Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

christopher-underwood After about twenty minutes I was wondering if I was going to stay with this. We have an abusive husband bashing the maid and then when the sick wife interrupts, bashes her too. The he goes out drinking and comes back and does it all again. All with much screaming and shooting Cantonese style. Gradually, however, things change, we get to see a spooky pond, some wonderful interiors and a hint that something is going to happen. It does and there is just about enough in the various exotic scenes with all the potions and magic rituals to keep us engaged as things are gradually ramped up some more. The last twenty minutes or so are quite sensational. The naked witch dance is unbelievable and the subsequent naked calligraphy equally impressive. This is not the finest Hong Kong ghost mystery but it is certainly different and does have that final segment.

Leofwine_draca HEX is an intriguing and influential horror film from the Shaw Brothers studio. It was directed by Kuei Chih-Hung, of THE BOXER'S OMEN infamy, and it does feel quite low key and non-exploitational for the first half, especially given the director's pedigree. The story begins as a straightforward copy of the famous French horror film LES DIABOLIQUES before branching out in some very unusual directions.The first 20 minutes or so of the film is quite slow and repetitive, but once it gets going there's no stopping it. The film lacks the star power of other Shaw Brothers productions but Chih-Hung is the real power here and his direction is stylish and efficient, with lots of creepy interludes. The story is a lot better than expected by genre standards with many twists and turns that you won't see coming. As a horror film, it's not quite as graphic or disgusting as other Hong Kong movies, but there are still plenty of memorable scares involving mouldering corpses and bodily disintegration.Things gradually get more and more outre, building to an infamous, eye-popping climax which takes female nudity to a new kind of exploitational level. It's not a particularly funny film, but there are still some comic highlights that nicely offset the humour, with Yue Tau Wan's hilarious cameo being a real highlight. In the end, HEX is just as well made as any film of Shaw's, exuding a level of quality that films from other studios just can't achieve. Many sequels and rip-offs followed, including HEX AFTER HEX and HEX VS. WITCHCRAFT.

sccoverton Hex follows an uneasy menage a trois in a traditional Chinese mansion where fear, paranoia, and violence consume everyone unfortunate enough to come near. "Tanny" Tien Ni plays Madam Chan, a woman dying of consumption. Her abusive alcoholic husband, Yeung, played by Wang Jung divides his time between drinking and abusing her and the help, which shortly consists of just Yi Wah (Chen Szu Chia), a newly-arrived family friend from the country. When murder comes to mind as a way out of this claustrophobic situation, the characters stir up more evil than they can cope with.I've not seen Diabolique, which this film supposedly borrows heavily from, but I think that Hex owes a lot to the Hammer films of the 60s and 70s. Lonely house, check; interpersonal problems, check; plot twists, check check; little exposition bits done in voice-over, check check check! This film could do with 15-20 minutes being snipped out of it, and it relies on a lot of techniques that now look very hackneyed - the mirror there-but-not-there thing, the soundtrack bumps... Still, one of the final scenes - which it is no spoiler to say is a kind of exorcism - is weird, wonderful, erotic, creepy and very surprising. The penultimate scene is also genuinely quite disturbing. Tanny gives a good performance, as do the other two. For what is a pretty standard horror flick, a consistent message runs through the various twists and character developments: that fear and violence come from within as much as from without, and that vengeance is often too easily taken. Ultimately, no one can claim the moral high ground.Overall, this is a flawed but interesting horror that saves its imagination for its last 15 minutes. It has been nicely restored by Celestial Pictures for their Shaw Bros rerelease programme.

DyingCamel ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** Quite a strange movie, quite different than the standard kung-fu flicks that Shaw Brothers is famous for. This movie is more of a supernatural thriller, but in the end, it turns out that there is nothing supernatural at all, it was all a setup by various characters.A sick and abused wife, and her new chambermaid murder the husband. There is now a hex on the wife, and she is tormented by the ghost of her husband. Turns out the husband and chambermaid are in it together, trying to scare the sick wife to death.The story is average, acting is weak in some parts, no real scares, pretty slow moving. Still an interesting watch, and I will watch the sequels soon: Hex Vs. Withcraft, and Hex After Hex, if only to see if there really is a hex this time... I give it 6/10.