Cantonese: Lam yeung sap dai che sui
Mandarin: Nan yang shi da xie shu
English: The Ten Great Evil Arts of the South Seas

A gleefully absurd Category III horror/sex/comedy, THE ETERNAL EVIL OF ASIA is certainly not a film that one can recommend with a clear conscience, but it contains images and Chinese horror lore that even the most jaded HK movie completest will find hard to resist. The plot concerns a group of friends who take a pleasure trip to Thailand, where they accidentally kill the sister (Chin Kwan) of a powerful sorcerer (Ben Ng Ngai-cheung). Upon returning home to HK, they are beset by the wizard's curse, which quickly begins to dwindle their numbers. One man (Bobby Au Yeung Chun-wah) chops up his family with a cleaver and then jumps off a building, impaling himself on some florescent bulbs (!) which, naturally, remain lit afterwards. Another (Ng Shui-ting) is afflicted with the "Hungry Ghost Hex", which turns him into a famished cannibal who takes bites out of restaurant patrons, before chowing down on his own arm! May (Ellen Chan Ar-lun) and her boyfriend (Chan Kwok-bong) would seem to be the next targets but, luckily, May's best friend (Lily Chung Suk-wai) just happens to be a Thai enchantress with her own special gifts.

Busy character actor Elvis Tsui Kam-kong suffers most of the indignities here, getting transformed into a literal dickhead (leading to some jawdropping urination and masturbation jokes) and later, a cut-rate version of HELLRAISER's "Pinhead" demon, thanks to the wizard's "Pin Hex". In addition to the weirdness on display in the main feature, director Cash Chin Man-kei also includes an instructional prologue, offering advice on how viewers can protect themselves from the evils of the spirit world (eg. ghost children love to go to movies, so if a pale-faced kid is in the seat beside you, be nice but do not escort him to the bathroom!). Busy Adult film star Julie Lee participates in a wild, acrobatic sex scene (a demonstration of the so-called "Mating Hex"), which is a less elaborate recreation of the similarly airborne intercourse she had with Tsui in CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY (reviewed in Issue 65). Yuen King-tan makes a trademark appearance as a shrill hairdresser, and Lo Mang and Bobby Yip King-sang also show up as ill-fated Taoists. Chin went on to helm the equally nutty SEX AND ZEN II, THE FRUIT IS SWELLING, and NAKED POISON (see review in Issue 86a) all three of which are heartily recommended to those who are game for this sort of demented sleaze. DEVIL'S WOMAN (see review in Issue 27) is a sequel of sorts, with Ben Ng essentially playing the same role.

Tai Seng #43634 (U.S. Label) Dolby Digital 2.0 Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Cambodian Language Tracks (all post-synched) Permanent Subtitles In Chinese and English 8 Chapters Illustrated In the Menu With (Tiny) Stills Letterboxed (1.65:1) Coded for ALL Regions 89 Minutes Contains moderate violence, moderate sexual violence, moderate horror, and nudity

DVD menu courtesy Tai Seng.

The image is soft, grainy, and overly bright, with variable blacks, and the audio is hissy but passable. The theatrical Chinese/English subtitles are poorly translated (and look a bit unstable at times) but the film's plotting is so screwy, it hardly matters. A HK DVD from Mei Ah also features the same presentation (save for the two extra language tracks) but Hong Kong Cinema: View from the Brooklyn Bridge reports that the pressing is substandard, causing the disc to repeatedly lock-up. There is also a Taiwanese DVD but it may be censored. Thus, while it is not definitive, the domestic version would seem to be the best bet at the moment. Thanks to a production error, the presentation opens with Tai Seng's Martial Arts Theater bumper, though the only kung fu here is of the carnal variety. The sole supplement is a collection of video promo spots for other titles.

ETERNAL EVIL OF ASIA is available at Poker Industries.