Gong Tau
Gong Tau
| 10 May 2007 (USA)
Gong Tau Trailers

CID detective Rockman was sent to Thailand to investigate a case involving the Hong Kong and Thai underground syndicate. During his visit he met a sexy table dancer called Elli, they had a brief but hot steamy affair. Unexpectedly Rockman was ordered to return to Hong Kong. Before leaving he promised Elli he would return. But he never did. Heart broken Elli felt she was deceived. Rockman never expect his affair would bring the worst luck for him and family. Three years later in Hong Kong, when Rockman was busily investigating a murder case one stormy night, a senior policeman was murdered by a most wanted fugitive Lam Chiu. On the other hand, Rockman's wife broke down after their son died mysteriously. All the major newspapers headlined the two cases, saying the murder and the baby's death are related. Frustrated Rockman worked closely with Brother Sum well seasoned detective...

Reviews
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
trashgang In my regions it was never released but I came across this flick a few times when I attended horror conventions and finally after years it was available for a few bucks. The only problem it had was that it had German subs but even if you aren't that deep into the German language you will understood the subs easily. The only reason I picked this up was for his director Herman Yau, known for the CAT III flicks The Ebola Syndrome (1996) and The Untold Story (1993). It started with a rather surprise for me, full frontal nudity without blurred private parts. From there we move to a killing and yes, a throwback to the old black magic stories with centipedes. And by saying that you know that this isn't for everybody although it do has a few rather gory shots. The baby at the beginning and the dissection of a corpse is as gory as it can get. Still it's not a pure horror flick, it's more a police story about catching a killer with some weird things going on. Don't expect a flick like Yau's other horror movies. There's a bit of bad CGI here and there but the centipedes are the real stuff here. Only for the lovers of old school black magic stories.Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5
cutshaw-2 I'm gonna comment on this one for the same reason someone else here did. It's odd that the majority of the small number of comments are negative, and they always show up on the main page whenever I check this film. So the first user comment is usually "terrible" or along those lines, and this movie is certainly far from terrible. As a fan of the Black Magic movies of the seventies and eighties, and I'd include "The Devil" in there too, Gong Tau is a great film in the franchise. Gory and shocking, with interesting characters and a good plot that puts the black magic curse in a modern police setting. Without giving away too much, there are a lot of interesting and gruesome scenes and images for the adventurous viewer and it is a nice return to Cat III film-making for the awesome Herman Yau. Every frame of this film bleeds atmosphere, it comes as no surprise that Yau was a cinematographer before becoming a director. A must watch for horror fans and fans of the bizarre and it's no small wonder that extreme horror novelist Edward Lee cites this as being his favourite horror film of 2007.
fertilecelluloid This Category III effort from Herman Yau, the director of "The Ebola Syndrome" and "The Untold Story", is not a terrible movie, but it isn't a great movie, either. "Gong Tau" is a type of voodoo which is visited upon the wife of a cop (Mark Cheng) who betrayed a woman in Thailand. Cheng and the dependable Suet Lam spend much of the movie on the trail of a criminal who is sending bad voodoo curses to Cheng's wife and making her life unpleasant. Director Yau is expected to deliver grisly violence and messy gore in his Cat III work, so the presence of crawling centipedes, a baby stabbing, blood vomiting, and brutal beatings is not surprising or unwelcome. The film is beautifully shot, but it is dramatically schizophrenic and unfocused. It is more of a police procedural than a horror film, with too much time devoted to people standing in offices talking. Yau always manages to push a few buttons and up the shock value in his movies, but he doesn't go quite far enough in "Gong Tau", so the audience loses.
Jin Wang Normally I don't write reviews, since I think that not many people will read it anyway. However, with the few or one review out there I might give a try. Now the other guy has given a two, but that's too rash. This movie deserves better.The theme itself is something quite extraordinary among the nowadays Hong Kong movies. So that's extra point and especially when the subject is quite appealing too. Gong Tau, to curse someone, is a subject we need to see more of. Unfortunately many of the movie aspects are poorly executed. The drama was bit annoying and drags on as the story continues. The only motive, which keeps you watching is too see how ridiculous funny it is to see the Gong Tau moves and motives. Exaggerated in some ways, but yet hilarious to see the dark and humorous computer effects.You have been Gong Tau-ed and I rate this one a 7 for those who're interested in Black Magic and want a break of the current Hong Kong movies.