Lang nu bai mo

Why is the elusive 4 hour cut of this not on blu-ray????

Heck, why is it not even on DVD?

WHERE is Pearl? Why is this film lost to the dust bins?

I recently saw Ang Lee's movies "The Wedding Banquet" and "Eat Drink Man Woman". If one sees these movies - both of them outstanding pieces of work - one might assume that only these sorts of movies come from Taiwan.

Well, it's time to burst that bubble, because you've never seen anything like Pearl Chang's "Lang nu bai mo" (alternately called "Wolf Devil Woman" and "Wolfen Devil" in English). This has to be one of the single wackiest things ever scripted and filmed. The plot centers on a wolf-raised woman whose parents an evil lord murdered, so she's out for vengeance, but it's an excuse to show off some of the zaniest moves. And the dubbing? It makes the bad guy sound like Yosemite Sam!

Basically, this is some of the most fun that you'll ever have watching a movie. I have no doubt that they had a lot of fun filming it. A great time.

Wolfen Ninja is easily one of the wildest rides in ultra low budget chop sockey cinema. It is best described as The Bride With White Hair on crack and a low budget. This can't touch The Bride With White Hair, it's a masterpiece. But this Tawainese production predates The Bride With White Hair by ten years. It does seem to have come from similar source material, a orphaned girl raised by wolves and two warring Kung Fu clans(one good and another evil). I did find this film to be quite enjoyable and is completely over the top and crazy. Being a lower budget exploitation counterpart to The Bride With White Hair, Wolfen Ninja delivers the goods with lots of blood, bad overdubbing, cheesy f/x, and lot's and lots of crazy kung fu. The movie is rarely boring and is jam packed with lots of action. Definitely a cool little flick that I am glad to have discovered.

The evil-worshiping red devil slaughters the parents of a young girl who is rescued from sure death by snow wolves.They raise her and over the course of twenty years teach her the wolfen ninja skill.She hopes to get her revenge on the "Red Devil".This crazy exploitation flick is easily one of the weirdest HK horror/martial-arts flicks I have ever seen.There are crimson clad ninjas,kungfu gorillas,voodoo dolls,zombies and hopping vampires among the ocean of trashy entertainment.Completely off the wall cult flick with enough gore and cheesy martial arts to satisfy even the most demanding fan of cinema bizarro.Bunny lovers beware!Cute bunnies are butchered in "Wolfen Ninja".Give this oddity a look.7 wolfen ninjas out of 10.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Wolf Devil Woman. Before we get into it, here are my ratings:

Story - 0.75 Direction - 1.00 Pace - 0.50 Acting - 1.00 Enjoyment - 0.75

TOTAL - 4.00

This film is not terrible, but it comes close. And that is pretty much down to everything. The devil is in the details, and it's these small details that increase until they hurt the film.

For example: The wolves are alsatians. This substitute is not a major faux pa, but it's enough to start an annoying niggle. The irritation gets worse when you see that the wolves/alsatians live in Superman's Fortress Of Solitude. A beautifully carved and designed ice cave with running water. The annoyance gets larger when you see the Wolf Devil Woman/Wolfen Queen/Wolfen Ninja hunting rabbits. She's wearing a cuddly toy alsatian strapped to her head. I can take the insane leaps she can do, this is, after all, a fantasy martial arts film, but a cuddly toy alsatian? If she's never left the mountain pack, where did she get it? The least the wardrobe staff could have done was give her a cuddly toy wolf. By the time I got to the human voice dubbing of the wolf howls, the film, for me, was on the slippery slopes of disaster.

As I said, these little things add up. Though they made me giggle, they weren't supposed to. And that spoilt the film. But thanks for the unintentional laughs.

The other sad thing is that there are very few martial arts segments, and what is there is below the usual calibre for this genre. Though I have to say, I particularly liked the decapitations, which come toward the climax of the movie.

I would love it if some writer adapted the script for the present, and a director gave it the respect it deserves: If they haven't already. The story has the potential to make one hell of a fantastic martial arts fantasy-come-horror film. But as it stands, I'd only recommend this to the die-hard B-movie Fantasy-Horror Kung-Fu fans.

Feel free to come and visit my Absolute Horror, Obsidian Dreams, and Holding Out For A Hero lists to see where Wolf Devil Woman ranks in my charts.

Take Care & Stay Well.