Sex, horror and exploding bats are the main ingredients for this early 80's Shaw Brothers thriller from director Kuei Chih Hung, the man who brought us the fantastic horror film, Hex, The Boxer's Omen, Killer Constable and many more. It stars Ai Fei, from the Shaw classics House Of Traps, Human Lanterns and Death Duel, as a man arrested for the murder of his daughter, having claimed that she was possessed, and that he himself, had a spell put on him after meeting a Thai girl and leaving her jilted. The first shock of the film comes pretty quick as a kid playing ball comes across the grossly, realistic body of his daughter in the woods - complete with 6 inch nail driven into the top of her head that forcefully gets removed. Its the first of many moments that will make you wince through the atmospheric and fun, Bewitched...
Told in flashback (in part) from the jail cell to officer Melvin Wong, Ai Fei's stories convince Wong to head to Thailand to learn more about the black magic rituals, leading to a crazy run of events, leaving him with much more than he bargained for!
I like Bewitched! It's something a little different and has some pretty cool tricks going on that keeps viewers entertained right through. These include graphically disturbing corpses, a séance with floating skulls and twigs that write alone, evil wizards versus good wizards, reanimated bodies, a possessed child munching down on raw meat, brutal car accidents, levitating knives and much, much more.
Director Kuei keeps things tense as the story rolls along with some incredible visuals and darkly wild atmosphere throughout. There's a rawness to Bewitched that just seems to keep you gripped, along with its ominous music and sound effects that just add to the experience. Its beautifully shot for the most part, capturing some wonderful shots of Thailand (including its fantastic, giant movie posters on the buildings), with some incredible lighting which makes it look amazing and very nice to watch. This is also aided by the incredibly clean, crisp and colourful print, 88 Films have provided here allowing us to see the ultimate version of this classic...
The great Melvin Wong does a wonderful job, as do most of the cast, with real-life wizard Hussein Hassan playing the dark villain of the piece. He gets to take part in an extended battle with a good wizard, attacking each other with spells that gets violent and bloody, that leads to the evil wizard drinking the blood from a (shockingly graphic) barrel of dead babies and internal organs for more power!
It's really quite disgusting.
The final half hour sees Wong return to Hong Kong to follow-up his case. Its here that he finds his Ai Fei in the prison hospital, wrapped from head-to-toe in bandages, violently throwing-up worms, and slashing his stomach open! And it only gets worse for him, with the detective now finding himself suffering the same problems and pains that first plagued his prisoner...
Bewitched certainly isn't boring, and I'd go as far to say that it definitely put a lot of people off going to Thailand upon release. With some great use of practical FX for its time, solid direction, and plenty of WTF moments to keep you entertained, this little gem should please any fan of horror. Kuei Chih Hung was one of the finest horror directors in Hong Kong of that period, so I'd suggest checking out some of his other titles and giving this one a go.
Overall: Mad, gross, shocking and beautifully made, Bewitched is a crazy piece of Hong Kong cinema that deserves a watch!
