Nationalism and propaganda is at the forefront of Ding Sin-Saai's war movie. Set in 1937 during the Japan's occupation of Shanghai, a small group of resistance-fighters (well, the titular 800 heroes) find themselves defending a warehouse as the opposing forces decimate them. A team of girl scouts, led by Brigitte Lin's character, aids and support the men in super-heroic fashion while leader Chin Yuan (O Chun-Hung) is separated from his family (wife is played by Hsu Feng) when putting the nation first. Incredibly well produced to a degree rarely seen in Taiwanese cinema, with the opening bomb raid showcasing terrific foreground and background action. Convincing imagery but as much interest and adoration isn't sustained as we get such an abundance of war-action throughout. Also being truly affected by a piece that's designed as propaganda is pretty tough. Because with that comes melodrama and HUGE emotional beats clearly tailored for a local crowd. But combine quite a compelling roster of stars (movie also has appearances by Sylvia Chang, Carter Wong, Chin Han, Peter Yang, Chang Yi and Got Siu-Bo), a restoration that finally brings out the production qualities, an understanding of its intentions and you have a fairly intriguing example of how impressive Taiwanese cinema could be. Technically at least. Especially in a decade that saw romantic melodramas and martial arts pictures being cranked out in high numbers mostly.

Depicting what I assume is one of many legendary adventures of the Chinese fairies collectively known as The Eight Immortals, the episodic story narrated from modern times present pretty much the entire group in little vignettes showing them helping out humans deflect death and robbers amongst other things. This is almost children-friendly but not acceptable as a film. However this trend does get broken when it's time to collectively battle the "Blood-sucking red demon that inhabits the mainland", a device one review called "a delightfully unsubtle bit of propaganda". In comes a movie, out goes the kiddie-friendly material. Thankfully for us WANTING a movie, a very crude (special effects-wise) experience gets thrown at us that makes up for its in general lack of everything by bringing the right spirit and energy. Showcasing a plethora of weaponry in the Wuxia tradition that very few will be able to see coming, the animated special effects also give way for battles involving nasty looking birds, poison gas, the real forms of villains (pigs in one instance) and for good measure, we get some whipping and torture as icing on the cake. A weakness for this type of cinema energy and content helps as it's coming from Taiwan cinema in early experimental stages when it comes to special effects and at best getting sub par results (one scene involves basically action figures meant to be miniature work) but for more on the subject of right spirit and energy, turn to Ding Sin-Saai's The Ghost Hill from the same year. There you get a full on assault of colourful Wuxia madness that gets an A+ for creativity and for usage of technology in 1971.

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Matrix Productions, Dick Lau, Emmanuelle 71 and Cary Grant (yea sure...). All main players behind this shot on video exercise that ends in perverse nonsense. There's something in Lau's attempts to examine A psychology behind a married couple of the cold kind. If I tell you it's a Category III equivalent of Eyes Wide Shut, you have some idea of what to expect. While that certain something probably lies more with Lau's cinematographer, I won't dismiss the attempt. But the issues behind the husband Dr. Lam's (Eddie Lam) frustrations in his sexual desire towards his wife (basically caveman-like desire) is more on the tedious side which is the downside to the slow, fairly well-shot images. Kudos for making sure we know of the wife Emily's (Crystal Suen) own journey but again, tedium and WAY long sex scenes makes Emmanuelle In Hong Kong very fast forward friendly... even though it does have scenes with squirt-orgasm and whipped cream.

TROY'S REVIEW: Straight off the bat, I feel I must award top marks to the script writer of this somewhat glorious trash-fest. Here we have the story of Captain Scott who is said to be and I quote, "A CIA action man" and "A tame ninja". Anyway, moving swiftly on, the 'plot' details that Scott is hired by his superiors to bring down the Spiritual Ninjas of the the title who are led by a bearded fellow who adheres to Nazi philosophy, as indicated by the large swastika he bears upon his head. Alongside this we also have a Filipino crime tale featuring lots of scenes set in a seedy looking disco, filled to the brim with all of about five people who dance as though afflicted with severe pelvic and spinal injuries. Oh, did I happen to mention that this also features a female cop who has a curious propensity to hurl spiked knuckle-dusters into suspects throats at any and every given opportunity? No? Oh well... Yes indeed, yet another cinematic triumph for lovers of crappy cinema from Filmark International.

While both this and the Tsui Hark produced A Chinese Ghost Story adapted the same short story from Pu Songling's 'Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio', the similarity between the films clearly shows the latter makers had the Li Han-Hsiang film in mind as they crafted their inventive take on merging romance, supernatural, fantasy and effects. Li's film, made at Shaw Brothers, packs a fine visual punch and even goes for the startling in terms of horror and effects. As Chao Lei's scholar and debt collector gets to know the tragic plight of ghost Nieh Hsiao Chien (Betty Loh Tih) he decides to, with the aid of a swordsman (Yeung Chi-Hung), help her reincarnate. But the demonic grandmother having a grip on her needs to be dealt with first. A fair amount of storybeats (including the swordsman's dance!) will be recognizable for fans of A Chinese Ghost Story and from a design point of view The Enchanting Shadow is captivating. Li Han-Hsiang expertly showcases the expansive sets at Shaw Brothers, crafting atmosphere out of the run down locations versus the impeccable nature of Betty Loh Ti's ghost as well as playing with stylized lighting. The effect is a slow, soft ghost tale at first and I can only imagine his latter reel surprises would scare the crap out of audiences as Li puts on a make-up show for certain key reveals. It further solidifies Li Han-Hsiang being very right for Shaw Brothers desire to be a studio making grand pictures and modern audiences owe it to themselves to take the 80 minute trek back to The Enchanting Shadow.

Not the most punishing of youth dramas out there despite being part unflinching, Encore proves to be sincere for the first half anyway. Dealing with romances (perhaps the first for some of these characters), the joy of connecting with somebody even if it does move fast, on the other end of the spectrum you find characters in over their head. Abortion therefore becomes an issue, disapproval by parents but someone is also talented at singing and there's a singing contest at the end! These are basic beats, tropes even and director Choi for a while handles the common template with sincerity. But the story gets way too busy on characters and ones in need of closure that the movie enters such basic territory that it becomes a bit anonymous. There's little to no beating heart for these people as made by the end. Choi just sort of technically brings it home. Sufficiently but not enough. Starring Danny Chan, Chung Biu-Law Phillip Chan, Peter Yang and Leslie Cheung as the main competitor at said singing contest.

Hung's hybrid of Hong Kong horror, martial arts and comedy remains a groundbreaking, clever and incredible genre-bender. When setting in motion Courageous Cheung's (Hung) adventures with hopping vampires, zombies, a murder charge and dueling black magic brothers, it's the start of a finely balanced touch when bringing in the lighter side of the movie as well. Mostly in banter but when horror makes its presence felt, there's a sense here of smooth transition between elements. Hung is therefore a director out to craft a wild but consistent tone and therefore setting in motion a breakthrough that would be solidified in producing capacity with Mr. Vampire 5 years later. From great momentum intercutting Peter Chan's priest performing rituals at the altar with Hung's trying to counter a vampire to smoothly inserting complex martial arts in the finale, momentum is exemplary and as local as the content may seem in terms of the supernatural, there's a valid case for Encounter Of The Spooky Kind being a way in for Western viewers that either have Mr. Vampire behind them or in front of them. Co-starring Chung Fat, Huang Ha and Lam Ching-Ying's comedic chops as a stubborn police chief.