Sung's, the world's most unlucky family have had their ancestors screwing up to the point where afterworld devils (in the form of cats) go after them, one by one. Is the punishment deserved or is it only 100+ years of grudge that manifests itself too strongly? The problem is, those of us not knowing Chinese never figure out why the Sung's are so heavily targeted as possible answers are left in Chinese only text before our end scroll. Before that, Devil Cat still offers up a fair amount of fun despite having much wrong with it. The desperation to create spooky atmosphere is evident and the filmmakers never reach anything due to their own poor skill but also because of trashy tangents (some completely out of nowhere). It's fun to see how the different Sung's goes out though, be it murdered by the family retard, raped to death by kidnappers no one knows what they're doing in the flick or when climaxing during sex! Overacted, featuring disco dancing and sentimentality during what it thinks is pivotal, emotional moments, mildly paced madness rears its head sometimes in order for the movie to qualify as a sleeper of minor proportions but mostly it rolls by without us taking notice. The usage of the A Better Tomorrow theme does draw attention to itself however, which shows you the level we're at here...when Asian cinema is stealing from itself. Not to be confused with the Alex Fong/Yukari Oshima movie of the same name.

Odd, perhaps symbolic English title aside, Wong Jan-Yeung's first of a streak of action movies that came to include Dreaming The Reality and Angel Terminators II warms up fairly slowly, giving us more quick cut, powerful mayhem than anything else. Dodging bullets in an acrobatic way seems to be the height of creativity here but eventually Wong hits a stride working with action director Chui Fat. The last half hour in particular is virtually non-stop major gunplay, bone breaking stunts, sadistic torture and brutality overall. Aside from Sibelle Hu and Moon Lee performing dependently, Ray Lui and Francis Ng hangs in there admirably. Especially the former appears to handle himself quite well when it comes to fisticuffs. Capping the finale is footage of an actual, ill-timed explosion that got Moon Lee, Sibelle Hu and Ray Lui hospitalized. Michael Chan, Ken Lo and Alex Man also appear.

Fitting the story of Devil Of Rape on a napkin would make it a full fledged character-piece in the supernatural realm. No, Fong Yau's script fits the smallest surface imaginable. Somehow (saying that because with no subtitles, the "finer" points of the plot don't come through) the timed character of Charlie Cho gets possessed by the rape devil (who is manifested seemingly at one point, looking like a ginseng root with a penis) and off he goes having sex and raping for 90 minutes, in and out of body. Pauline Chan has two scenes randomly inserted and not even she can make all this engaging in the erotica department. It's tiring softcore porn, featuring Category III cinema sleazeball Cho in a genius role as it's not his fault all this. He's possessed. With no shame and dignity, Cho throws himself full steam ahead into the role and into the animated special effects that makes the spectacle even more embarrassing. But oddly fun and seeing class acts like Helena Law and Kwan Hoi-San appearing in this joke makes it even more of a curiosity.

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Ku Feng is Feng Shui expert/good sorcerer Hadi Buli who has his student Tung (Alan Chan) turn on him. Not only does Tung have sex with the very willing wife of Hadi Buli's but he stabs his master, steals his worshipping artifacts and goes on an evil wizard-rampage on his own...

Do Gong-Yue does the somewhat logical thing by following up Bloody Sorcery, a spotty genre effort, with yet another one that turns out to be even more spotty. Cheap to the max in terms of budget and filmmaking technique, unwarranted sex, shower scenes and standard grisly sights occupy the tired frame. While the latter so called grisly sights, that involves the often seen spewing up of maggots and Alan Chan's character eating centipedes, excess remains rather subdued so Devil Sorcery doesn't make much of an impression. Kwan Hoi-San, Kim Gee-Mei and Tin Ching also appear.

Some boxes with holy incantations on them should never be moved. Director of commercials Tong (Simon Yam) learns this and now he's being hounded by the spirits whose been claimed by the box...

From one-time director Tommy Chin, Devil's Box attempts a little commentary on artistic merit vs. commercial interest in filmmaking but primarily the film wants to be a showcase of atmosphere over gore. Good intentions and Chin staging's rank as fairly eerie at a few select points (most unsettling moments resides in the staircase murder) but at most others the spooky feeling of it all is rather tame. Can't blame a guy for trying very sincerely though, which is very true for Chin's only work.

There's a devil to be fought by the likes of Sharla Cheung and Stanley Fung but for two thirds, the script dictates that the characters care little for matters plot related. Magical, naughty hijinxs and in between magicians longing for love, it's a wonder Devil's Vindata (which is the on-screen title. Was obviously meant to be Devil's Vendetta) warrants attention. That director Cheung Hoi-Jing (The Sword Stained With Royal Blood) knows and he gleefully offers up a bunch of off the wall insanity to fun effect. You'll get weird sights such as Billy Lau turned into brown soap just to get a glimpse of female flesh, Stanley Fung possessing actual fine, dry wit for his role and an almost non-stop final act of special effects mayhem (with extravagant attempts at CGI as well). When the film does turn "plot driven" after its assaults, you definitely do not regret having been jerked around. Ngai Jan and Vivian Chow also stars.

A connection cast-wise exists between Devil's Woman and The Eternal Evil Of Asia (meaning Elvis Tsui and Ben Ng returning) in addition to their respective Cat III ratings. Calling it some form of sequel seems a bit steep though even though director Otto Chan (Diary Of A Serial Killer) includes another wicked wizard into the mix. Tasty enough with its inclusions of softcore sex, gore and deadly spells, Chan keeps a pace to his proceedings that means it's not this kind of Hong Kong cinema on autopilot but don't mistake it for class reincarnated. Elvis Tsui's psychological problems as a character is very well suited for the rating, leading to rather unwelcome sights of his nether regions and his given direction is really laugh-inducing when designed to be dramatic. Or it's designed as satire or parody, who knows. Also with Marianne Chan, Cammy Choi, Helena Law, Ivy Leung and Benny Chan.

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HK Flix.com

May (Maggie Poon) and her brother (Woody Chan) are separated as young when she is adopted by a family (mother and father are essayed by Carrie Ng and Hui Siu-Hung). However the bond is strong and the two won't be apart for long, even if it means crawling into and living in a confined, dark place the rest of your life...

Soi Cheang (Love Battlefield) occupied himself early on directing Digital Video movies, achieving acclaim for his debut Our Last Day. Diamond Hill represents the step forward as most of the production is shot on film with the DV look being reserved for flashbacks.

The premise is slightly far fetched (as you will find out by watching the film, not just by reading my synopsis) and the low-budget look for a while feels like a hindrance. Soi does grasp the audience quickly, giving us ventures into horror but primarily, a sweet little tale of poignant bonds of love between sister and brother. That's really the only thought that runs through Diamond Hill but it doesn't have to be anything else than that. With quirky touches visually and generally affecting performances, Diamond Hill succeeds (also thanks to composer Tommy Wai and DOP Lam Wah-Chuen's splendid work) in giving us something fresh at almost no cost.

Cheung Tat-Ming co-stars as a thief who shoots all his break-in's on DV and the late Joe Lee briefly appears.

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TROY'S REVIEW: Here's a veritably 'What the hell?!' movie if ever there was one! You'll be guaranteed left scratching your head in utter disbelief and quite possibly consternation as the screen is filled with a lurid combination of sex, ghosts, a child called Bobo (I mean, who the hell calls their child Bobo?!) and of course, ninjas. Yes, it could only be the work of Godfrey Ho who strikes once again with this demented cut & paste offering featuring an understandably embarrassed looking Richard Harrison (in full mascara no less) as the head of the Diamond Ninja Force and custodian of the mighty Golden Ninja Warrior statue. As such, he is apparently contractually obliged to battle the evil black ninja leader and his decidedly gormless cronies. What's more, the evil ninja master has been further busying himself tormenting an innocent family by summoning and setting upon the poor wretches, the dreaded ghost ninja who appear courtesy of a completely separate Asian ghost flick. But what is said despicable fellows intrinsic rational for such decidedly, antisocial behaviour? Well, it's eventually revealed that he wants to scare the family off of their land in order that he may excavate some ostensible magical artifact from it that will subsequently enable him to rule the world. Although quite how is never actually explained (like so much else in the movie). If all this sounds insane on paper then believe me, it's nothing compared to the baffling spectacle that transpires on film but then again, with Godfrey Ho at the helm, what else would you expect?