There was nothing quite as outrageous as Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s. From horrific black magic to spellbindingly choreographed action and dark and lurid stories of revenge, Hong Kong filmmakers created genre cinema that broke new ground. Amongst the companies producing some of the craziest films was Golden Harvest. Legendary for their martial arts epics, Golden Harvest stormed full force into every corner of genre filmmaking, and presented here are two of their most memorable and audacious works.
DEVIL FETUS
A young woman purchases a suspiciously phallic-looking antique vase from a street auction only to soon become the target of a lustful demonic spirit. When her husband discovers her fornicating with the evil entity, he destroys the vase, leading to his and his wife’s grotesque deaths. Fearing that the entity may have impregnated the recently deceased woman with a demonic fetus, a priest seals off the evil spirit in the woman's bedroom so as not to be disturbed. However, several years later, the young woman's family accidentally breaks the seal, unleashing a supernatural force upon their household. As the family attempts to battle this malicious entity, they must find the priest who originally trapped the demon in order for him to return and finish the job once and for all.
Given a “Category III” rating upon its initial release, thanks to its unrelenting feast of on-screen grotesqueries, DEVIL FETUS’ home video history has been marred by releases that were either cropped from its original scope framing or heavily censored. Jumping from a stylish Hong Kong supernatural thriller to an over-the-top gore and action spectacle featuring intricate wire-work, astonishing visual effects, maggot-covered corpses, sexually perverse creatures, and a multitude of inventive death sequences, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present this unforgettable Hong Kong horror on Blu-ray for the first time, completely uncut and in its original aspect ratio, unseen since its theatrical release!
HER VENGEANCE
Ying is a mild-mannered hostess at a local nightclub where, one night, she accidentally insults a group of drunken thugs. While returning home later that night, Ying is attacked by the drunkards and is viciously beaten and assaulted. Seeking retribution, Ying enlists the help of a former Triad member who is now confined to a wheelchair. Although reluctant to help in her pursuit of vengeance, he offers Ying a job at his bar to help her get a fresh start. However, soon after, she encounters one of her attackers and, seizing the moment, kills him. With blood now on her hands, Ying is set on a path of violence that she can no longer walk away from, leaving those in her life caught up in the bloodshed.
With its feet planted firmly in the world of exploitation cinema, HER VENGEANCE plays as an even more extreme version of I Spit on Your Grave, filtered through an action movie structure. Directed by one of Hong Kong's most notorious filmmakers, Ngai Choi Lam (Riki-Oh: Story of Ricky, The Seventh Curse), HER VENGEANCE is a brutal and unflinching study of a woman hell-bent on revenge. Initially released with a “Category III” rating due to its shocking depictions of violence and assault, the film was subsequently re-edited into a less graphic “Category IIb” version intended for a wider release. Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present this unflinching thriller in two of its most complete versions: the original CAT III version, featuring all of its shocking sex and violence, as well as the more commonly seen CAT IIb version, which tames the brutality while adding more story and character development not present in the CAT III version.
