The Ghostly Face (1971) User Reviews

Great action action sequences make the long travel footage worth enduring

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 10 November 2005]

When Ghostly Face (a good guy who wears a monster mask) kills a woman's father and steals his sword, she sets off for revenge. She is unaware that Ghostly Face isn't the killer, but has been set up a a band of pirates. Along the way the woman rescues a girl who was taken by the pirates and the pair set off together to find out whats really going on.

Forgive me for being vague, but this is a hard film to rate (and get through). There are incredibly long periods where nothing happens. For example a half an hour in we get a flash back that tells us the story of the rescued girl. It consists of a long sequence of Indonesian Theater and cock fighting. After about 15 minutes of beautiful travelogue footage the pirates break in and we get some action. Much of the film is like this, long sequences of travel footage that ends in a fight sequence. It completely kills the film, and prevents any real plot development.

On the other hand, and its a a big other hand, the fight sequences are fantastic. They are bloody and spectacular and wonderfully comic book like as the lone woman warrior takes on thirty piratical bad guys. Much of the first half hour doesn't make a great deal of sense but its fun to watch.

I loved half of this film- anything that involves the fights. I disliked the travel film footage that stops this movie dead in the water. If you like martial arts film this is certainly worth a rental. I'm not too sure that you'd want to buy this, but if you can forgive the slow parts this is worth seeing (fast forward anyone?).

The movie that "beat them all off".

[ckormos1 · 6/10 · 4 July 2019]

I watched this movie and first believed it was filmed in Thailand. On second view I am not sure. Location is the main factor of this this movie. There are (too many) long sequences depicting the culture and costumes and ceremonies. It is one of the first martial arts movies totally immersed in a culture other than Chinese.

I first watched Polly in "Back Alley Princess" - a movie I reviewed as less than good. She played "Chili Boy" and nailed the "boy" part. Here with long black hair, a white head band, and riding a horse on a tropical beach she looks like the 1970s hippie chick of my dreams.

My copy has the Ocean Shores logo yet unlike their typical VHS release this plays as wide screen. It's a weird wide screen that looks like peering through the Venetian blinds because it is so narrow.

The fights are good. The wire work is good. The weapons were very good. The stunt men were prolific and uncredited but all did a good job.

The "travelogue" sequences make the movie drag. I tolerated this because I like that sort of thing. Others can easily fast forward through it.

The English dubbing was done by the A team. I loved the most memorable line of dubbing "I beat them all off."

Overall I rate it just average for the year and genre but still recommend it to fans because it is different and memorable.

A man, a mask, a dilemma

[ckormos1 · 6/10 · 7 August 2015]

This movie sure looks like it was filmed in Thailand and certainly off the beaten track nowhere near Bangkok. That's the first mystery, I'd love to confirm exactly where it was filmed. Much attention is paid to a "native" look and it was beautiful except for the cock fighting that I consider animal cruelty (while I'm eating my fried chicken). Chan Wai-Lau is a prolific Chinese actor but the hundreds of others seem to be one time Thai stunt men and they do a great job. The wire work is also especially good. My biggest question is how did Polly Kuan get so hot? I had just watched "Back Alley Princess" where she played "Chili Boy" and she looked exactly like a boy in that movie. Now I'm looking at her in long black hair and a white headband and riding a horse on a tropical beach and she looks like the perfect hippie chick from the early 1970s plus she has kung fu. I'm also used to watching the Ocean Shores VHS releases of many 1970s martial arts movies. I suffer from the poor resolution and square framing but have to appreciate the movie would not even exist were it not for VHS rentals. This copy has the Ocean Shores logo pop up yet it is widescreen, colorful, and a tad better than VHS resolution. Perhaps this was put from film to laser disk?. Overall I'd rate it above average for the year and genre and recommend it to fans of the same. You will love the most memorable line of dubbing "I beat them all off."

Cheap Taiwanese wuxia with some bizarre touches

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 17 November 2017]

THE GHOSTLY FACE is a bizarre little wuxia movie from Taiwan that seems to have been partly filmed in Indonesia. Polly Shang Kwan is the nominal heroine, looking to get revenge for her father's murder and hunting down a bunch of pirates in the process. The bizarre elements are really the only interesting thing about this, with one character donning a monster mask to fight and a scene involving a guy beating up what seems to be a zombie. The problem isn't so much with the confusing storyline - par for the course for this genre, I'm afraid - but the endless travelogue padding that slows the thing down to a crawl. Kwan makes for a fine heroine but one wishes her talents hadn't been so wasted as they are here.