Too much of everything

The greatest movie ever made..!

Good movie but grossly overrated

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Is there such a thing as a film being TOO much fun? I dunno, it's a thought that has been running through my head whilst watching some of my recent sicko feasts. Some films may have a slow but steady build up with a wicked pay off, such as Re-Animator, Evil Dead and Braindead. These seem to get the balance right, courting the line between suspense, character, and balls out grossness with expert precision. However, if ever a film was said to be TOO much fun, The Boxer's Omen is sure to be it.The second of my recent Shaw Brothers viewings, The Boxers Omen is somewhat simple in terms of story. So there is this Chinese kick boxer in the ring with the dirtiest Thai fighter on the block. The Thai guy cripples our Chinese hero, and his brother swears revenge on the other scumbag. That night however, the brother is saved from a gang by the spirit of a Buddhist monk, who sends him on a mission to find a special temple. When he eventually finds it, he finds that the visiting spirit is in fact his 'kind of' dead brother from a past life, and he must now save this spirit from eternal damnation as his own fate is sealed to a premature death otherwise! In order to save the Buddhist he must battle wizards, demons, tentacled flying heads, re-animated crocodile heads, vomit eels, skeleton bats, skin a witch and THEN, kick the Thai guy's ass and travel to the Himalayan mountains! And this isn't even the half of it. I ain't kidding. Throw into that mix a fine pair of breasts being squished up against a window pane for 5 minutes and you got yourself a party.The Boxer's Omen literally rips along at a ridiculous pace. There was so much crazy stuff going on every two minutes that you will either throw your arms in the air, drop your pants and fire off several rounds of hot sticky love glue onto your remote control in pure glee, or else get extremely frustrated by the clear lack of regard for pacing and plot structure. But you know what? If this all doesn't sound like fun to you, I don't know what will. There is a good healthy heap of gore that runs non stop throughout, along with the ample nudity of curvy Chinese ladies. The boobs against the glass scene I mentioned was worth mentioning again. Simply sublime! It's also worth mentioning the eel vomiting scene again, this moment actually made me gag, which is saying something. In fact, there were dozens of vomiting scenes here, go figure.In terms of acting, I can't really say much, I don't remember any particular performance being bad, mostly just kinda OTT in a good way. They all seemed to do a fine job. Directing wise, imagine somebody mashed up The Holy Mountain, The Evil Dead and a big pile of vomit, and you pretty much get the idea. I must say though, the film looked damned pretty for its type, and the subs were spot on. The f/x are kinda hit and miss, but that won't stop you enjoying it as the sense of fun gets behind them and makes em work.The bottom line is this, get your hands on this and Seeding of a Ghost, and have yourself a party. Invite friends over, put some beers in the fridge. Expect pats on the back for such quality entertainment. I dare anyone not to like this one. Enough said.

Yeah! This movie is totally awesome! The special effects are really great. Well, some of the puppets were a little cheesy, but I can truly appreciate the fact that it was done without entirely editing everything you see on a blue or green screen the way Hollywood seems to do with all its computer graphics stuff these days. That gets all too similar after a while. The old stuff that requires lots of food dye and corn starch rocks my world.Any movie with exposed nipples is sure to be a hit. I thought this movie had a great spooky atmosphere at times. It really took me back to the old days. I see maybe some of the same elements from movies like Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind 1 and 2, Evil Dead, The Exorcist, and a little bit of Kickboxer thrown in for good measure. (That's the one with the brother, Van Damne?, who gets revenge against the Thai boxer that hospitalized his buddy.)Sure, some of the effects look cheesy, but the footage of real people counters that and makes a very unique balance between the all too real world of the Buddhist monks and villagers and the fantastical realm of the dark voodoo spells that require fuzzy puppets. If it were up to me I would give this picture an Academy Award just for having the most burning bat puppets on screen at the same time. Honestly the bat puppets are rather cute and that's an adjective I'd prefer never to mention but perhaps it could give you some more ideas about wanting to see this movie if you haven't. Definitely a classic. In my opinion, Boxer's Curse aka Mo, is way better than Ju-On and the Grudge type of ghost stories that are all too common these days and unimaginative.The elephant was an especially nice surprise. Hooray for elephants and their grand majesty!

Unless you have spent your life watching Asian horror films I doubt you've seen anything like this. This is one of the most mind blowing or mind bending films ever made. You will marvel at the bizarre twists and turns this film takes, not to mention the on the cheap monsters, full frontal nudity and magical confrontations.The plot has a young Chinese man seeking revenge on a Thai boxer who attacked his brother after a fight and broke his neck. Heading to Thailand he ends up falling in with a band of monks who need the young man to help fight an evil wizard who has killed their leader just as he was about to achieve immortality. It seems the monk (who's disembodied spirit keeps appearing to the boxer) and the boxer were twins in a past life and have some connection so that what happens to one will happen to the other (a spiritual Corsican Brothers sort of thing) so the only one who can fight the evil is the boxer who agrees to become a monk so that he can save the spirit of his twin and his own life. What follows are a series of would be gross out sequences as the boxer fights the evil wizard, takes on the Thai boxer who paralyzed his brother and so much more. Wow.Good looking, but with special effects that are a bit silly (when they aren't employing real animal offal) this is a movie that will make you laugh at and with it even as its bending your mind. This is a one of a kind movie that mixes up a variety of genres into a truly unique blend (you may have seen similar things before but not all in one movie). It's a serious story but with the presence of mind not to take itself too seriously. Clearly it knows the effects are less than stellar and it uses that to its advantage by playing those scenes a bit light hearted as if to say "we know they're cheap, just go with us". And you will want to go with it since the film's anything can happen attitude makes this a one of a kind viewing experience.See this movie. If you like action films or horror films I'd give this film a try. Those looking for unique cinematic experiences need to put this on their must see list

I guess this wasn't available six years ago but it is now but on vcd and you owe it to yourself especially if you're a Shaw Bros fan to go to HK Flix or where ever and get it. It's the story of Chan Hung a Chinese boxer (in modern times) who sets out to avenge his brother who was badly beaten and crippled by Thai boxer Bolo Yeung. He is aided by a Buddist monk who is dead and their fates become linked as Chan will die if the monk decomposes. Chan travels from Hong Kong to Thailand to Nepal becomes a monk makes a serious error and breaks his vows then has to save himself from certain death. This movie has incredible boxing, wild special effects,crocodiles,weird one eyed monsters, and beautiful Chinese women full frontal(rare in Chinese or Shaw movies}. I think it's truly a classic and well worth seeing. It is not a typical hopping vampire or horror movie and has a spiritual story to tell along with the boxing and horror elements in the plot.