Director: Kuei Chih-hung
Notable Cast: Tanny Tien Ni, Wang Jung, Chen Szu-chia
As a martial arts cinema fan, I’ve mostly dedicated my time
to digging into many of the films from the Shaw Brothers catalog, but martial
arts epics are not the only films that the iconic studio made. They also
dabbled in a handful of other genres including exploitation, thrillers, and
horror. For the most part, I’ve always stuck with the martial arts films, but
with the recent release of Hex on Blu
Ray via 88 Films in the UK I decided it was high time that I dig much further
into what these Shaw Brothers horror films have to offer. Hex is one of those films that feels like a tale of two movies. The
first half is one film and the second half another. Occasionally this style can
work, or at least be entertaining in certain cases, but for Hex it just feels disjointed and uneven.
The film is fun, while not nearly bat shit insane as some of the other Hong
Kong horror films of the era, but it’s hardly a film that uses its better
aspects in ways to maximize the narrative. Even fans of Shaw Brothers horror
may find it slightly disappointing.
Chan Sau-ying (Tanny Tien Ni) is sick and tired of her
alcoholic and abusive husband. Not only that but she also has a lung infection
that will not heal. One or the other will be the death of her. When a new
servant (Chen Szu-chia) arrives at their home, the two women begin to conspire
against the husband to have him killed to free themselves. However, things are
not always what they seem and death is not always the end of the horrors of
domestic violence.
"Are you okay? Cause I hope you aren't." |
In many ways, Hex
can be described as the Hong Kong horror version of the classic French film Diabolique and if you’ve seen that film
then you will get the jist of what this one has to offer. Granted, it’s not
nearly as well executed or effective, but you’ll get the main ideas on hand. Hex starts off by really building on a
grounded thriller style horror film with the use of domestic violence and the
plotting against a drunken, belligerent husband as its foundation. As the film
plays out, this is easily one of the better parts of the film. It didn’t feel
like the fantastical over-the-top style that usually comes with Hong Kong
horror and it was somewhat refreshing in its restrained efforts. Tanny Tien Ni,
Wang Jung, and Chen Szu-chia work the chemistry of the leading actor triangle
well and director Kuei Chih-hung really builds up the horrific circumstances of
having this monster that lives in your house with performances and the rather
claustrophobic use of the house and the weird foggy swamp of a pond outside of
it. When the two women finally build up the courage to fight back, it’s
effective and the audience is invested. We care and that says a lot when it
comes to a horror film.
This film is all about flipping things on their head. |
This happens at about the half way point to the film and
this is where things deviate from the established style. Hex then switches main protagonists at this point from the wife to
the abusive husband and it starts layering in a ton of ghost elements as he is
haunted by his wrong doings. The second half is ignited by a strong and early
twist, which is where the initial shift of tone happens, but the film struggles
the more it plays out. Since the audience has already learned to hate the
husband, making him a protagonist is a bold maneuver, but it’s one that don’t
work nearly as well as it might have. By the finale, the audience is still
invested in his demise and it works against much of what was working so well in
the first half. This, of course, is layered into a series of ghostly encounters
that increase exponentially in their outrageousness until the final couple of
scenes – where the film makers must have realized they were obligated to make
this film exploitative and decide to throw in one of the most “unique” exorcism
sequences I have ever seen. The only thing that’s weirder than this exorcism
piece is the completely out of left field explanation of the events of the
movie that comes after that. No, it’s not one of those cop out moments, but it
certainly is a twist that truly changes how the audience looks at the entire
film. It might be nonsensical and out of nowhere, but damn if it isn’t a
weirdly ambitious way to end the film.
Exorcism gone Hong Kong psychedelic. |
If anything, Hex
is entertaining in how it tells its story by throwing in so many different
tones, style shifts, and intriguing twists into what was essentially a straight
forward horror thriller. It has a lot of fun pieces, including the use of the
water as a symbolic piece throughout the film, and it has some decent
performances to power through many of the rough patches of its writing. Even
then though, this is a film that is going to appeal only to a certain niche of
horror fans (or Shaw Brothers fans) that will appreciate the oddities it has to
offer. Go in with a grain of salt and the right expectations about this tale of two films and Hex will
entertain, even with its significant flaws.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
Do you even like hong kong horror?
ReplyDelete