Gong tau

In my regions it was never released but I came across this flick a few times when I attended horror conventions and finally after years it was available for a few bucks. The only problem it had was that it had German subs but even if you aren't that deep into the German language you will understood the subs easily. The only reason I picked this up was for his director Herman Yau, known for the CAT III flicks The Ebola Syndrome (1996) and The Untold Story (1993).

It started with a rather surprise for me, full frontal nudity without blurred private parts. From there we move to a killing and yes, a throwback to the old black magic stories with centipedes. And by saying that you know that this isn't for everybody although it do has a few rather gory shots. The baby at the beginning and the dissection of a corpse is as gory as it can get.

Still it's not a pure horror flick, it's more a police story about catching a killer with some weird things going on. Don't expect a flick like Yau's other horror movies. There's a bit of bad CGI here and there but the centipedes are the real stuff here. Only for the lovers of old school black magic stories.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Although now this film is a little older, it's been a long time since something like this has been done in Chinese cinema. Sleazy, dark, gory and disgusting Gong Tau brings back sicko Hong Kong style nastiness with proficiency and style by veteran director Herman Yau who made waves with Catagory III classics The Untold Story and The Ebola Syndrome. This tells a story similar to Shaw Brothers classic Black Magic or The Eternal Evil Of Asia. Mark Cheng and Lam Suet do an excellent job in this police procedural gone supernatural horror. This extremely dark thriller has all the creepy centipede vomit splatter with Asian esoteric dark magic and extreme bloodshed and gore. It is not often that this sort of thing is done in modern Hong Kong cinema and I found Gong Tau to be a glorious return to depraved sort of filmmaking that I would like to see more often.

Even though it says horror for this film the drama and crime part of the film outweighs a little. There are some gory scenes which are not really that disturbing. The story was going fine until the very end. The weirdness at the last scene and unnecessary twist at the end -which it was so illogical- made the movie bad all of a sudden. But overall i think this movie is interesting and worth seeing.

Could it be the return of genuine Cat III madness? When I first heard about this film it certainly sounded like it, considering the involvement of director Herman Yau ("Ebola Syndrome", "The Untold Story") and the listing of several themes & keywords that are customary for this sub genre's certification. After seeing the film at the Fantasy and Horror Festival in Belgium, I must admit it's not a total throwback to the outrageous films of the early nineties, but a successful mixture between Cat III nastiness and a far more sophisticated kind of film-making. "Gong Tau" isn't as sickeningly gore and doesn't contain any absurd humor, but to compensate for all this, the script is actually coherent for once and even introduces some effective and plausible dramatic story lines. Next to the voodoo horror plot, there's a very engaging domestic drama sub plot, which honestly makes the horror far more intense, grim and disturbing. The titular term refers to the most nightmarish type of oriental voodoo that black magic artists inflict onto people for reasons of either love or revenge. The harsh Hong Kong copper Rockman Cheung loses his baby son and almost his wife when someone targets him for Gong Tau terror. The main and only suspect is a criminal Lam Chiu, who Rockman shot in the head ten years ago, but he survived and mysteriously vanished. But when the real culprit and motives come to the surface, Rockman actually depends on Lam Chiu's knowledge of the occult for survival. "Gong Tau" is reasonably nauseating and surely doesn't bother to avoid the most shocking taboo subjects (dead babies, bug vomiting, mutilation…) but the violence is never fully gratuitous and Herman Yau largely remains focused on story building and atmosphere instead of sickness. The Gong Tau characteristics may sound a little over the top, as it involves heads separating from the body and antidotes that require a hodgepodge of insect venom, sperm and grease of a human corpse. The special effects and make-up are fabulous and the set pieces are marvelously sinister. Yau's direction is still as stable and reliable as it was over ten years ago, but his cast members definitely improve. Especially Mark Cheng as Rockman and Maggie Siu as his emotionally wrecked wife deliver stellar performances. The climax is insanely gory and even provides a neat (albeit illogical) twist. See this thing if you crave for the good old days of horror cinema to return. After "Dog Bite Dog" last year, this is another modest triumph in the Asian horror industry!

Nasty category three (adults only) horror film about a cop who's life is complicated by some killings that have ties to black magic and which are very much directed at ruining his life. Bloody, unpleasant and creepy this is one of the better Hong Kong horror films I've seen in the last few months. Give it a couple of extra points for not being about a ghost with long dark hair.It also feels more like a police procedural rather than a horror film for a good portion of it. This is a film that takes the Black Magic films of the 1970's and 80's with centipedes and floating heads and updates them for the current sensibilities. Then again many of the black magic films were often good and gross, so why mess with them? It doesn't. I was on edge for a good portion of the film, how can you not be with the nastiness that befalls an infant? Clearly anything is possible. I won't over sell the film by insinuating that its perfect, its not, some of the talking scenes are a bit draggy and the final sequence, which at times is gruesome, maybe goes on a bit too long. Still there is something about the film that makes you sit bolt upright and watch dreading the next nasty turn. If you like your horror bloody and full of bugs give this film a shot.