiu-ling Lu, Sha-fei Ouyang.
The pirated soundtrack includes “La Petite Fille de la Mer” from the Vangelis album L’Apocalypse des animaux (1973) and samples from Ennio Morricone‘s soundtrack for the John Carpenter film The Thing.
Synopsis:
“When a nice young couple buy an antique vase during the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts, all sorts of bizarre and unnatural things start occurring. For one thing, a series of nasty, horrid monsters start having sex with the wife, Shu-ching, while she sleeps. When her husband tries to break up one of these nightmare trysts, he gets sprayed with a gas that melts his face.
Writhing in pain, he throws himself out the window. Later, the hapless Shu-ching gets attacked and killed by her pet cat. During the funeral, a hideous devil fetus bursts out of Shu-ching’s abdomen. The priest manages to seal the coffin shut and puts good luck charms throughout their old house. When new owners arrive, they inevitably disturb the talismans, resulting in worm-infested pastries and a rash of raping and killing.” Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Reviews:
“A silly but amusing entry in the early ’80s gross-out cycle” of horror films … Some of the film’s more revolting moments have been truncated by HK censors, but if any of the characters behaved in a remotely logical fashion, the running time would be cut in half. Still, fans of Eastern horror will find much to their liking here. Many of the spfx are too ambitious for the budget but you have to admire the zeal with which they are staged.” John Charles, The Hong Kong Filmography 1977–1997
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“Sequences involving the exorcist are the most substantial aspect of the movie, largely because the incantations and the use of amulets appear to have been well-researched and authentic. But the otehr elements of the story tend to veer between the usual conventions of melodrama and thrillers without any real commitment to explore or renovate either genre.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror
“This film brilliantly takes the make-anything-a-weapon film technique of a low-budget kung fu movie, but adapts it for the horror movie genre, inventing its own make-anything-be-”haunted” technique. From the Gweilo’s perspective, this makes for enormous fun! You will spend most of the movie wondering Whatever will turn out to be “haunted” next? A haunted car? Check. A haunted dog? Check. A haunted fetus? Well, obviously! A haunted steam room with moving walls? OK, sure. A haunted bedroom set? Now that’s just silly! A haunted dog-entrail-eating cousin-raping teenage boy? Wait, WTF kind of movie am I watching?!” The Gweilo’s Guide to Hong Kong Chinese Movies
“For the remainder, I’ll just give the highlights. The demon is now inside Bobby, which eventually gets transferred to Kwo Wei, who immediately takes on the generic automaton gaze and deliberate walk. There’s dog attacks, there’s dog eating, there’s maid raping, there’s near drowning, there transsexual masturbation, there’s worm eating, there’s a dude being crushed by a room (yes, I mean exactly that) and yes, there’s more slimy demon-sex. A lot of this is done with the accompaniment of some wicked 1980s video game-esque sound effects that make you nostalgic for that Atari system. There are also a couple of signature Hong-Kong-ish battle scenes that don’t make any logical sense, but are really great to watch.” Zombie a Go-Go
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