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After about twenty minutes I was wondering if I was going to stay with this. We have an abusive husband bashing the maid and then when the sick wife interrupts, bashes her too. The he goes out drinking and comes back and does it all again. All with much screaming and shouting Cantonese style. Gradually, however, things change, we get to see a spooky pond, some wonderful interiors and a hint that something is going to happen. It does and there is just about enough in the various exotic scenes with all the potions and magic rituals to keep us engaged as things are gradually ramped up some more. The last twenty minutes or so are quite sensational. The naked witch dance is unbelievable and the subsequent naked calligraphy equally impressive. This is not the finest Hong Kong ghost mystery but it is certainly different and does have that final segment.

Beautifully filmed period horror that starts off great but then some misplaced humor and bad practical effects conspire to almost completely destroy the mood. A few different plot twists, perhaps one too many, are added in an attempt to keep it all interesting and it mostly works.

That final plot twist, though...it left me confused initially, enough so that I wasn't sure I even wanted to figure out if or how it fit into the plot. After I ejected the disc it was still bugging me and I put it back in and did a quick review of the final 30 minutes. Glad I did; everything clicked into place.

There are those visually impressive scenes, both beautiful and creepy. Plus a naked exorcism dance/writhing scene that is so freakishly weird it has to be seen to be believed. What immediately follows that was pretty impressive as well.

Uneven film that, when all was said and done, I found to be worth the watch despite its flaws.

Shaw Brothers horror Hex, from director Chih-Hung Kuei, is a film of two halves: the first part is Les Diaboliques, Cantonese style, and the second half is crazy Asian ghost story with totally bonkers special effects, full frontal female nudity (more about that later), and a twist ending that I still haven't been able to fathom out.

In a plot that has has been done many times since Henri-Georges Clouzot's aforementioned classic French thriller, Ni Tien plays chronically ill Chan Sau Ying (Ni Tien), whose husband Yeung Chun Yu (Jung Wang) conspires with his mistress Leung Kei Wah (Szu-Chia Chen) to scare his wife to death. They do this by faking Chun Yu's death and having him return from his watery grave as a goop-oozing living corpse. This does the trick, Chan Sau Ying promptly carking it, but in a supernatural twist to the tale, the woman's ghost materialises to take revenge on the deceitful couple.

It all starts off very atmospheric, with Chih-Hung Kuei utilising his spooky mansion setting to great effect, with particularly good use of the neighbouring mist-shrouded pond, which adds to the overall creepiness. Subtle spookiness goes out of the window, however, once Chan Sau Ying is dead, and her spirit comes a-haunting. The wackiness kicks off with some crazy comedy courtesy of the workmen hired to dispose of Chan Sau Ying's furniture, with the obligatory cross-eyed character and a guy who pees himself when he realises he has spoken to a ghost. The spook then puts the frighteners on Leung Kei Wah, tries to kill Chun Yu with a meat cleaver, and scares off a monk brought in to exorcise the house (he sees the dead woman's severed head, and chops off the ghost's arm, only to have it crawl after him).

The even more bonkers final act features that full-on nudity I spoke of earlier: during a ritual to cast out the spirit, a woman appears buck naked (her skin covered with painted words) and performs a prolonged, acrobatic dance routine that, if it were better lit, would leave nothing to the imagination. After the gyrating, the old lady conducting the exorcism spits dog blood over the dancer's tits - not sure why, but it made me laugh. Then Leung Kei Wah (now bald for some reason) gets naked as well, and has words scrawled all over her body, before getting her ears pulled off by Chan Sau Ying (I'm not making this up - honest).

The film closes with that twist I mentioned: something to do with a letter, and possibly the corpse of a peddlar who Chun Yu murdered in his madness. I've looked all over for an explanation that makes sense, but I'm still none the wiser.

7.5/10, rounded down to 7, although there's a chance I might round it up if I ever figure out the ending.

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

Story - 1.50 Direction - 1.25 Pace - 1.25 Acting - 1.25 Enjoyment - 1.25

TOTAL - 6.50

I love a good ghost story, and Hex is one of the best. Though I have to say it's due to the twists in the tale, of which there are a few. You also get a history lesson on Chinese arranged marriages. It would seem that once you're wed, you're wed until you're dead, which is fatally unfortunate for our married couple. The writers do an expert job of unwinding an ever-increasingly complex story and keeping the clarifications simple for the viewers.

The director uses the old buildings and tight alleyways to perfection. His lighting is subtle and gives the township an eerie feel. The pond where you see the two local fishermen is ultra-creepy, even in the daytime, as there's a shallow fog that constantly hangs above the algae-covered water. You wouldn't get me anywhere near that place. And, I definitely wouldn't eat any of the fish caught there. The thing is, I don't understand the comedy segments. There are two. One is when Master Yeung orders Mistress Chan's furniture burned. The other is when the priest starts to find body parts, and Master Yeung has trouble attacking him with a cleaver. Up to these points, the film has been in a more serious vein. There have also been a couple of darker moments; when Yeung beats his wife Chan and when he tries to rape the servant. So why the comedy? Sadly it doesn't quite work due to the scenes not being too humorous and that they don't fit with the rest of the film. It would have been wiser to have changed them from funny to scary.

As for the performances, these are excellent. There are no small parts in this movie. Everybody gives their best, and it shows.

In hindsight, I could probably call this a Chinese Giallo for all the plot twists it holds. In fact, if you do enjoy the Giallo sub-genre then you should check out Hex. I think you would savour it as much as I did. Hex is worthy of your time, as long as you watch it with the lights off for the full effect.

Feel free to check my Absolute Horror and Killer Thriller Chillers lists to see where Hex ranks in my charts.

Take Care & Stay Well.

I usually watch Shaw Bros horror movie just to be entertain by the goofy special effect and the gross out cause these kind of movie never scare me at all so watch this movie Hex(1980)i'm not expecting anything new from it but the result is very refreshing.The plot is as old as ever,there still some slapstick humor when there nothing happened but the thing make it stand out the most is the movie twist.There some genuinely good jump scares and suspense in this movie.The makeup effect still cheesy as ever and a very memorable dance scene near the end make this movie a must watch for old fashioned horror movie fan