Devil Fetus

1983 Hong Kong film

7 September 1983 (1983-09-07) (Hong Kong)

Running time

86 minutesCountryHong KongLanguageCantoneseBox officeHK$ 3,920,445

Devil Fetus (魔胎) is a 1983 Hong Kong horror film directed by Lau Hung Chuen.

Plot

A woman buys an antique vase, which contains a demon that is unleashed to cause mayhem and take possession of people it encounters.

Cast

Eddie Chan as Kent Cheng
Pak-Kwong Ho as Mr. Cheng
Hsiu-Ling Lu as Juju
Ouyang Sha-fei as Granny Cheng
Lau Dan

Production

The soundtrack of the film includes "La Petite Fille de la Mer" from the Vangelis album L'Apocalypse des animaux (1973).^[1] It also contain samples from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for the John Carpenter film The Thing.^[1]

Style

John Charles, author of The Hong Kong Filmography 1977–1997 referred to the film as part of Hong Kong's "early '80s gross-out cycle" of horror films.^[1]

Release

Devil Fetus premiered on 7 September 1983 in Hong Kong. It grossed a total of HK$3,920,445.^[2] Part of the film's more gruesome moments were cut by Hong Kong censors.^[1]

Reception

Author John Charles referred to the film as "silly but amusing" and stated that the special effects in the film "are too ambitious for the budget".^[1] Arty Flores from HorrorNews.net gave the film a positive review, calling it "a whacked out hilarious, what the hell is going on, freaky cult film".^[3] Jay Seaver from eFilmCritic awarded the film a negative 2/5 stars, calling it "Hilariously dated", and criticized the film for its incomprehensible plot.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Charles, John (2000). The Hong Kong Filmography 1977–1997: A Complete Reference to 1,100 Films Produced by British Hong Kong Studios. McFarland & Co. p. 73. ISBN 0-7864-0842-1.
^ "Devil Fetus". Hong Kong Film Archive. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
^ Flores, Arty. "Film Review: Devils Fetus (1983) - CAT III". HorrorNews.net. Arty Flores. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
^ Seaver, Jay. "Movie Review - Devil's Fetus - eFilmCritic". eFilmCritic.com. Jay Seaver. Retrieved 4 September 2019.