Mo toi

Coming across as a manic and unholy mix of 'The exorcist', 'Amityville horror', 'Plan 9 from outer space', 'Evil dead', 'Poltergeist', 'War of the gargantuas' and Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video with a single-digit budget, this brilliant and idiotic Hong Kong flick keeps the freak-outs coming fast and furious throughout. Acting is non-existent and the, uh..."minimal" plot apparently exists only to provide a framework in which to present gratuitous scenes of worm-vomiting, demonic possession, decapitation and nubile starlets making congress with giant, grunting, slimey green Sasquatch-looking monsters. Generally pointless film features some of the worst special effects ever seen but is never less than massively entertaining-- by no means miss the opportunity to catch this on a big screen, as I was fortunate enough to last night!

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Devil Fetus; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.50 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.25 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.50

TOTAL: 6.75 out of 10.00

Chinese horror is growing on me like decomposing flesh on a corpse.

I loved this film chiefly because of the story. What the writers give the audience is an inspired concept. A woman buys a jade vase. Supposed to bring luck, it bestows a curse upon her, and she is visited nightly by the Devil of the West. She transforms from a loving aunty into a harridan. Her husband is killed when he breaks the vase, and soon after, she too is killed. But the hex isn't defeated; even in death, she will bear the Devil's child. Luckily a priest at the funeral service observes the curse at work and quickly tries to counter it. Several years later, an accident unleashes the curse once more. Now, this is the ingenious part. The hex follows them home and begins jumping between the family members, including their pet pooch - For me, it was these occurrences and transferences that increased the film's drawing power. I appreciated the extra detail and complexity; it was nice to have an engaging storyline in a horror film.

The direction is more than acceptable, though some special effects appear dated, which is no surprise as Devil Fetus is thirty-nine years old. I enjoyed how the director used colour, especially adding shades of a sickly yellow-green whenever the possessed person acted evilly, signifying that the Devil was in control. He also has a fine eye for using dark shadows to build a creepy atmosphere and mount the tension. The only thing that irked me was the final Good-v-Evil battle. He uses a few substandard effects, such as the double exposure to represent the Devil in ghost form. It would've been better if he'd not just used a still image of the ghost to glide into the hero. It looks unrealistic and fake, and he employs the technique too many times. He implements stop motion animation when we watch the Devil's head decompose. Sadly, there are not enough frames used to show the action smoothly. It looks Jumpy, and then when the skull moves around, it's too jerky - Harryhausen would be rolling in his grave. Another disappointment was the direction itself. He is talented, there's no arguing the matter, but he doesn't do fight scenes too well. He could have gotten away with the poor directing if they had saved more funds for the finale's FX.

The cast is okay, although a couple of the more minor players could have been better, especially as you believe they're the leads. The Aunty who buys the vase is too stiff and expressionless in her role. And her sister's husband could have done with showing more enthusiasm, especially in the sinister scenes. Though I'll say, I totally love the Grandmother, the actress portraying her is superb.

I would happily recommend Devil Fetus to all horror fans out there. But be warned, Devil Fetus is for the gorehounds. Some segments may make you squirm like the worms under the husband's face. And when you get to the trash-compacting sauna, you may be im-pressed. It's not as good as Bewitched, but it is well worth your attention, especially if you've not seen it. I would also suggest hunting it out; it is that entertaining.

Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror list to see where I ranked Devil Fetus.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Devil's Fetus is certainly one of the weirdest films that I have had the pleasure to watch.

The story is very strange, I still cannot figure it out out fully. The film starts with a public sell in which a young lady obtains a desired product which is some sort of a lamp. Later, she arrives at her home, and starts enjoying herself with that lamp, then a very strange demon f**ks her before her boyfriend comes and later discovers that his girlfriend's dark side, then the demon disappears and the boyfriend breaks the lamp and gets hurt, and then they both die heh. This description is just the first five minutes from this obscure little film. It becomes much nastier, crazier and odder later on.

At certain moments this flick can be similar to a supernatural kung fu flick, however , this film combines no fights, just wacky supernatural incidents like those of the Evil Dead.

Devil's Fetus contains gore, nudity, supernatural content and ghosts, demons that rape young girls, crazy religious people and so on.

I can recommend it to fans of supernatural horror movies and fans of Asian cinema. Recommended 7/10

This movie would have been better without the actual dead German Shepherd. Did they kill the dog for the movie, or did they just happen to have one? It's not a fake prop, it's just sad.

There is a great scene with the monk trying to exorcize the demon.

Wow! This movie was so inappropriate. Incredibly funny stuff, albeit unintentionally. An ugly lamp humps, possesses, and slaughters it's way through an entire family. The (non-gore) highlight for me would have to be the wild and tacky 80's dance party that stuck in the middle of the film. None of these people should ever be allowed to dance or act in a movie again. Was that dog doing what I think he was doing during the party? The sorcerous fight scene using Atari-era special effects and teleportation via the simple expedient of turning the camera off and on was also classic. The only disappointment is that the titular fetus only really appears onscreen in its "fetus" incarnation for a few seconds, in a scene stolen straight from Alien. Don't miss this one, it'll mess you up and loosen your bladder.