For its fourth entry in the massive and essential Shawscope series of Blu-ray sets, Arrow Video shifts gears from predominanly action-focused titles and embraces the crazy side of Shaw Brothers with a slew of major horror, fantasy, and sci-fi entries. Almost every title in here is a winner, presented in significantly upgraded presentations that correct many past sins on home video include extensive frame cutting (presumably made to speed up the pacing), PAL-speed masters, and highly questionable digitally-generated title sequences. The limited edition for the U.S. and U.K. markets also comes with a 60-page booklet featuring essays by David West, Jonathan Clements and Grady Hendrix, plus cast and crew credits and notes on each film by Ian Jane plus new artwork by Matt Frank & Jolyon Yates, Mike Lee-Graham, Chris Malbon and Ilan Sheady.

A total sugar rush passing itself off as a motion picture, The Super Inframan holds a fond spot in the hearts of many moviegoers as the first Shaw Brothers film seen by many in its frequent matinée revivals. Blatantly inspired by the hit Japanese TV series Ultraman, it's the kind of film that should have inspired tons of sequels and spin-offs but instead remains a giddy one-off that still kills with a theatrical audience. The Earth is in deep trouble when the megalomaniac alien fashion goddess Demon Princess Elzebub (Lau), or "Princess Dragonmom" in the English dub, awakens from her centuries-long slumber and starts demolishing nearby cities, including the igniting of the volcanic Mount Devil. Her activity also disrupts the geological research of Professor Liu Ying-de (Hsieh) by jamming his communications and shaking his headquarters with an earthquake, but luckily he's been preparing for such an occurrence with his BDX Project. As monsters are unleashed all over the place, the professor enlists Lei Ma (Lee) to become Inframan, a crime-fighting superhero in red armor. His ability to dispatch her oversized beasts causes the princess to try to steal the plans and make an Inframan of her own, even kidnapping the professor's daughter to pull off her wicked scheme.

That's pretty much the entire plot for this film, which spends over half of its running time pitting the title hero against a fantastic array of rubber-suited opponents who get tossed in the air or hurled into power stations. Colorful, crazy, often nonsensical, and fueled by an awesome soundtrack with borrowed cues from Ultraseven and Mirrorman, it's a perfect afternoon film in every way with some kind of mayhem erupting in every single scene. On top of that you get to see Danny Lee in one of his two bonkers Shaw Brothers starring vehicles (along with The Mighty Peking Man) before he broke through starring in John Woo's The Killer and became a Category III mainstay in films like The Untold Story, Dr. Lamb, and Run and Kill, none of which would make a good double feature with this film at all.

Released in American theaters as Infra-man by exploitation legend Joseph Brenner Associates complete with a fantastic English dub, this film became a VHS staple (in heavily cropped form) from Prism as well as a TV staple for a few years in the '80s. After that it dropped out of sight for a couple of decades until the Shaw Brothers library finally emerged in letterboxed, remastered editions via Celestial Films; in this case it turned up in Mandarin with optional English subtitles from Hong Kong, with a better U.S. option from Image Entertainment featuring the Mandarin track (5.1 and mono) as well as the English dub. The latter DVD had some issues (mainly being interlaced and running short at 88m36s thanks to the then-common Celestial practice of frame cutting), but otherwise it was fine at the time and also featured liner notes by Damon Foster and August Ragone, a newly-created trailer, and a PDF interview with director Hua Shan. It was inevitable that Celestial would create a new HD master for this in the Blu-ray era, and sure enough it turned up in both Japan and Germany, the latter with optional English or German subtitles for the Mandarin track plus a 7m51s reel of trailers.

The first U.K. Blu-ray arrived in 2018 from 88 Films, which puts that essential international English dub back with the film where it belongs in glorious LPCM mono along with the usual Mandarin version (featuring properly translated English subtitles, which are still fun to compare to the dub as they're quite different throughout). As you'd expect the HD transfer (almost identical to the German and still frame cut) is a riot of eye-popping colors and textures throughout, with those ruby reds of the title character's outfit benefiting in particular when they're freed from the constraints of standard def. No trailer is included, though you can find a TV spot on Trailer Trauma Part 4; instead there's a fun gallery of behind-the-scenes photos, plus reversible sleeve options (including the Hong Kong poster).

The Arrow Blu-ray is a big improvement in many, many ways, foremost in that it marks the first disc release running at the correct 90-minute time. The film gets the entire first disc to itself, looking superb here with a new scan with more image info with the Mandarin, Cantonese, and international English tracks (1.0 mono) with optional English subtitles. You also get the insane U.S. version (with its wild four-track "Stereo-Infra-Sound" mix here), running just under a minute shorter here and great to have in what appears to be its first legit widescreen release ever. Frank Djeng and Erik Ko deliver a terrific audio commentary for the main cut, covering the history behind the film, the intentions to ride the wave of Ultraman, the initial box office disappointment it faced, and the backgrounds of pretty much every major player. The one and only Bruce Le appears here for a new interview, "Shaw's Little Dragon" (24m36s), talking about his work on this film and Shaw Brothers in general starting with his arrival in 1973, his mentors and inspirations, and the culture among the Hong Kong studios. In "Super Ultra Infra Action!" (13m13s), Steven Sloss narrates an overview of Shaw Brothers' tokusatsu (or kaiju) output which pales in comparison to what Japan was delivering but has its own unique, colorful charms with films like this and Na Cha and the Seven Devils. Also included are the Hong Kong, German, Cantonese, and U.S. trailers (two of 'em) plus 2m40s of U.S. TV spots and a minute of radio spots ("the man beyond bionics!").

Disc two aims for a much more adult audience with a double feature starting with one of the biggest shockers from Celestial's initial unleashing of the Shaw catalog, Oily Maniac. An avenging monster movie unlike any other, this sleazy action-horror-sex hybrid from Shaw Brothers remained a dirty secret of sorts in Asia until its English-subtitled DVD release in 2003 left more than a few unprepared viewers gob-smacked. Danny Lee turns up again as Sheng, a young Malaysian lawyer at the Hu Ly Faw law film. Crippled by a childhood bout with polio, he's startled by a consultation with a soon-to-be-executed convict (Feng), who saved his daughter by murdering a would-be molester. The doomed convict orders Sheng to copy down a powerful spell tattooed on his back; apparently this will allow Sheng to continue to protect the deceased's daughter, Yue (Ping), who's still in peril and is a platonic friend of Sheng. It turns out the supernatural rite can turn him into a powerful, glowing-eye pile of ambulatory black ooze, but also comes with a catch: "You can't use it for wrong intent, or you'll die... in a very, very bad way." Though the process calls for a prayer for peace and power, he soon realizes he can use his temporary ability to transform into an avenger by slathering himself in gobs of oil will allow him to take out the human garbage the law can't touch... but of course, his ability to tell right from wrong is quickly compromised.

Extremely sleazy at times including a bizarre tangent involving a female doctor who restores women's hymens for wealthy patrons (a process we come very close to seeing on an operating table), this one has that unmistakable mid-'70s Shaw Brothers feel including violently colorful costumes, pilfered soundtrack music (including snippets from Jaws and The Cat o' Nine Tails, among others), and enough dollops of fake blood and nudity to keep your eyebrows raised. It's also interesting how much time is spent covering the Malaysian legal process complete with barrister wigs. The obligatory police subplot is actually fairly entertaining, too, as the dense officers are repeatedly confronted with oil smudged all over dead bodies and even wipe it on their faces.

The Oily Maniac made its aforementioned DVD bow in 2003 from Intercontinental mastered in PAL as usual. The faster, incorrect film speed was carried over uncorrected for that NTSC release, which also resulted in some odd motion issues in addition to the inherent pitch shifting problems and frame snips. The DVD features the film's Mandarin track with optional subtitles in English, Malaysian, Indonesian, or traditional Chinese, with extras including the usual bonus promos and a handful of minor talent bios. The 2017 Region B Blu-ray release from 88 Films looked more impressive in terms of detail, color resolution, and pretty much anything else you can name, though it still came in at 87m48s at PAL speed with frame cuts as well. The LPCM two-channel mono track sounds solid as well, with optional English subtitles provided. The sole video featurette, "A Slippery Story" (15m46s), features Calum Waddell covering the very different 1956 Malaysian film that inspired this (Curse of the Oily Man), the odd opening note in this film claiming it's based on a Nanyang folk tale, and some similarities to another outrageous Shaw Brothers film, The Killer Snakes. The Arrow Blu-ray fixes all of the previous issues, looking better with richer contrast, better detail, and playing completely uncut at the right speed; the Mandarin 1.0 LPCM mono audio sounds great featuring optional English subtitles that improve significantly as well. Ian Jane contributes a very enthusiastic and appreciate audio commentary covering the film's promotion, director, cast, and pretty much anything else you could want to know, and as always he's a fun and enlightening listen.

Also on disc two is a movie that's equally nuts in a different way, The Battle Wizard from 1977, featuring, yes, Danny Lee again in a very loose adaptation of the celebrated Louis Cha novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Here he plays a bookish guy named Duan Yu who crosses paths with the supernatural Lin (Lin) and faces off against a Poison Gang, which leads to a frenetic cinematic barrage involving gorilla suits, lots of lazers, snakes, the wizard master you'd expect from the title, and a whole lot more with barely any coherent story to hold it together. In addition to the fantastic elements (starting right with the nutty opening involving an adulterous couple and some severed legs which sets up the whole revenge plot), the martial arts scenes here are something else thanks to the usual skillful work of the legendary Tony Kai.

Loaded with something colorful and interesting in almost every frame, this was one of the worst casualties in the early DVD era with Celestial's restoration from Intercontinental in 2005 and then from Well Go USA in the U.S. in 2009 looking okay (soft and interlaced though) but running insanely short at 72m39s thanks to both PAL speedup and loads of cuts mainly in the first third. The latter, part of the label's Sword Masters line, featured Cantonese and English stereo audio (with subtitles in both languages) but with an inept remix job that was vastly inferior to the original mono track's music and sound effects. Both DVDs also featured a newly created trailer and not much else.

Thankfully the Arrow release is a big improvement across the board, presenting the correct 80-minute running time with no more cuts or speeding up -- not to mention much more impressive colors and richer blacks. The vastly superior original mono Mandarin and English tracks are back where they should be, sounding excellent in LPCM 1.0 mono (with optional English translated or SDH subtitles). A tremendously helpful new audio commentary by Jonathan Clements packs a lot into the running time as he lays out the significance and sometimes tumultuous history of the Chinese literary source, snake god mythology, earlier drafts of the story, the rationale behind the current title, and Shaw Brothers' contributions to wuxia.

Disc three features a pairing of two of the most beloved and widely-distributed films from Shaw Brothers' horror output, Black Magic from 1975 and its outrageous sequel. Essentially the template for a slew of glorious gross-out spectacles from the studio, Black Magic was a game changer for future Oily Maniac director Ho Meng Hua who had mainly made martial arts fare like Vengeance Is a Golden Blade and The Flying Guillotine but did get down and dirty with the venereal shocker The Kiss of Death. In the opener we see the dark handiwork of dark magic practitioner Shan Chien-mi (Feng), who is enlisted to tamper with the engagement between young couple Xu Nuo (Lung), a construction worker whose job obviously figures in the plot, and Chu-ying (Li) at the behest of the former's rich stalker, Luo Yin (Lie), whose demands escalate from simply breaking them up and having him to herself to causing death by supernatural means. Possible salvation arrives in the form of a rival wizard (Wen-chung), setting the stage for a big showdown.

The contrast between countryside superstitious practices and the modern big city is one of the most striking aspects of this film, a far cry from the period films that had largely defined the more fantastic Shaw entries to this point including its much-loved collaboration with Hammer on The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires. Obviously the studio's later horror films went much further than this one, but this set the template and has more than its fair share of shocking moments like human breast milk, and inappropriate rice applications and snake venom used in the evil rituals. Thanks to a killer theatrical poster (using that skull from The Legend of Hell House), this was a big success at home and got a dubbed theatrical release in the U.S. from World Northal, one of the most reliable importers of Hong Kong insanity. After that it wasn't the easiest film to see until Celestial restored it for a domestic DVD in 2004, followed by a U.S. DVD in 2006 which marked the first of Image Entertainment's lengthy line of Shaw Brothers releases. That one had the Mandarin and English tracks with English subtitles, taken from the provided PAL-based studio master. The U.K. Blu-ray from 88 Films in 2019 featured English and Cantonese audio (DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono) with optional English subtitles, a 2m29s gallery, and the new Celestial trailer. As with all the DVD releases prior, it runs a little short at 95m43s. The Arrow Blu-ray correctly comes in at just under 98 minutes and looks drastically better than any release before it, as a look at the comparison grabs down below will easily demonstrate. The gray, faded look we've had before is replaced here with stronger blacks and much more satisfying colors across the board; it really plays like a whole different film now. The LPCM 1.0 Mandarn and English tracks both sound great and come with improved translated or SDH English subtitles, and James Mudge delivers a welcome new audio commentary laying out the studio's horror history to that point, Hong Kong horror in general going back decades, and the significance of this film in their pantheon.

The same director and Shaw Brothers upped the ante quite a bit the following year with Black Magic 2, which stunned a lot of U.S. grindhouse viewers when it played as Revenge of the Zombies in 1981 from World Northal and got a riveting write-up in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film. There's no real narrative connection here as this is more of a spiritual sequel about another, younger wicked sorcerer, Kang (Lieh), who controls a zombie army by practices like driving gigantic nails in the tops of their heads and aging nightclub dancers back and forth. His latest plan involves stealing away Margaret (Li) from her physician husband (Tiu), this time not only employing breast milk but other bodily accessories as well. From the opening involving a talisman being graphically extracted from a dead crocodile, this one clearly wants to go for the gross out as hard as possible with worms and other ickiness thrust in your face. That also means less of a focus on flashy special effects, so opinions may vary on which is the better film. In any case, both are essential viewing for anyone interested in Hong Kong horror as they forged new ground for what would come for at least a decade.

Black Magic 2 sort of followed the same home video trajectory as its predecessor -- impossible to see for ages, restored for Hong Kong DVD, and brought to U.S. DVD with its Mandarin track and English dub, in this case from Media Blasters' Tokyo Shock imprint also featuring a textless opening sequence, the original and U.S. trailers, gallery, and unrelated bonus trailers. An 88 Films Blu-ray from 2018 ran fast as usual (with frame cuts and running 91m57s), looked a bit better, and featured a worthy audio commentary by Ian Jane. Apart from some significant color timing differences (the Blu-ray skewed on the rose side in outdoor scenes), this was one of the stronger and most consistent-looking titles over the years, so the Arrow upgrade here isn't as dramatic as most of the other ones here. It's quite impressive and the best this has looked to date though, again with the English dub in addition to the original Mandarin as 1.0 LPCM mono with translated or SDH English subtitles. You also get the great U.S. opening credits and a new commentary by Samm Deighan, who brings her A game here talking about the director's trajectory through martial arts films, the contrasting morality at play here, the aspects that set this apart from the first film including the nature of its villain, the Singapore setting, the cast's highlights, the unusual structure of the story, and more.

The horror train continues on disc three with a great double feature starting with Hex, another major and influential title featuring one of the most memorable finales in the Shaw genre arsenal. This was a transitional film for cult director Kuei Chih-Hung, one of the most distinctive filmmakers of the era thanks to the stylistic extremes in films like The Boxer’s Omen, Killer Constable, and Corpse Mania and one that inspired two radically different sequels (which we'll get to below). The first hour or so of this film is basically a moody take on the French classic Diabolique as an ailing abused wife, Chan (Tien), has had it with her drunken lout of a husband, Yeung (Jung). They live out in the middle of the countryside so it’s hard for her to go anywhere for help, but the tide turns with the arrival of Yi Wah (Szu-Chia), a family friend who offers to help around the house. Soon on a dark and stormy night the two women are drowning hubby in a giant water-filled pot, and anyone who’s seen the Clouzot film can easily guess where things are heading. However, the big twist lands halfway through, and it soon turns out there’s something else going on in this cursed house. That brings us to the last half hour, the film’s real claim to fame, which explodes with a riot of colorful phantasmagorical imagery including an attack by ghost-white severed hands and a stained glass exorcism involving body paint scriptures and the most memorable possessed nude scene to ever come out of Asia (with a twist yanked straight out of Kwaidan).  Even if you think you know where this one’s heading at first, be sure to stick it out; the ride more than pays off in the end.

Unreleased on North American home video for decades, Hex hit a number of Chinese-friendly import outlets via a DVD and VCD edition at the height of its Shaw Brothers heyday with dozens of titles streaming out at a time. Again the film looked pretty good thanks to its vibrant color scheme and atmospheric visuals but still left plenty of room for improvement with the usual PAL and frame chopping issues. The dual-format Blu-ray and DVD edition from 88 Films in 2016 corrected some of those conversion issues (correct speed but heavily frame cut in the middle, running 94m36s) with a fresh HD scan for the film’s U.K. home video debut. Most of the film uses a ton of diffusion to varying degrees so it’s not the sharpest presentation in the world, but it appears to be accurate to the intended look with lots of fog and filtered lighting pouring across the frame in the majority of shots. Also the film managed to slip by the BBFC unscathed; apparently animal cruelty regulations don’t apply to snakes getting cleavered in half for no good reason. (Even more surprisingly, the packaging notes that this is given an 18 rating solely for “Sexualised nudity,” which really makes you wonder what the board gets up to in their bedrooms.) The mono Cantonese dialogue with optional English subtitles sounds solid enough in the Blu-ray’s LPCM mix. Extras included the “original” trailer (the same one Celestial created for the DVD release) and the 23-minute “The Studio that Conquered a Continent,” in which the later disgraced Bey Logan (in front of a Black Shampoo poster) chats about the studio’s history with a focus on the ‘60s and ‘70s landmark period as it transformed Chinese cultural stories into lavish productions that rivaled Hollywood’s output. He also touches on some of the more unorthodox swordplay films, the major actors from the era, the films that broke through in America, and plenty more. Logan also appears in the 6-minue “Hong Kong Movie Language” about the country’s evolving sense of identity under ownership by different nations including Great Britain and Japan, which in turn had an effect on the creation of both Cantonese and Mandarin language tracks for many films. A liner notes booklet contains "Spellbound," a Calum Waddell essay about the state of Hong Kong theatrical and video distribution then and now, the hunger for homegrown horror product, and the various horror influences that might be at play in this psychedelic spooky show. The Arrow release of Hex corrects the running time to 97 minutes and looks far superior here with a dramatic improvement in black levels and color saturation. Just check below and you'll get an idea of that disparity which is almost on par with the first Black Magic. This never got an English dub but the Cantonese and Mandarin 1.0 LPCM mono tracks are included here and sound nice, with improved English subtitles.

On the same disc is another supernatural stunner from the same director, Bewitched, which trades in the squishy scope splendor of the prior film just one year later in favor of the more common 1.85:1 framing that would define most of his remaining Shaw Brothers work (and a lot of the studio's output in general). The black magic theme continues here mixed with a possession theme and some cop thriller elements -- and it introduces several visual elements into the film often regarded as sort of a sequel in spirit, The Boxer's Omen. When a young girl is found dead with one of those big nails in her head, police inspector Bobby (Wong) gets caught up in the motivations of the apparent culprit, her father (Ai), who's confined at a hospital and claims he fell afoul of some very sinister forces while traveling in Thailand. Of course, the only solution is to bring in another good guy who practices magic to untangle this foul supernatural conspiracy-- which triggers some of the nastiest visual concoctions in Hong Kong horror cinema loaded with bodily fluids, worms, and a few elements you'd probably rather not dwell on.

You can definitely feel everyone involving seeing how far they can push things to compete with the unrated splatterfests pouring into theaters in 1981, here with that unique local flair using decor with a psychedelic feel like that unmistakable gigantic bat. You definitely won't want to eat while watching this one, but it's tons of fun and features one of the funniest moral disclaimer notices you'll ever see. Given the usual Hong Kong DVD and VCD treatment, this one bowed on Blu-ray in the U.K. from 88 Films in 2017 running 106m24s (correct speed but with a few frame cuts knocking almost a minute off) with Cantonese audio, English subtitles, and a Bey Logan commentary. The transfer in this case looked great and was one of the strongest of that batch, but the Arrow is even better with finer detail and more consistent blacks throughout. Though Hex didn't get a commentary for this set, Bewitched has a thorough new one by Mudge who covers what was happening in Hong Kong at the dawn of the 1980s, the shifts going on at Shaw Brothers, the cast, the local lore present in the occult practices, and more. Cantonese and Mandarin 1.0 LPCM audio is provided (again, no English dub was created) with optional improved English subtitles.

Then it's a double dose of more Kuei Chih-Hung on disc five with the most contentious films in the set: Hex's two sequels, 1980's Hex vs. Witchcraft and 1982's Hex After Hex, which veer completely into comedy and provide such a dramatic shift from the first film you could get a lifetime case of whiplash. There's still a lot of supernatural shenanigans going on not to mention the goofiest (and nakedest) Darth Vader parody in HK history, so it's nice to have them both for the sake of completeness. Unless you have a taste for very, very broad Hong Kong comedy, Hex vs. Witchcraft is going to be your least favorite film in the set as loser inveterate gambler Cai Tou (Lui) is ordered to off himself after a disastrous failed gambit involving his now estranged wife (Leung) and the mob boss (Chan) he owes a lot of money. In desperation he accepts an offer to get some quick money by agreeing to marry the ghost of a murdered woman, which turns to be all too real -- and something he has to consummate with her possessing the bodies of the living. Much farcical confusion ensues. There's some nudity and a lot of stereotyping on display here to remind you when this was made, and if you can get past the aggressively unsympathetic central character and performance, there's a perverse fascination in watching what was clearly an unrelated film get shoved into creating the very weird middle entry of a baffling series. At least they do manage to eventually justify the title, if just barely.

Much more palatable is Hex After Hex, which gives the proceedings a little more style and gravitas (and horror) while still remaining very much in the comedy arena. Relegated to a small but fun supporting role in the second film, Lo Meng (from Five Deadly Venoms and the Ip Man series) gets starring duties here as Tsang, who gets targeted by that same possession-happy female ghost who decides to inhabit a spunky neighbor (Lau) to turn his life and those of everyone around him into a calamity. That includes making clothes vanish and getting even with Tsang's duplicitous boss, with some of the usual exorcism nonsense thrown in for good measure.

The sheer manic energy and surreal nature of the gags here are enough to make this a substantial improvement, not to mention a much better (albeit underused) leading man and the wildest use of the Shaw Brothers logo imaginable for one gag. In fact, if you're of the right temperament this could easily be a fond favorite of the three thanks to the breakneck insanity that would play well with a group viewing. As with the first film, these get no major extras in the Arrow set but the new scans are a nice upgrade over the Hong Kong DVDs from Intercontinental (pretty much the only reasonable option before this) which had Cantonese and Mandarin audio with English subs, major interlacing, and the usual abbreviated running times of 95m52s and 100m34s respectively. The Arrow presentations of both films run five minutes longer and obviously look a lot better in motion than their SD predecessors, with similar but improved color timing and much finer detail. Again you get Cantonese and Mandarin mono tracks with improved English subtitles, plus a quick 44s additional Mandarin voiceover clip for Hex vs. Witchcraft.

One film that did get a significant U.S. home video release before this comes next on disc six with Bat Without Wings, an eccentric genre mash-up most famous for its main villain's getup designed to resemble a certain KISS performer who was very prominent when this was made in 1980. Director Chor Yuen (The Magic Blade, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan) brings his trademark flamboyant touch to this zonked-out story about a notorious murderer (the title character, of course) apprehended and apparently killed in a knockabout duel. Against a backdrop of some of the studio's most gorgeous sets, he seems to have returned for a new rampage five years later with the intrepid Xiao Qi (Yee) pulled into a labyrinth of identity swaps and wicked plots when inn owner Feng Ku, who may be the Bat himself, frames him for the murder of a pretty admirer (Auyeung, who gets two roles here and gets a great scene as a decapitated ghost). Lots of fights and twists soon follow with a couple of powerful swords thrown into the mix as well, which means you get some fun wuxia action and a great booby-trapped lair for our main bad guy.

A real feast for the eyes, Bat Without Wings is convoluted beyond belief and probably more fun if you just don't even try to keep track of all the narrative switchbacks among its tapestry of characters. There's enough macabre material here for this to easily fall into the horror category for this set, but the action (which is pretty average for the studio around this time) gives it a pulpy feel mixed with a strong whodunit angle as well. This one has had a few releases over the years starting with an early Intercontinental DVD with Mandarin audio and English subtitles and an Image Entertainment DVD in the U.S. from the same PAL-sourced master. Unfortunately this one suffered from some of the most extreme speeding up and frame chopping, coming in seven minutes short at 87m57s. The Arrow Blu-ray runs over 95 minutes and fares much, much better; the earlier transfer also had one of the tackiest new digital title sequences inflicted on any of the Celestial titles, and thankfully the superior original titles have been restored here. (See below for an example.) The LPCM 1.0 mono Mandarin audio sounds great with improved English subtitles, and Deighan appears for another valuable new audio commentary examining the genre manipulating at play here, the intricacies and numerous points of confusion within the plot, the audiences Shaw Brothers was going after at the time, the actors' backgrounds, the director's output, the relationship between psychology and setting, and more.

On the same disc you get another fusion of horror and wuxia, 1981's Bloody Parrot, which has been lesser seen but is no less wild or ridiculously complicated. The titular demonic parrot is a mystical creature who can grant three wishes to anyone it meets on the Devil King's birthday, and the latest not-so-lucky recipient is Guo Fan who desires to retrieve a treasure he and his men lost in transit for a prince. Things start to go bad right away including an ill-advised wish to bring back a dead son, which sets off a dizzying chain of events with noble swordsman Jason Piao Pai at the center of it trying to solve multiple mysteries including an entire dead household and the parrot's background. Lots of fights, a spooky brothel featuring a naked Jenny Liang, demons, a squishy autopsy, and another black magic-flavored action madness keep things so quickly you'll need a whiteboard to keep track of it all. Even the ending that tries to tie everything up leaves you with quite a few "hey, wait!" moments, so come prepared.

Here's another film that caused quite a bit of chatter when it first hit VCD and DVD in one of the earliest Intercontinental waves of Hong Kong releases (English-subtitled as usual), and word of mouth kept it a hot title even long after it became difficult to find. It never got an English dub or much exposure outside of Hong Kong, which makes the Arrow Blu-ray a real cause for celebration. As usual the DVD ran short (by four minutes at 92m2s), while the Blu-ray is fully uncut and at the correct speed with the Mandarin 1.0 LPCM audio sounding great. The improved English subtitles flow better here even if the story isn't a whole lot more streamlined. Deighan does the commentary honors here as well unraveling the various plot threads, pointing out some key actors you could easily miss, and contextualizing with how this fits in with the studio's output as it was starting to wane.

Things get a bit more family friendly but no less surreal on disc seven starting with The Fake Ghost Catchers, a lively, synth-laden spooky comedy from director Lau Kar-Wing (Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon). Taking a cue from his con artist dad, Bao (Ho) runs a fake spiritualist racket that backfires when he encounters a truly possessed client tormented by a masked purple phantom. When she dies in the process, her ghost goads Bao into tracking down her twin sister which puts him in a partnership with his wacky cousin, Zhou (Chin-Pang). Multiple subplots quickly evolve including an extraneous one involving the always welcome Alexander Fu Sheng that takes up a fair amount of time, but the main focus here on ghost fighting is a lot of fun whenever it pops up.

As pretty much everyone noticed right away, this is very much an attempt to nab the same audiences who were flocking to Golden Harvest's hit comedy-horror hybrids (most obviously Spooky Encounters at this point) complete with the usual amusing needle drops on the soundtrack. (Someone was obviously a big fan of a certain Don Coscarelli movie.) The actual spirits are pulled off with effective old-fashion stage craft using lots of fog, green lighting, and creepy costumes, which always works well. Long out of circulation after its Hong Kong DVD and VCD release (sped up and trimmed to 96 minutes), this one is again presented uncut at the correct speed with the original main titles and looks gorgeous throughout. The Cantonese and Mandarin audio tracks (1.0 LPCM mono) are both in great shape, and the newly translated English subtitles are a big improvement here. No extras for this one, but just actually having it on Blu-ray seems like some kind of miracle.

On the same disc is a completely psychotic gem designed for kids but equally enjoyable for adults who love things on the Sid and Marty Krofft side. Demon of the Lute is packed with fantasy, action, and even glam rock outfits as we follow little girl Feng Ling (Wai), who loves to fight and even zips high in the air, who embarks on a mission from her master to retrieve a bow and arrow that can stop the impending destruction of a six-fingered lute demon. This being a kid's quest narrative, she gets help from older friends along the way including her older brother (Tak), a rascally thief (Kwok), and two skilled marital artists (Siu-Ho and Tien-Hsiang). The supernatural entities they encounter along the way are really something to behold (the dog-led chariot in particular) including some crazy goblins and elves. Oh, and there's a big nocturnal chase scene involving a gigantic disco ball.

Loads of fun from start to finish, this might be a good one to watch early on in this set if you're fairly new to these films. It's fast, crazy, and totally engaging with some of the coolest costumes of the era, and the string-crazy soundtrack and genuinely funny humor are the icing on the cake. Never dubbed into English and barely seen legally outside of Hong Kong unless you imported the DVD, this one always look pretty great once Celestial remastered it (as usual, the DVD ran short at 100m32s). The Arrow Blu-ray is the best option yet, with similar framing and color timing but with all the usual issues fixed here. The Cantonese and Mandarin tracks are both here in LPCM 1.0 mono as usual, and in this case the Cantonese is really the way to go as it has a better mix and sounds more natural. The improved English subtitles are excellent, and here Frank Djeng provides a new audio commentary; he's a big fan of the film for good reason and has plenty of info about the film's inspirations, the involvement of writer Kuang Ni (of Wisely fame from The Cat and The Seventh Curse), the execution of the wuxia scenes, and other comparable crazy films around the same time.

The most notorious Shaw Brothers horror film of them all, 1983's Seeding of a Ghost on disc eight is a title that spread like wildfire among the '90s tape trading community way before it got a much-anticipated official release on VCD and DVD from Intercontinental back in the day. You couldn't find something further from the fare on disc seven if you tried with this one piling on the sleaze and fluids with wild abandon on a level that had it going toe to toe with other squishy horrors in the '80s like Nekromantik and Bad Taste. You might not see why the film has earned in its reputation during the plot-setting first half in which we meet cab driver Chow (Dreadnaught's Ko, playing against type here but quite good) committing a hit and run late at night. Meanwhile his wife, Irene (Jo), is cheating on him with a high stakes gambler in the neighborhood which puts her in the crosshairs of some thugs who sexually assault and kill her. Driven out of his mind seeking revenge, Chow starts beating up anyone he deems responsible and ends up seeking help from the man he struck, a dark wizard (Chu), which triggers a grotesque chain of events with the dead Irene coming back to play a major role in what transpires.

From the most memorable mahjong party in movie history to the show-stopping sequence that gives the film its title, this is a wild ride with a hefty mean streak that shifts gears drastically multiple times over an hour and a half. In keeping with the trend at the time, that trademark Shawscope look was cast aside here for a more claustrophobic 1.85:1 framing decision that makes it feel far more in your face and disreputable. It still has tons of that adorable black magic color lighting and crazy rituals, albeit pushed into even crazier territory than usual here, along with a hefty amount of nudity that pushes this into softcore territory several times.

Not surprisingly, Seeding of a Ghost has gotten several disc releases over the years including the Hong Kong release mentioned above, a 2008 DVD from Image Entertainment, and a U.K. Blu-ray from 88 Films in 2017 featuring a Bey Logan commentary and a Calum Waddell featurette, "Seeding of a Trend: The Birth of Hong Kong Splatter Cinema" (20m17s). All those were actually at the correct speed and were essentially uncut, with just some slight element damage and possible frame trims bringing it in about half a minute short at 89m50s. That master looked fine so while the Arrow Blu-ray improves with detail and some color timing decisions, it isn't the dramatic revelation you'll get with several other films in the set. It's a great way to experience this for the first time or a revisit, with the Cantonese and Mandarin 1.0 mono LPCM tracks sounding nice while the English subtitles have been improved. A new commentary by Mudge dissects the film's distinctive position in Shaw Brothers horror, covers the main actors' backgrounds, analyzes the unique structure of the story which goes through at least three distinct phases, and covers how films like this were distributed and received.

On the same disc is the utterly nuts but far less famous Portrait in Crystal, an almost indescribable 1983 horror fantasy from Super Inframan director Hua Shan. It's probably saying something to call this one the most head-scratching title in the set, but you'll probably agree with all the multi-colored lunacy unleashed here. The opener sets up a myth that spilling blood during the crafting of a crystal statue will bring it to life, something that scares the "Fatty" assistant (Wong) of martial artist and sculptor Long Fei (Piao). When murders suddenly turn up in their vicinity, the crystal statue goes missing and seems to have taken on life as a masked assassin with a hit list involving the underworld. Lots of fights and absolutely insane lighting fill up much of the running time, with some gory digressions including a giant exploding tummy.

Gorgeous to behold and highly entertaining for most of its running time (barring that frequent snag, a slow spot in the middle), Portrait in Crystal also features one of the wildest patchwork soundtracks mixing, matching, and mashing up original elements with distinctive snippets of recognizable American horror and sci-films from the late '70s. You'll definitely have fun trying to identify them! The Hong Kong VCD and DVD ran very fast at 77m4s with some significant scene snips at PAL speed; its Blu-ray debut in Australia from Imprint was likewise taken from a dated HD master at the same accelerated speed but did feature an audio commentary by Justin Decloux and a "Portrait of Plasma" featurette with Mudge. The Arrow Blu-ray has no bonus features but benefits greatly from a fresh 2K restoration from the negative, uncut and correctly presented at just under 83 minutes with the mono Cantonese and Mandarin tracks included with improved English subtitles.

Disc nine is devoted entirely to a rare example of pure science fiction in Hong Kong cinema, 1983's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, an energetic and very unpredictable comedy swirling in elements of hits like Star Wars, Alien, Star Trek, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This was one of the very first Celestial restorations to make it out on DVD and VCD, not even 16x9 enhanced but looking okay at the time (and running fast and trimmed as usual at 92m5s). The Arrow Blu-ray corrects all this again and looks gorgeous, a great way to experience this often overlooked grab bag of whatever elements they felt like including. Peking Opera Blues' Cherie Chung is more or less the star attraction here in the story of dejected private eye Eden (Lui) who gets pulled into the mysterious abductions of young women by alien force. Chung of course is the one he's focused on as Li Tien, whose impending wedding is sabotaged by her alien experience. Extremely random gags follow with spaceship encounters on Earth and in the sky serving as a springboard for numerous vignettes, including another novel use of the Shaw Brothers logo on a human body. Oh, and you get some pop numbers, too.

Back in circulation for the first time since 2002, the film really sparkles on the Arrow Blu-ray (with Cantonese and Mandarin audio, the former missing a brief Chinese political conversation that can be played here as a Mandarin insert or without entirely), with optional improved English subtitles. (The shorter Mandarin option runs 96m10s for the record.) Djeng turns up here again for an audio commentary, and it's absolutely essential listening as he explains a lot of puns and local references that you would never understand otherwise as they're impossible to give a succinct translation in the subtitles. He's also quite a fan of the film and explains its great cult appeal from local audiences that should translate quite a bit wider with this release. An interview with director Alex Cheung (34m20s), a major name from the Hong Kong New Wave, is a great summation of his "destined or lucky" career working his way up from playing around with 8mm and getting to dabble in a number of genres. Then you get a video appraisal from film scholar Victor Fan (25m4s) laying out the inspirations for the film, the larger scope of sci-fi films and their popularity in Hong Kong, and more about the cultural references and even the significance of fashion choices here. The Cantonese and Mandarin trailers are also included (and they're nuts).

In a move away from past releases, disc ten houses the lion's share of video bonus features starting with the French TV news special "Hong Kong: The Show of Mister Shaw" (13m10s) from 1972 profiling the studio during the making of The Lady Hermit, including some great looks at the offices and studio space in their prime with the directors and actors housed on site. In "The Movie Maniac" (14m27s), Grady Hendrix narrates an informative snapshot of director Ho Meng-hua including his contributions to world genre cinema with The Oily Maniac, The Mighty Peking Man, and the Black Magic films as he carved his own niche as a wild director of commercial fare who developed his projects himself with consistent crews. Then you get Leon Hunt and Luke White (21m33s) and Kim Newman (21m59s) singing the praises of The Super Inframan and its enduring appeal as a unique superhero and monster mixture, Victor Fan on Battle Wizard (17m53s) and its status as an adaptation, Wayne Wong on Bat Without Wings (12m48s) and its director, Luke White solo and Fan (23m28s) on Demon of the Lute (21m37s) as a distinctive later Shaw entry and a particularly crazed piece of family action entertainment. Finally you get the original Hong Kong trailer for Oily Maniac, the Mandarin, English, and German trailers for Battle Wizard, Hong Kong and German trailers and a U.S. TV spot for Black Magic, Mandarin and English Hong Kong and U.S. trailers for Black Magic 2, Cantonese and Mandarin trailers for Bewitched, the Hong Kong Hex trailer, a partial Hong Kong trailer for Hex vs. Witchcraft, the Cantonese and Mandarin trailers for Hex After Hex, the Hong Kong Bat Without Wings, Bloody Parrot, The Fake Ghost Catchers, Portrait in Crystal, and Demon of the Lute trailers, Cantonese and Mandarin Seeding of a Ghost trailers.

THE SUPER INFRAMAN: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

THE SUPER INFRAMAN: 88 Films (Blu-ray)

THE SUPER INFRAMAN: Media Target (Blu-ray)

THE SUPER INFRAMAN: Image Entertainment (DVD)

THE OILY MANIAC: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

THE OILY MANIAC: 88 Films (Blu-ray)

THE BATTLE WIZARD: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

THE BATTLE WIZARD: Well Go USA (DVD)

BLACK MAGIC: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

BLACK MAGIC: 88 Films (Blu-ray)

BLACK MAGIC 2: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

BLACK MAGIC 2: 88 Films (Blu-ray)

BLACK MAGIC 2: Media Blasters (DVD)

HEX: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

HEX: 88 Films (Blu-ray)

BEWITCHED: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

BEWITCHED: 88 Films (Blu-ray)

HEX VS. WITCHCRAFT: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

HEX VS. WITCHCRAFT: Intercontinental (DVD)

HEX AFTER HEX: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

HEX AFTER HEX: Intercontinental (DVD)

BAT WITHOUT WINGS: Arrow Video (DVD)

BAT WITHOUT WINGS: Image Entertainment (DVD)

BLOODY PARROT: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

BLOODY PARROT: Intercontinental (DVD)

DEMON OF THE LUTE: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

DEMON OF THE LUTE: Intercontinental (DVD)

SEEDING OF A GHOST: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

SEEDING OF A GHOST: 88 Films (Blu-ray)

PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL: Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL: Intercontinental (DVD)

TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR: Arrow Video (DVD)

TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR: Intercontinental (DVD)

Reviewed on December 19, 2025