Mo toi

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.

The plot of this movie doesn't make a great deal of sense. Part of the problem is that the subtitles on the print I saw were very small, (the VCD that I have is a widescreen print with the subtitles from the actual film itself so they end up being very tiny). Another part of the problem is that this movie wouldn't make sense under the best of circumstances.

It all begins when two women buy a vase at an auction. The younger of the women takes it home and becomes "possesed" by it. What this means is that a big ugly monster comes out and has sex with her and changes her personality so as to be obsessed with the vase. One night hubby comes home and sees his wife with the monster and is killed by the beast. The wife, now pregnant soon gives birth to a mini monster and dies. The mini monster is caught and then things get less clear. (Thats about the first 12 minutes of screen time.) From here the "monster" jumps from body to body killing people and eating dead bodies, he keeps under a bed.

I can't really tell you much more about the plot than that, except that the movie has several great set pieces mainly battles with the monster in human form, one with a priest who uses mini statues and the final one in the cellar of a house (That one had me murmuring "oh s#&%" a couple of times). There are numerous gore effects and moments of gross out horror. Best of all at times the movie achieves a wonderful nirvana when you're sitting there with a combination of being grossed out, a desire to laugh at the cheesiness of the visuals and a deep admiration at a film that is over coming everything to have a "really cool" moment.

Understand, though, this is a mess of a film. It doesn't really come together well. There is the slenderest of threads keeping it all together (and it could be argued its not very together). The strength of the movie is its parts, the set pieces and gross out horror bits, this is the reason to see the movie and not for any hope of a clear plot. As a whole this film is really probably a 7 or 6.5 so giving it an 8 I'm over selling it on the basis of its parts, but I was really impressed by the parts. If you like gory horror and don't mind a lack of sense try it.

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.

I don't think it's unfair to criticize how highly variable the storytelling is. It starts out incredibly prompt and direct - leaving nothing to the imagination, introducing ideas very forthrightly in imagery or dialogue, and advancing the story in precise, concrete steps - before becoming just as incredibly, weirdly vague. As viewers we just have to kind of blithely accept on faith that everything is happening because of the jade vase seen at the beginning, and the evil that was attached to it is subsequently jumping from person to person. The storytelling switches back and forth, too, and meanwhile Lau Hung-chuen's direction is simply very straight; in the acting and in how scenes are orchestrated generally, there's not a lot of nuance to be had. Then again, in this case the predominant ethos isn't impactful drama, creeping horror, or even so much sinister vibes (though we do get some of those) as it is a spectacle of effects. 'Devil fetus' opts rather simply for shock value, and while some facets come off better than others, I'd be plainly lying if I said it weren't a wild, entertaining ride. This won't appeal to everyone, but for those open to all the wide possibilities of what horror has to offer, this is great!

There's a lot that gets thrown at us at one time or another, from the more straightforward horror-thriller approach of a person being pursued by an antagonist, to tinges of suspense and dark atmosphere; from supernatural splendor and madness, to the one-on-one showdown between priests or mystics and demons or practitioners of black magic, as we've seen in the likes of 1981's 'Bewitched,' or 1983's 'Ghosts galore.' Some of this is realized with stop-motion animation, stunts, and major moving set pieces, and at other times we get extensive blood, gore, special makeup, and gross-out effects. Sometimes we're treated to post-production digital additions that are more than a little outdated, and accompanying sound effects that are A Choice; sometimes this is realized through lighting, or tricky editing and cinematography. The preponderance of these are tangible creations, I should note, but one way or another, they all mostly look great! It's primarily through this that the horror element is realized, though even as the writing is variable, Wen-Hua and Cheng Ging-Jiu Lo whipped up a tale of violence, death, and otherworldly possession that's a wicked good time.

In all other capacities this is pretty well made, from art direction and costume design to the music. It may not be a title that wholly demands viewership, but it sits somewhere on a spectrum between B-movie and low-budget romp, and whether one is familiar with other genre flicks out of Hong Kong (be they from The Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, or as in this instance, Lo Wei Motion Picture Company), or like-minded fare like Sam Raimi's first 'Evil dead,' there's a recognizable kinship with other works. For the inelegance of how it presents it carries some rough edges, yet by and large 'Devil fetus' is fun, gnarly, well made, and satisfying, and even if it's not the most visceral of thrill rides, I think most anyone who appreciates horror will find it enjoyable. Don't necessarily go out of your way for this, but if you have the chance to watch 'Devil fetus,' these eighty-six minutes are well worth anyone's time!

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!