Trying to describe the 1983 Shaw Brothers’ film “The Boxer’s Omen” is almost impossible. What I gathered from this film is that Chinese Black Magic involves a lot of eating terrible things (random pieces of a live chicken, durian fruit, the skins of black bananas) then puking it back up, feeding it to another guy who then adds something else gross before puking it back up and then a third guy does the same before you force feed it to a naked woman you’ve been maturing inside of a dead crocodile for a month to turn her into a perfect, mystical assassin. I may not understand because it is a cultural thing and I am not a scholar of Chinese mythology but all I could do was scratch my head, stare at the screen and wonder what the bloody Hell I was seeing.
The title comes from the fact that the main character Chan Hung is a kick boxer from Hong Kong who travels to Thailand to get revenge against a vicious Thai boxer who crippled his younger brother in the ring. In the process, he gets involved with a Buddhist abbot who is apparently his twin brother from a past life. This abbot was on the verge of achieving immortality until a black magician poisoned him with spiders that injected poison into his eyes.
Now, Chan Hung has to become a monk, learn the mystical powers of Buddhism and take out the evil black magician. He does this in a period of three months, then confronts the wicked sorcerer. We learn here that black magic is an active form of power while Buddhist mysticism is much more passive and defensive.
The Black Magician cuts off the head of a chicken, drips the blood onto crocodile skulls and produces a flock of black bats. Chan Hung defends by creating a mystical barrier with hand movements and chanting mantras. Then, the crocodile skulls come to life and attack, forcing Chan Hung to dodge their attacks and stuff candles in their mouths which turn them against the black wizard. What happens next I can’t even describe. It’s that weird.
After defeating the black mage, Chan Hung returns to Hong Kong and defeats the evil kick boxer from Thailand in a match. He also has sex with his girlfriend, violating one of the tenants of Buddhism. This robs him of his magic powers and leaves him vulnerable when the crocodile-born assassin woman is sent to get him. The only thing that can save him are the Golden Ashes of his twin brother’s previous life kept in Nepal.
The final battle against the assassin is not quite as flat-out insane as the first magical duel and it makes a little more sense. Not much more but some. It is a hoot to watch though as all kind of things are thrown back and forth including skeleton hands, laser beams, sunlight and giant axes.
Though “The Boxer’s Omen” is billed as a horror film and part of the Black Magic series, it’s not what I would call scary. It’s more of a fascinating, puzzling glimpse into a mythology completely foreign to most Westerners. There are moments of gore and a bit of weird shock value but it doesn’t maintain anything approaching a mood of horror.
What I can tell you is that after seeing this film and “Seeding of a Ghost”, I NEVER want to get involved with Chinese Black Magic. Well, except in a cinematic sense. These films are intriguing and unpredictable, which is something I can’t often say about the movies I watch. If you can handle a bit of strange gore and not knowing what the heck is going on from scene to scene you might want to check it out.
vaporwave
jacobvanloon
kaledo-art
tangentwithtanner
turnnoffyourmind
izzy806
areudirty
2087
pixelskylines
