We dare you to print this poster and have it hung on your bedroom. Go on, do it and see what happens.
The Master of Gorn and Horror from Shaw Brothers, Kuei Chi-hung, strike again with what is arguably his biggest accomplishment during his career.
Bewitched is a 1981 Horror film starring directed by Kuei Chi-hung, starring Melvin Wong and Lily Chan. A box-office hit earning 5 million HKD during it's release, the film cements Kuei's status as a cult horror director, paving his way to his next hit, The Boxer's Omen.
A young child is discovered dead and abandoned on a beach. The child's single father, Stephen, was detained and later confesses to murdering his own daughter, in order to get rid of a Curse he had picked up after a love affair in Thailand. And when Sergeant Bobby Wong, a police officer handling the case, tries investigating deeper into the curse's origin, he too becomes its next victim.
Gore, murder, spilled intestines, more gorn, and hundreds of live maggots ensues.
Do not - we repeat, DO NOT confuse this with the TV series, Bewitched. This movie will bewitch audiences alright... in an absolutely different way. A pants-crapping, nightmare inducing way, if you may.
Contain examples of:
- Artifact of Doom: The charm amulet Stephen bought from a Thai temple, meant to bless him. It only results in a curse that takes control of his life, and later claims his daughter as a sacrifice.
- Bilingual Bonus: The witch doctor chants in Indonesian / Malaysian, and while his incantations isn't relevant to the plot, audiences familiar with either language can understand what he's chanting, since his prayers are often untranslated either in subtitles or dubbings.
- Body Horror: Side effects of voodoo curse? Having veins popping out and ejecting green blood, and later having bubbles forming on the skin, which then explodes into fine white powder.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Most victims of the curse, but especially Stephen's young daughter.
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Bobby, who was almost shot by the Nutcase at the end, but his colleague shows up and shoots said Nutcase Inthe Back.
- Creepy Child: Stephen's daughter, after being hit by the voodoo curse meant for her father. From her Thousand-Yard Stare, to her eating raw pig liver, and eventually trying to stab her own father...
- Facial Horror: The effects of the "Flying Curse" on it's victims. As seen here
◊ (NSFW!) - Fanservice: From Bonnie Brown, the Thai girl Stephen is dating. Half of her scenes consists of her frolicking around with Stephen on a beach with her one-piece getting loose, exposing her boobies. And then there's her making out with Stephen in a Beach Kiss moment, her jugs-a-hanging out, which left behind prints in the sand...
- Gorn: The movie doesn't really shy away from the gory parts. In fact, it lingers a little too long on disembowelled corpses, aborted fetuses, live maggots (hundreds and hundreds of it), a raw chicken getting sliced up onscreen and severed intestines...
- Infodump: The opening and closing of the film, basically, which delivers a Wall of Text narrating the backstory of South East Asian voodoo.
- Living Statue: The Indonesian witch doctor's incantations cause a statue of a bat to become alive and fly around the temple.
- Mugged for Disguise: The Nutcase robs a patrolling police officer of his clothing, and shows up a scene later wearing the stolen uniform, hijacking the traffic for his own amusement.
- Offing the Offspring: Stephen, in order to purge the spirit in his daughter, end up knocking his child unconscious and driving a spike into the top of her head (It Makes Sense in Context... this is how South-East Asian voodoo typically works). Only the spell backfires, and Stephen had unintentionally killed his own daughter.
- Outside-Context Villain: For most of the film, Inspector Bobby was busy dealing with the curse which had bounced upon him... and had to deal with another nutjob prone to violent tendencies on the loose. The latter villain had nothing to do with the voodoo and is just there for... reasons.
- Poltergeist: Part of the effects of the curse inflicted by the amulet. You get hanging objects (like picture frames and lanterns) falling for no reason, wind blowing through windows, the ground shaking... and then the face of a vengeful Thai demon peers through a window.
- Psychopathic Manchild: The Nutcase behaves like a loon, but he's also prone to violent tendencies, including knocking a policeman unconscious, hijacking the traffic by posing as a traffic cop, and trying to fire at public after getting his hands on a gun.
- Rapid Aging: The witch doctor's fate at the ending, after his curse backfires on him, resulting in his hair turning white in seconds and growing long as his skin becomes increasingly wrinkled and cracking up.
- Rapid Hair Growth: One of the first effects of the curse, as Stephen discovers an unexplained patch of hair on his torso which regrows in seconds after he shaves it.
- Title In: Used in every scene when a new voodoo curse / incantation is introduced. Body Oil Curse... Lemon Spike Curse... Worm Curse... and the crowner, DEATH Curse.
- Spit Take: Stephen, who tried calming his nerves by drinking tea... only to find his cursed amulet in the water.
- This Was His True Form: After the witch doctor dies, his corpse shrivels, as a bat crawls out of his mouth and attempts to fly away. But the bat gets captured by a monk instead.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: During the Worm Spell sequence. Victims under this curse would vomit live maggots... piles and piles of it.
- Voodoo Doll: The Indonesian witch doctor uses one of these to maim Bobby at the end of the film, which nearly works. The doll is actually on the above poster, right in it's very center, depicted with a dozen needles sticking out of it.
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: Bon Brown when making out with Stephen on a beach. Well, half a swimsuit, since the top part of her one-piece gets undone, and remains in this state for at least four minutes.
