The Eternal Evil of Asia

Sexy,funny and best of all scary tale of a wizard taking revenge on a group of friends for events that occurred on a trip to Thailand. Adding into the mix is his desire to destroy not only the friends but the fiancé of one of them.

Why isn't this better known? Its a great little film that has great effects, a great story and chills. Did I mention that this is one of the rare Chinese horror films that actual scared me, and not just grossed me out?

Not for kids, but adults who want a sexy, scary funny movie should put this on their list since they will be in for a treat.

To those who are familiar with the Category III genre, the Eternal Evil of Asia will come across as a surprisingly mild entry in the category, with very little graphic gore, and relatively little sex. The basic premise is that a group of Hong Kong tourists in Thailand encounter a wizard, whom they initially befriend. When a love spell goes wrong, however, all hell breaks loose.

The film's main problem is that for fans of the Cat III genre, who are the main westerners that would seek this film out, the film itself is nothing memorable. As a horror movie, it is nowhere near gory enough, and the sex is nothing beyond what you would see on late night Cinemax. (Indeed, if not for one extended sex scene toward the end, it might not have even qualified as a Category III.)

Furthermore, the funny moments are few and far between, with some clearly ripped off from other, better Category III films. In particular, a well known scene from A Chinese Torture Chamber Story is effectively plagiarized, right down to the actress involved.

The film does have some good production values, particularly in its make up, but is not really worth your time.

There are the British video nasties, and the Japanese Pink films; in Hong Kong, it is Catagoty III. I am not sure what to expect, but I do know they censored Ichi the Killer, so it can't be worse that that.

This is a film about hexing and enchantments with some sex and violence thrown in. One guy gets enchanted and starts chopping up his wife and son and guests. It's bloody, but hilarious, too.

Four friends go to Thailand and get involved with a wizard. Believe it our not, he turns one into a dick-head. They are forced to watch a wizard battle, and things get really ridiculous and funny. Bon (Kwok-Pong Chan) is left behind as the three friends open an enchantment sent to him, and go after the wizard's sister. The wizard comes after them when they return home, and plans to take May (Ellen Chan) when he is finished with them. He has a gruesome death planned for each of them.

Things get very weird and bloody after he accomplishes his mission.

May's friend Mei (Lily Chung) is a witch and has a plan you will not believe. Unfortunately, the wizard gets the last laugh.

Almost as funny as the movie are the subtitles.

When Thai girl Shui-Mei falls for nice-guy Hong Kong tourist Bon (Kwok-Pong Chan), she gets her wizard brother Laimi (Ben Ng) to use his powerful magic to help her get her man; Shui-Mei's plan backfires, however, when the spell is accidentally intercepted by Bon's three sex-mad pals, and she finds herself participating in an unexpected all-night-long foursome. After the magic wears off, Shui-Mei realises her terrible mistake, panics, and falls on a knife. Understandably upset, Laimi swears revenge...

With the majority of its sex and violence played for laughs, The Eternal Evil of Asia is far from the raunchiest or the most mean-spirited effort that the Cat III genre has to offer; that said, it still manages to be a very entertaining movie, delivering several decidedly warped scenes of a sexual nature and a reasonable smattering of cartoonish gore, all shot in typically stylish 80s/90s HK fashion (lots of neon lighting and slowly-tilting camera-work).

As the film progresses, viewers get to enjoy such silly sights as a ghost impaled on fluorescent lighting, a man so hungry that he eats his own arm, and airborne sex magic, but of all of the supernatural craziness in The Eternal Evil of Asia, the most memorable moments have got to be Cat III legend Elvis Tsui having his head turned into a huge bell-end (that even squirts urine), and an invisible Laimi receiving oral sex from Bon's sexy girlfriend May (Ellen Chan) via astral projection.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

This was just a little too campy and played for laughs for me. A little more of the sinister element in this tale of battling wizards and competing hex would have been more to my liking. There is no doubting its full throttle pace though and there is barely a moments pause between one set of swooping ghosts and another bunch of recently returned undead. Plenty of nudity sprinkled throughout and if we wonder how a gang bang is to be played for laughs, what chance have we to work out the humour in rape by spirit? Curious effect in this sequence for as we do not see the invisible rapist all we get are nipples moving from side to side and fleshy indentations to indicate where the bad spirit's hands are. Very odd but then that just about sums up this gory and colourful romp.