(1982)
Dir - Wilson Tong
Overall: MEH
The first supernatural film from actor-turned-director Wilson Tong, Ghost Nursing, (Yang gui), suffers from inadequate pacing, yet its barrage of Hong Kong exploitation cliches are occasionally riotous. Set in Thailand and concerning a down-on-her-luck young woman who turns to a particularly bizarre form of black magic for help against the barrage of sexually harassing men in her life, the supernatural elements do not come in until the second act, though their ridiculousness is intensified from that point on. In typical fashion from such low-budget silliness, there are many unintentionally goofy set pieces ranging from harmless ones like somebody karaoking "Greatest Love of All" twice in a row, to a fetus ghost ritual, a guy puking up maggots, possessed zombie bodyguards in the shower, a botched exorcism, and all manner of agile monks flipping around in mystical battle against the forces of wacky darkness. Also, keen horror fans will recognize music piled on top of each other that is swiped from Psycho, Maniac, The Amityville Horror, and even Pink Floyd's "Careful With That Axe, Eugene". The movie sounds more fun on paper than it is as Tong's direction is mostly flat outside of some atmospheric and colorful set dressing, Shirley Yim is dull in the lead, and even when it kicks up the silly in the final twenty-odd minutes, it still struggles to find its kinetic footing.
(1986)
Dir - Tjut Djalil
Overall: MEH
Indonesian director Tjut Djahl continues his trajectory as one of the country's lousiest, (if not oddest), filmmakers with Satan's Bed, (Batas Impian Ranjang Setan, Ranjang Setan); yet another A Nightmare on Elm Street knock-offs to emerge in the wake of Wes Craven's original. Similar to Djalil's Mystics in Bali and Lady Terminator, this one is loaded with zero production values and non-emotive performances, but unlike those unintentional nyuck-fests, there is hardly enough ridiculousness on display here to put it in the same league. Set pieces from Elm Street come at the screen from left and right, with the sticky floor, the supernatural bad guy smiling while slicing off his fingers, the ghostly body bag victim, and the clawed-hand emerging out of the bathtub which miraculously turns into a swimming pool to name but a few. The plot specifics are tweaked enough to not warrant a lawsuit since it concerns a family that was murdered on Christmas, the dad of which comes back as the Freddy Kruger stand-in except with none of the charisma, barely any screen time, and a whole lot more embarrassing of a make-up job. Every other character is bland enough to not remember their names, faces, or what even happens to them and still after a finale with numerous holy men trying to exorcise the evilness that is afoot, it all ends with an anticlimactic, "wait, that's it?" whimper.
(1989)
Dir - Shinya Tsukamoto
Overall: MEH
Shinya Tsukamoto's full-length debut Tetsuo: The Iron Man remains his most known cinematic work and is as gleefully absurd as any that sprung from the ashes of the midnight movie heyday. A continuation of his early short films as well as his avant-garde theater productions, the black and white, sixty-seven minute, 16mm, conventionally plotless, cyberpunk nightmare is a bold achievement to come out of the gate with for Tsukamoto. Exploring a disturbed yet comically bombastic fetishism of man and machine, it turns its characters into literal metal monsters which can be seen as anti-conformist since the people on screen are breaking out of their mundane urban existence and ultimately embracing their new grotesque yet liberating form. Frantic to the point of art house parody, the film is also too much of a, (very), weird thing; quickly establishing its relentless aesthetic, perversely surreal visuals, and incoherent "story" which only grows more exhausting as it plows forward. It is still an undeniably singular accomplishment and one that would not only set Tsukamoto off on his continually challenging career, yet also influence various other filmmakers who have infused some of its techno-mayhem into their own projects.
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