Wu gong zhou (1984)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Keith Li

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A crazed evil wizard uses his powers to take revenge on beautiful women by making them vomit up live centipedes, which then proceed to eat their victims. |

Plot Keywords:

Vomit | Centipede | Brutality | Pestilence | Impalement

Cast

Hussein Abu Hassan
Chu-kwong Chan
F.C. Chan
Lai Fun Chan
Suet Ming Chan
Chok Chow Cheung
Li-fen Han
Hui Hsia
Mama Hung
Stephen T.F. Lau
Din Long Lee	...	Yeuk-Chee (as Margaret A. Li)
Ching-mei Li
Chi Ling
Kei Lok
Kiu Wai Miu	...	Pak Kai-Lum
Gwan Tak Tai
Bo Tam
Han Chen Wang
Lai Wang
Lei Wang
Ha Fei Wong
Mei Wong
Pooi Ling Yau
Stephan Yip
Sai-yi Yung

Also Known As:

Centipede Curse (literal English title)
Centipede Horror (Hong Kong: English title)
Centipede Sorcerer (Philippines: English title)
Ng gung jau (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

Philippines:93 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

Nikko International Productions & Films

An Abhoration

Horror/science fiction films have rarely been singled out for the quality of the acting in them. Over the decades, a couple of "monsters" have been tapped for praise: Fredric March won an Oscar for his turn at Jekyll and Hyde, & Jeff Goldblum was rightly seen as an example of "inspired casting" in David Cronenberg's remake of _The Fly_.

But I think Din Long Lee has them both beat.

I enjoy _The Centipede Horror_ overall, but it is Miss Lee's performance as Margaret A. Li that lifts it out of the stratosphere for me. I mean, sweet f@ck all, _look_ at her! This is an incredibly painful and, yes, passionate portrait of a woman whose _body_ is being taken over and is changing into something else, even as he fights to retain possession of it. What might such a battle _feel_ like? Miss Lee lets you know, and in doing so anchors an almost cliché science-fiction "what if ...?" in raw human nerve endings. Watch her battle the frightening desires that overcome her; watch her try to remain ... human.

Nigel Wang's imagination and profoundly innovative writing places this "film" right up there with the Necronomicon. This show is an unwanted (because still deeply disturbing) memory. If I could go back to how I was before seeing it, Heaven knows, I would --as it has left me paralyzed by existential dread. Which quite simply isn't right.

Extremely frightening, even on the small screen. A woman incurs the attention of some indifferent Evil out of antiquity. Two of her envoys are killed and a third found in an especially disorientated state. She slowly metamorphosises into an unpleasant alien being, half cactus -half God knows what. Others have classified this as a _"gross out"_ film, but in faith it transcends even mere _horror_ as a genre, and seeps into the mind, establishing itself, by slow degrees, as nothing less than the most refined & unrelenting example of what can only be deemed pure, unalloyed Terror.