REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES aka BLACK MAGIC II (Gou Hun Jiang Tou)

1976/ Director: Meng Hua Ho/Writer: Kuang Ni

Cast: Lo Lieh, Lung Ti, Ni Tien, Lily Li, Feng Lin, Wei Tu Lin, Terry Liu

AKA:
Bewitch Tame Head
Black Magic II
Ngau Wan Gong Tau

Shaw Brothers Studios leading horror/exploitation director Meng Hua Ho returns to the helm for this 1976 sequel to the previous year’s Black Magic. Also returning are veteran wuxia pian (‘heroic kung fu films’ usually with a wandering swordsman on a knight errant mission) actors Lo Lieh (sometimes Lieh Lo if you search using the Asian method of family names first) and Ti Lung with Lo Lieh serving this time as the black magician. While I have not yet been able to find of a copy the first Black Magic film I understand that Lo Lieh was not the black magician in that one and will reserve any comments on that film until I have actually seen it. While the two Black Magic films have the reputation as Shaw Brothers studio most famous horror films they were in no way the first as the studio had dabbled in non-Kung Fun genres as far back as the 50’s. The Hong Kong horror genres would evolve , after the 80’s, into the Category III variety (meaning sexually explicit but not quite hard core porn) and contain the sort of gory shock elements found in most modern Japanese horror. With Black Magic II (Revenge of the Zombies and Gou Hun Jiang Tou) there are more than enough elements visually and story wise to keep the film somewhat linked to the classic Shaw Brother’s films of the 60’s and early 70’s and yet has a few twists make it a little surprising as well.

MORE BLACK MAGIC II HERE >>

COME DRINK WITH ME (DA ZUI XIA)

1966/Director: King Hu/ Writers: King Hu, Yang Erh

Cast: Pei-pei Cheng, Hua Yueh, Hung Lieh Chen

Cheng Pei Pei was a formal dancer who Shaw Brother’s actor, set designer and eventually director King Hu cast as the master sword fighter Golden Swallow in the groundbreaking film Come Drink With Me. She was most recently known as Chow Yun Fat’s antagonist Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Cheng Pei Pei could easily be said to be the first of the sword fighting women and 1966’s Come Drink With Me was her grand entry into the world of Kung Fu cinema. The film followed the tradition of Wuxia (wu=kung fu, martial arts, xia=hero, chivalry) literature and films (wu xia pian, pian being a term for movies) in China. The hero in the tradition is similar to the hero in Japanese Samurai films or the gunfighter in American Westerns. Usually a lone traveler with a code, or on a quest of some nature, confronts a ruthless opponent or gang. There is usually the matter of justice being served or an old score being righted and honor upheld. The film is actually part of a larger tradition of such films from China (Hong Kong) and was not the first one that spawned the genre as is sometimes claimed. The film is memorable for the way the fight scenes are filmed, the way it used music, Hu King’s marvelous sets and of course the lithe and elegant moves of Cheng Pei Pei ( this is the Hong Kong spell/Hollywood spelling of her Chinese name, while the Mandarin pinyin spelling is Zheng Pei Pei,  and is the name she is known by to most Chinese). (more…)