Fung lau yuen gwai

SEX BEYOND THE GRAVE (1984, original title Fung lau yuen gwai) is one of those late-stage Shaw Brothers films where anything goes. This one tells the dual story of an inveterate gambler and his good friend, a family man with a passion for growing mushrooms (!). The gambler finds himself driven into extreme debt when his luck runs out, while the family man moves into a house with a tragic past. Before long, both are caught up in a supernatural adventure...

This one takes a while to get going but in the second half you realise it's a POLTERGEIST clone with bits and pieces of THE EVIL DEAD, THE EXORCIST and GHOSTBUSTERS added to the mix. When a kid is taken by an evil spirit and disappears into a well, priests have to be called in to help. The film's title promises sleaze and it comes in the form of a striptease sequence which must be one of the most explicit ever plus a supernaturally-charged sex scene which is also pretty lengthy. The gore is in short supply but there are plenty of those wacky early '80s computer FX along with wire stunts and enough general weirdness to make this worth a watch.