Undescribable Perfection

Fantastic!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Get inspired by the great films of Jodorowsky and Raimi, put in some Asian black magic, kickboxing and go completely nuts. With laughably bad acting, production and script the producers were over-ambitious in this crazy B movie that seems to fail on all levels. Why this insult to filmmaking itself is loved by some will be a mystery to me. There are far better bizarre films that need better reception than this crap of a movie.

A grotesque epic of Chinese mumbo-jumbo from Chih-Hung Kwei, the director of "Killer Snakes". Phillip Ko, the brother of a boxer injured by an evil opponent, agrees to avenge his brother's pain by using supernatural powers to annihilate the evil opponent. In the process, Ko gets seriously distracted by some monks who use him to battle various forms of nasty evil.In retrospect, the plot does not make a lick of sense, but the cinematic invention on display is mind-boggling. This is my favorite (supernatural) Shaw horror/fantasy flick because it just tries so damn hard to entertain. It features non-stop special effects of the gory, slimy, and optical variety, and powers forward at a blinding speed.The script, by An Situ, piles one weird set piece on top of another. Skulls are opened and brains are molested; bats attack our hero and burn; alligator skulls pursue our hero through a temple; a man gives birth "Xtro"-style to slimy critters who grow into adults within seconds.Shot in Thailand, Hong Kong and Nepal, "Boxer's Omen" simply looks amazing and captures each country's individual flavor with terrific montages of the local culture. The use of real temples and historical venues adds immeasurably to the overall authenticity. Despite the seriousness of intent and the great production values, the filmmakers know they are making mumbo-jumbo and have lots of fun with the rubbery effects and relentless laser light shows.Most surprising, uncredited additions to the cast are Angus Scrim and Michael Baldwin. Scrim's famous cry of "B-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-y-y-y-y-y-y!!!!!!", lifted directly from the "Phantasm" soundtrack, is heard twice, as is Baldwin's screaming after he is pulled into the mirror in Reggie Bannister's bedroom; the breaking glass is heard also. On top of that, a dirge-like cue from Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave's music score pops up.Nobody but nobody does crazy supernatural horror like the Chinese.

A late Shaw oddity that has elements of a classic Shaw occult film but with qualities that are very un-Shaw like.The plot is about a Hong Kong gangster discovering a supernatural connection with a deceased Thai monk after the monk's spirit saves him from an ambush from a rival gang. Ignoring the spirit's pleas, the gangster goes home to his beautiful (and frequently naked) girlfriend. The gangster then goes to Thailand to challenge a cheating Thai kickboxer who gravely hurt his best friend in a match. After disgorging a live Moray eel in a hotel, the gangster decides that it's a good time to find the temple that the monk resided in. The gangster learns that he was a twin brother to the dead monk in a previous life and therefore their lives are forever intertwined! The monk was about to achieve immortality but a crazy Thai dark warlock poisoned his eyes with spiders and the monk died. The gangster's life is at risk if he can't defeat the warlock and break the poison spider spell.That's enough description. I can't begin to list the strangeness that occurs in this film. Lots of rubber animals, vomit eating wizards, talking corpses, a flying alien head that hatches from a giant pink slime egg, lots of butcher shop offal, maggots, bats, Buddhist monks and breasts pressed against windows, all in the same movie! The photography is very good at points sometimes much better than other Shaw films but then we are plunged into a typical Shaw scene of garish colored lights. The art direction is very, very good. The pacing is uneven but the weirdness keeps your attention. At one point the film stops to spend a few minutes showing crocodiles with no dialog and no warning. It's not so bad since you are actively trying to figure out what you are watching. The vomit eating and chewed food sharing scenes might be over the top for some people.I enjoyed the film but I also realize that this might not be a shared reaction. You are warned.

I guess this wasn't available six years ago but it is now but on vcd and you owe it to yourself especially if you're a Shaw Bros fan to go to HK Flix or where ever and get it. It's the story of Chan Hung a Chinese boxer (in modern times) who sets out to avenge his brother who was badly beaten and crippled by Thai boxer Bolo Yeung. He is aided by a Buddist monk who is dead and their fates become linked as Chan will die if the monk decomposes. Chan travels from Hong Kong to Thailand to Nepal becomes a monk makes a serious error and breaks his vows then has to save himself from certain death. This movie has incredible boxing, wild special effects,crocodiles,weird one eyed monsters, and beautiful Chinese women full frontal(rare in Chinese or Shaw movies}. I think it's truly a classic and well worth seeing. It is not a typical hopping vampire or horror movie and has a spiritual story to tell along with the boxing and horror elements in the plot.