666 moh gwai fuk wut

Now Hong Kong action movies are my one true cinematic blind spot, so I approached 'Satan Returns' with trepidation. I thought I would give it a look as it seemed it might be a slightly offbeat mix of Woo/Lam style cops'n'chops with a supernatural thriller theme. While I ended up hating this movie a lot less than I expected I still found it to be silly in the extreme, and pretty tiresome overall. The plot is incoherent nonsense about a religious nut called Judas attempting to find the Devil's daughter, and makes no real sense whatsoever. The only thing that kept me watching this to the very end was the the lovely Chingmy Yau of 'Naked Killer' fame, and some of the unintentionally funny sub-titles. Apart from that there isn't all that much to recommend this movie, and beware, the 'Se7en' comparisons are way off base, and extremely misleading.

This Hong Kong film combines horror and cop genres as a killer, going by the name of Judas, is targeting women born on the 6th of June 1969. He believes that the Devil's daughter was born on that day and the only way to identify which woman born on that day is the Antichrist is to cut out their hearts and see which one still lives. Ching, a beautiful officer in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, was born on that date and has been having recurring nightmares about the crimes... before the first body is found. Judas starts contacting her, telling her that she is Satan's daughter. Officers Nam and Ka-ming are put in charge of the case and quickly realise that the killer is inspired by the Book of Revelations.

I rather enjoyed this film; I particularly liked how it combined horror and cop genres. It is clearly inspired stylistically by 'Seven'... something acknowledged by a character; it may not be as technically good as that film but it is perhaps more enjoyable. This is because there is a fair amount of humour and quite a bit of action; sometimes at the same time. The story is solid enough for the genre. Actress Chingamy Yau, does a fine job as Ching, Donnie Yen impresses as Nam and Francis Ng is good as bad guy Judas. The action scenes are enjoyable and a bit gory at times but not excessively so. Overall I'd say that this is not a film to be taken seriously but it is fun enough; I'd certainly recommend it to fans of horror movies who also enjoy Hong Kong cinema.

These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with (poor) English subtitles... strangely the version I saw also had Chinese subtitles which I couldn't turn off!

Satan Returns ("starring the babe from Naked Killer!" screams the tag-line) is very clearly modelled on Se7en: the dark, jumpy look-and-feel is faithfully reproduced. At one point, a character suggests that the killer has "seen Se7en". But the similarity ends there. Satan Returns is a film that could only ever be produced in Hong Kong: it is a demonic thriller featuring kung-fu, gunfights, sex, zombies, and the kitchen sink. It's all very entertaining (although ludicrous) stuff. At times, it even manages to be scary. See it to believe it.

"Satan Returns" was actually a better movie and a better experience than I had anticipated it to be, as Hong Kong cinema are not really famous for their supernatural thrillers. Much less a supernatural thriller with Donnie Yen on the cast list.

The story is about a satanic zealot named Judas (played by Francis Ng) who is killing women in his search to find Satan's daughter. And hot on his trail are the police with Mo Tin Nam (played by Donnie Yen) and Ka-Ming (played by Chi Wah Wong) leading the investigation. And Judas's next target is Chan Shou-Ching (played by Chingmy Yau).

I will say that it was nice to see a story like this from the Hong Kong cinema vault, and they actually pulled it off well enough, despite the story being sort of religious rubbish. But still, it is only entertainment, and in that aspect it worked out well enough. Sadly, though, then the movie wasn't particularly thrilling or fascinating, it was downright predictable.

The movie had some really good names to the cast list. And it was nice to see Chingmy Yau stand out from that semi-erotic shadow of "Naked Killer" that she have been casting for a long, long time. It was sort of odd actually to see Donnie Yen in a movie of this type, as it is not normally what he makes. And the movie was really carried by Francis Ng's performance, and he really outclassed Donnie Yen acting-wise by miles.

If you are fed up with the typical action movies that comes from Hong Kong and enjoy supernatural thrillers, then "Satan Returns" might be right what you are looking for. Just bear in mind that the movie is predictable and sort of fails be build up much excitement and thrills.

And as for the title of the movie, "Satan Returns", what was up with that? Where did he return from? Vacationing? But more importantly, he didn't return to make an appearance in this movie.

Perhaps it's a matter of imperfectly translating Chinese characters into English words and phrases (sometimes giving only approximations that the viewer must be aware enough to dissect themselves) as much as the screenwriting itself, but it also seems apparent in the scene and narrative writing that the storytelling here is decidedly direct. Not just direct, but maybe a tad blunt and simplified, too, removing subtlety and nuance from the equation in communicating the tale, especially when it comes to discussion of religious mythology or iconography. It's further worth observing that the picture gladly and somewhat emptily employs tropes in building its characters, and in rounding out scenes after the most plot-centric elements have been laid in. It bears repeating that some of this may at least in part be a reflection of the difficulty in conveying a story written in one culture and language in a manner that makes it accessible to another, though even with that allowance in mind, I think it's safe to say that 'Satan returns,' as it presents, is often a bit heavy-handed, with notable rough edges, and would have benefited from a more mindful, delicate touch in many regards.

Be that as it may, the broad strokes of Wong Jing's screenplay are fantastic, with great ideas laying the foundation for a playfully sinister and sometimes delightfully gnarly action-horror flick. As the story builds of police and investigation, rituals and Satanism, and an effort to resurrect the power of the devil, strong scene writing gives us flavors of violent action, blood and gore, light humor, surveillance and pursuing leads, and discrete genre elements that range from the fun to the earnestly unsettling. While some of the tricks employed along the way are a little over the top (in addition to being rather forthright as noted), every aspect of the feature is geared toward bolstering either the action or the horror, or otherwise ensuring an entertaining spectacle, and the result is a reliably good time, if less than flawless. The action sequences are terrific, as well as all the stunts and effects that we see at any time. The sets and props are excellent and quite imaginative at their best (and sometimes smartly gruesome), lending a measure of disquieting atmosphere to the proceedings. Even cinematographer Cheng Siu-Keung gets a chance to really stretch his legs here, with very active and dynamic work that pretty well gets into the spirit of the project, and the much the same can be said for the editing.

Among other issues that trouble the viewing experience, one must also make note of how the movie struggles at times to find the right tone. Particularly noticeable in the first and second acts, tinges of ill-fitting humor get woven into scenes of action or horror. As the third act rolls around another problem rears its head, for just as 'Satan returns' shows itself early on to be a smidgen gawky and club-footed in its writing, in about the last one-third the storytelling shifts in a way that very pointedly needs a deft, subtle hand to truly succeed. For such lack, that length of the film that should surely be the most wickedly delicious is drained of a quantifiable portion of its power. Still, while all these just criticisms place definite upper limits on the total value to be found here, it remains solidly enjoyable much more than not. Just as the writing is splendid at large but gets tripped up in the details, director Lam Wai-lun may get mired in the appropriate application of esoteric facets like tone or polish, but overall his orchestration of every shot and scene is outstanding, letting the action and horror equally dispense thrills while shaping a compelling, satisfying narrative. While no one in the cast specifically stands out, and they may be constrained by the matters I've already mentioned, all the same those involved give capable performances of robust physicality, and what range and nuance the nature of the presentation does permit.

Very simply the fact is that this picture suffers from weaknesses and shortcomings, and had more deliberate thought and care gone into all the small odds and ends - the screenplay above all - the final product would have unmistakably been better. With that said, it speaks very well to the skill and intelligence of all who participated in its creation that 'Satan returns' nonetheless remains as devilishly pleasing and fun as it is, through to the very end. It has its faults, strictly speaking, but still I had a blast watching, and I think most anyone who appreciates action-horror would also find this an invigorating, rewarding find. One might not need to go out of their way to see it, but if you like spaces that this title plays in, as far as I'm concerned it's well worth checking out, and a swell credit to all on hand.