The movie starts on a dark and stormy night. Chen Hung-Lieh wakes up from a nightmare and acts like everyone is trying to kill him. Weird stuff happens and it seems he is dead but did not get a proper burial so now his soul cannot rest. A pretty lady calls upon a spirit to help him.
The horror elements such as dead spirits, the magic of the spirits, and even the fighting all require special effects. The result is a visual experience that would be enjoyed more with your eyes closed. I acknowledge that today we have special effects that can make anything imaginable look real on the movie screen. Therefore I should not expect much from a movie this old. Still, it is hard to believe that the effects in this movie were not simply laughed off. I could not pretend I was watching this movie in 1975 and let the visual elements slide by.
My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as wide screen but it is not really wide screen. There are dual Chinese and English hard subtitles. This is similar to a laser disk as source. The resolution is lower than a comparable VHS tape and the colors are washed out with a green tint remaining. I can hardly read the subtitles because of the poor resolution.
This movie is a fantasy and horror story that totally relies on the visuals. The visuals are a total flop. I found it impossible to find any entertainment value in this movie today because of that. Even if the special effects were a tad better there was still the poor resolution and washed out colors. The final death blow was the nearly impossible to read subtitles.
The horror elements such as dead spirits, the magic of the spirits, and even the fighting all require special effects. The result is a visual experience that would be enjoyed more with your eyes closed. I acknowledge that today we have special effects that can make anything imaginable look real on the movie screen. Therefore I should not expect much from a movie this old. Still, it is hard to believe that the effects in this movie were not simply laughed off. I could not pretend I was watching this movie in 1975 and let the visual elements slide by.
My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as wide screen but it is not really wide screen. There are dual Chinese and English hard subtitles. This is similar to a laser disk as source. The resolution is lower than a comparable VHS tape and the colors are washed out with a green tint remaining. I can hardly read the subtitles because of the poor resolution.
This movie is a fantasy and horror story that totally relies on the visuals. The visuals are a total flop. I found it impossible to find any entertainment value in this movie today because of that. Even if the special effects were a tad better there was still the poor resolution and washed out colors. The final death blow was the nearly impossible to read subtitles.
