San tou mo wang

In the mysterious and mythical world of Thailand, lives a peaceful and wise King made out of Ginseng. But all is not well, and a scheming group of ninja monsters are on the hunt to find and kidnap the King, so they can deliver him to the three-headed demon monster. With the healing, life-strengthening powers that the Ginseng King possesses, this is not good. Not good at all. The Ginseng King's salvation is in the hands of a young boy who likewise needs the Ginseng King's powers to help save his nazi-zombie bitten blood-drained mother (!!). Will the young boy save the King and his Mother, or will the three-headed Demon rule supreme?

I'll try to contain my excitement here, but it's difficult. The Ginseng King is a fantastic fantasy flick that delivered way more than any would ever expect it to. It's slightly campy, but also surprisingly funny. It's occasionally draggy in some areas, but more often than not it'll have you smiling with the fantasy elements and martial arts action. And leading the way is colorful, selfless and wise, Ginseng King. If you're just now hearing about this flick, do yourself a favor and watch it. The Ginseng King and the Neverending Story would make for a great fantasy film night double-feature.

Ru-Tar Rotar directed this hyper weird Thai horror/adventure in 1989. This film belongs to the category "you have to see it in order to believe it." The story tells about a little child who tries to get help for his dying mother by some wood demon called Ginseng King. The film is set in some forest/jungle in Thailand and there are many monsters and wizards on their way. The wood demon itself is very kind and friendly, and looks like a little child who has been masked as a tree with a bug eyes. The eyes are very big and reminded me of fly's eyes. The most outstanding character is, however, a zombie, who screams "Heil Hitler!" everytime he collides somewhere i.e. collides with tree etc. Also, that zombie is frightened when he sees the swastika and that's how our protagonists realize how to protect themselves from that zombie. Sounds amazing, huh!

This Thai freak-of-a-movie is occasionally slow moving and very uninteresting, but fortunately it has plenty of these outrageous elements and becomes one of the most enjoyable pieces of camp cinema ever. For example, what in the earth is that Hitler thing all about in a Thai horror/adventure movie like this!? The other monsters are also interesting as there are cavemen and huge giants, and the whole film is a pure fairy tale with many "Tolkien-like" elements and strange goings-on.

The action/fight scenes are also okay and interesting and after all, I cannot say any other negative things about this film than its slow moments and scenes that are unnecessarily too dead. Otherwise, this is the most amazing Far-East piece of ultra weird cinema I've seen recently, and this film is not likely to be forgotten once it's been seen. It is sad these are so rare films and almost impossible to find anywhere, and it is very likely that film like Ginseng King will never get any official release mostly because of the fact that no one knows anything about this, or its director who, according to IMDb, hasn't directed anything since/before this film. Wonder has this film been shown in the theatres anywhere?

8/10

"Ginseng King" tells an unbelievable story of a thousand year old a peace-loving wood demon,who is kidnapped by emissaries of an evil three-headed monster.A young boy living in the forest becomes the witness of this act.His mother is bitten by Nazi zombie who particularly enjoys giving Sieg Hail salute.The living corpse is stopped by being shown a swastika,but that's no help in saving the boy's mother.It seems the only way she can be restored to health is through the ministrations of the kidnapped Ginseng King.The boy consults an ancient sorcerer,who leads him into an underground cavern.The battle between the boy and Ginseng King is about to begin...Jaw-droppingly bizarre and psychedelic fantasy horror directed by Ru-Tar Rotar and filled with enough weirdness to make my head spin.There are nearly half dozen or so creatures,a Nazi zombie and a myriad of animated lightning bolts and laser beams.7 out of 10.