Nostalgia Kinky

Arrow Films recently released their especially epic 4th Volume of their incredible Shawscope series, which collects titles from the immortal Shaw Studios. This beautiful box features strong 2K scans of a whopping 16 films, along with some terrific extras. Focusing on Shaw Studios’ more horror and fantasy oriented films, Shawscope Volume 4 is a wonderful set and a must have for fans of the studio. Over the past month, I reviewed each one of these films at my Letterboxd and then a full-ranking for the set. I thought it would be fun to mirror my Letterboxd list by ranking the films here top to bottom in order of personal preference. Along with my ranking I’ve included excerpts from each of my Letterboxd reviews. Posting the full-reviews here would make this too long and take away the main point that this exciting set is highly recommended and can be ordered from Arrow and MVD.
Let’s go!

1. Seeding of a Ghost (1983)
   Directed frantically and stylishly by Yang Chuan, SEEDING OF A GHOST is probably the best pure horror film found in this new Blu-ray box. Clocking in at a perfect 90 minutes, SEEDING OF GHOST is a kick-ass exploitation film packed with gore, nudity, violence and ghost sex. All the good stuff. Filled with marvelous hands-in-the-muck practical effects, SEEDING OF A GHOST is such a bloody blast and I loved every minute of it. This is one of the best horror films I’ve seen in recent memory. The last half-hour alone is a masterpiece of go hard or go home cinema. Arrow’s 2K scan looks terrific and James Mudge delivers another fun and informative commentary.
2. The Battle Wizard (1977)
   With dynamic and downright electric direction from Pao Hsueh-Li, the 70 minute historical fantasy is a real triumph and a hugely rewarding experience. An example of the Wuxia fantastical genre that sprang out of Chinese fiction, BATTLE WIZARD lives up to its name in the most colorful and exciting ways possible. Hsueh-Li injects every scene of the film with one thing to visually obsess over after another. He never lets up, from literally the opening moment to the last frame something thrilling is going down in one of the most fulfilling fantasy films I’ve seen in recent memory and a completely engrossing experience. Arrow’s 2K restoration looks splendid and brings the film’s wonderfully vast color palette out exceedingly well. This one features author Jonathan Clements who provides much welcome information about the film, genre and the ancient history that inspired both.
3. The Super Inframan (1975)
   Hua Shan’s extraordinary SUPER INFRAMAN, a Hong Kong release from 1975 is the antithesis of every soulless modern Hollywood studio blockbusters movie. Starring the excellent Danny Lee Sau-Yin, SUPER INFRAMAN is so fun, so inventive and so drunk on the sheer joy of making a movie. Most of all this has all that soul missing from modern fantasy films with its wonderful practical, in-camera and homemade effects and costumes on display. Tadashi Nishimoto adds colorful cinematography to Hua’s energetic direction throughout making SUPER INFRAMAN constantly visually arresting. There isn’t a frame of this film where there isn’t something marvelous happening and Arrow’s new 2K restoration is very satisfying. Arrow have included two versions of the film, including a rare English cut that’s just as strong as the original in my eyes, if more campy. Arrow’s Blu-ray features an essential new commentary track by Frank Djeng & Erik Ko, a video essay on Shaws Studio’s step into tokusatsu films by Steven Sloss and an interview with co-star Bruce Le.
4. Hex (1980)
   A transgressive and frightening genre-leaping work, Kuei Chih-Hung’s HEX (1980) is an incredible film. Save for some odd bits of humor that marred the mid-section of the film, I found this a real tour-de-force and completely unforgettable. Scripted by Chih-Hung along with Tam Gam-Wa, HEX starts out as a take-off on Clouzot’s DIABOLIQUE (1955) before branching off on a much darker and unsettling journey. This is a real thrilling watch that starts out as a historical marital melodrama before ending up as a showstopping erotic showcase for Jenny Liang. In the middle are a lot of great scares, creepy moments and frightening images. Again, only the film’s weird stabs of mid-narrative humor come up short here. Liang’s wildly uninhibited appearance here is quite a staggering set piece, punctuated by the Argentoesque lighting of Chan Fen and Lau Tit-Chi. By the time of the Black dog blood spraying we are in full transgression mode and its glorious. Arrow’s new 2K restoration of HEX again looks great and I was particularly taken by how terrific the sound design is via both the Cantonese and Mandarin tracks. An English dub is not available for this one nor, sadly, is an audio commentary.
5. Demon of the Lute (1983)
   DEMON OF THE LUTE (1983) is simultaneously, to my eyes at least, one of the best and most difficult films found here. The debut film from actor Tang Tak-Cheung, DEMON OF THE LUTE is an enormously imaginative and bold children’s wuxia film and Tak-Cheung absolutely packs it with one visual treat after another, never letting up in its 105 minute run-time. Invigorating for children but exhausting for this adult, DEMON OF THE LUTE is still a wildly adventurous and exciting work of cinema. Featuring startling and overwhelmingly colorful cinematography by Wong Chit and an absolutely awesome score credited to composers So Jan-Hau, Stephen Shing Gam-Wing and Dominic Chow, DEMON OF THE LUTE is a technical delight. Tak-Cheung’s envelopes his audience with this distinctly odd world he’s created for DEMON OF THE LUTE, giving a real authentic sense of dreaminess throughout. As much I honestly admired and loved so much about DEMON OF THE LUTE, the film finally became too much for me and I was so relieved when the credit’s finally rolled. So, I offer up a huge recommendation for a film that finally overwhelmed me. Arrow’s 2K restoration looks swell and Frank Djeng delivers another essential commentary.
6. Bewitched (1981)
   BEWITCHED (1981), another extraordinarily chilling work from director Kuei Chih-Hung. Sharing many connections, crew and cast with its companion film HEX, BEWITCHED is an engrossing if, at times, confusing work from the pen of THE BOXER’S OMEN screenwriter Szeto On. On a stylistic and technical level, BEWITCHED is a thrilling experience, perhaps even stronger than HEX. Critic James Mudge notes the film’s connection to Italian horror from the period in his great commentary track. Much of this is due once again to the exceptional work from cinematographer Lee San-Yip. Pretty much across the board the behind the scenes artists from HEX have all continued to improve and progress in each of their roles. All that said, I find HEX the superior film. Running nearly twenty minutes longer than HEX, BEWITCHED feels a lot longer and its pacing is at times a bit sluggish. The film’s screenplay is too expansive, with too many characters and detours for the film’s own own good. A leaner and more focused film might have served the film’s many unforgettable set pieces even better.
7. Black Magic 2 (1976)
   During her excellent audio commentary for Arrow’s Blu-ray release of BLACK MAGIC 2, Samm Deighan points out that she considers the film superior to the original. After watching the two back to back. I agree. As much I enjoyed Ho Meng-Hua’s BLACK MAGIC, this follow-up cranks everything up while correcting its minor flaws. It’s a tighter, gorier and sexier experience with an absolutely awesome closing half hour that is (to sound like a William Castle advert) chilling and thrilling! As a filmmaker Meng-Hua seems immune to exhaustion as his creativity behind the camera seems to know on bounds. More of a thematic sequel than a narrative one, BLACK MAGIC 2 does contain some of the same great cast of actors, but, as Deighan points out, in mostly different roles. Everything goes to 11 here….more gore, more nudity, more worms, BLACK MAGIC 2 features one wild set piece after another. There’s downright Fulciesque pus filled gore throughout and people who suffer from scoleciphobia will need to up their meds after this, as the worms really are out of control this go round. Once again shot well by Cho Wai-Kei, BLACK MAGIC 2 is a much more nocturnal film than the first and just a generally darker film in general.
8. The Fake Ghost Catchers (1982)
   THE FAKE GHOST CATCHERS (1982) is a real blast, both hilarious and stylish. Directed with verve by actor Lau Kar-Wing from a script by Wong Jing, THE FAKE GHOST CATCHERS is a colorful riot from the first frame to the last. Featuring a magnetic ensemble cast, THE FAKE GHOST CATCHERS is a genuinely funny film and cinematographer Wong Wing-Lung ensures it looks great as well. Amongst the most lighthearted films on the 4th Volume of SHAWSCOPE, there’s not a lot of depth to THE FAKE GHOST CATCHERS and the silly meter might level up to an 11 a few too many times but I loved this goofy little film.
9. Black Magic (1975)
   This is an insane bit of spookiness from director Ho Meng-Hua in the diabolical shape of BLACK MAGIC (1975). Critic and historian James Mudge takes great care in detailing Meng-Hua’s varied career in his spirited commentary track for BLACK MAGIC, including his pivotal work on THE KISS OF DEATH (1973) just a couple of years prior to this partial EXORCIST homage. While BLACK MAGIC can indeed be placed in the sub-genre of films inspired by THE EXORCIST it has more of the crazed energy of Boorman’s wild sequel, and I’m willing to bet this film actually influenced that maligned masterly psychotic film. Funny, horrific and even sexy at times, BLACK MAGIC is all over the place but Meng-Hua keeps the asylum mostly together in its rather padded out 95 minute run-time. Scripted by SUPER INFRAMAN and BATTLE WIZARD screenwriter Ni Kuang, BLACK MAGIC doesn’t reach the heights of either of those two incredible works but this is still mostly strong stuff. BLACK MAGIC is again an exceptionally good looking film, as photographed by OILY MANIAC DP Cho Wai-Kei. Everything is super vivid and the wonderfully primitive and charming special visual effects are used perfectly throughout. Kudos especially to the batshit crazy conclusion that is as explosive as it is satisfying. Arrow’s 2K restoration is a pleasure to watch. The only extra is Mudge’s commentary track but it is a doozy, packed with so much great information and Mudge has a great conversational but rapid fire style that I loved. Quality track.
10. Portrait in Crystal (1983)
    PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL is one of the most baffling films found here. Imaginatively directed by the excellent Hua Shan from a bewildering script that no fewer than three writers worked on, PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL is visually dazzling but narratively muddled to constant distraction. There’s a lot to love in PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL from the wonderful color photography by cinematographer Nico Wong Man-Wan to some stunningly choreographed fight sequences. The film’s general dreamy quality does a lot of heavy lifting correlating with the script’s myriad of characters and plot points making for an interesting if wildly unbalanced film. Clocking in just around 80 minutes, PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL is (I believe) the shortest film on this set Considering my main issue with some of the other films collected has been their longer length so I was initially relieved to see the brief running time for this one. However PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL is one of the films in the set that could have used an extra 15 minutes as this feels both confused and incomplete. Viewed just as a visual exercise, PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL is a lot of fun and I especially admired Liu Chi-Yu’s marvelous costume designs. The film is also filled with fantastical effects and blood-soaked kills, all expertly rendered. PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL also had one of my favorite fight scenes in the whole collection (it comes early on and you’ll know) but the overcrowded script ultimately became too much of a distraction as the film progressed.
11. Bloody Parrot (1981)
    SUPER INFRAMAN director Hua Shan returns with this incredibly bizarre, confusing and quite baffling horror/fantasy. Taken as a whole, or any sort of proper narrative, BLOODY PARROT is a bit of a failure but viewed as just a hyper-surreal collection of colorful moments and great fights, it is sometimes sublime. I especially appreciated the INFERNO like lighting design of some of the sets and a late film magic-mirror sequence absolutely rises to the level of greatness. In fact the film’s final act is quite exceptional and is on a different cinematic level than the film’s narratively and visually blurry opening scenes. Thank God for Samm Deighan, who admits at the beginning of her excellent commentary how bonkers the plot is here. Samm valiantly attempts to track the plot of the film while giving her typically excellent researched background about the making of the film. It’s one of the best tracks found on the 4th set. BLOODY PARROT is crazy business whose wild unpredictability is infectious and fun.
12. Hex After Hex (1982)
    HEX AFTER HEX (1982) ends Disc 5 on a fairly high comedic note. Directed once again by Kuei Chih-Hung, HEX AFTER HEX corrects almost all of the numerous issues HEX VS. WITCHCRAFT carried, operating almost like a stylish apology for the earlier film. While HEX AFTER HEX is certainly not the film the original HEX or BEWITCHED is, Chih-Hung delivers a frequently funny and somewhat spooky film with an absolutely fantastic credit sequence. HEX AFTER HEX is still ultimately one of the least successful films here. Way too long at nearly 105 minutes, the script by Szeto On meanders off severely in the film’s mid-section but the film has more strengths than weaknesses. Such as the idea to make it partially a behind the scenes look at Shaw Studios complete with winking funny self-referential nods to past films. Even better is a wild STAR WARS set-piece featuring a lumbering glammed out Darth Vader that has to be seen to be comprehended. The film’s spookier elements are more silly than anything else, although some of the ghostly effects are handled quite nicely. HEX AFTER HEX is ultimately a comedy with horrific elements not the other way around and for the most part it works just as intended.
13. Bat Without Wings (1980)
    BAT WITHOUT WINGS is directed by INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN (1972) auteur Chor Yuen, who’d direct nearly half a dozen films within the year of this coming out. This film certainly shows off his skills as a director, particularly during the films many action and fight sequences and I have zero issues with this film on a technical level. I honestly don’t have a lot to say about this film. I found it nice to look at with the film’s lighting and makeup being exceptionally visually pleasing. On a narrative level, I knew what was happening for about five minutes then became progressively more confused as the plot grew wearisomely overcrowded. By the last half hour or so I had checked out completely story-wise. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t find a way into BAT WITHOUT WINGS. Samm Deighan is on hand for another one of her expert commentary tracks, which I enjoyed much more than the film. Listening to Samm’s commentary made me badly wish I liked the film.
14. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (1983)
    TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR is the most Tarantinoesque film found on SHAWSCOPE Volume 4, in that it feels entirely built scene for scene off other better films. Operating as a cinematic sampling machine, TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR exists only to pay tribute to, or parody, other cinematic works. Up till now one of the things I most admired about this particular collection of films is how far reaching the influences have been, drawing from history, literature, music and current events as much as other movies. TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR and its makers seem only interested in the increasingly commercialized world of cinema, making this perhaps the most subtextual shallow film on this set. The acclaimed director Alex Cheung certainly seems like a very kind artist and man, as interviewed on Arrow’s new collection. His enthusiasm for cinema is infectious and so relatable, although ultimately I find this same enthusiasm TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR’s biggest flaw. I’m very eager to watch some of his earlier films like MAN ON THE BRINK (1981) as I have heard they contain much of the depth TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR is so lacking. TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR is certainly never dull and it has some genuinely winning and unforgettable moments. Occasionally funny, with a couple of cool musical numbers, TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR also features an unforgettable fight at the end that manages to pay tribute to both ALIEN and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and it does it well. There are plenty of good to great moments but they just don’t add up to a cohesive film. Extra wise, I really appreciated the very enthusiastic and knowledgably commentary from Frank Djeng, which I enjoyed more than the film. He gave it much more depth, or he brings it out. For example, there is one scene in the film that struck me as just purely a takeoff on Paul Schrader’s BLUE COLLAR, but Frank points out some cultural and historical aspects of the scene I didn’t recognize. It’s a great listen. The fun half-hour chat with Cheung is also here as is a great new appreciation by film scholar Victor Fan. TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR is clearly a film that is loved by many but it left me feeling empty.
15. The Oily Maniac (1976)
    Both grimly unpleasant and frequently entertaining, THE OILY MANIAC is amongst the most schizophrenic films I’ve encountered in a bit. A monster vigilante thriller, it is absolutely as a monster film that THE OILY MANIAC works best as every time this diesel covered shit shaped freak pops up to wreak havoc THE OILY MANIAC really comes to life as a creative and fun action horror hybrid. These sections of the film are so enjoyable that it is a pity that rest of the film meanders as a courtroom drama and ugly misogynistic rape fantasy. Such a pity, as the monster sequences work so incredibly well, with fun effects and great fight choreography. The only extra for THE OILY MANIAC is a good one, a full-length commentary from critic and big fan of the film Ian Jane.
16. Hex Vs. Witchcraft (1980)
    Now we come to what is Volume 4’s only real dud to my eyes. In fact, Despite its title, HEX VS. WITCHCRAFT wasn’t made as a follow-up to HEX but was instead blessed with a last minute name change attempting to connect the two. Also, despite its title, this is not a horror movie. It’s a comedy. A very lame, lame comedy with a ghost. Probably the most frustrating thing about HEX VS WITCHCRAFT is that it’s directed by Kuei Chih-Hung, who did such extraordinary work on HEX and BEWITCHED. He’s asleep at the wheel here seemingly completely uninterested in anything happening onscreen. The cast is fine but totally wasted. In fact, that goes for everyone involved in the production. Literally, nothing works here. All that said, I’m glad this was included on Shawscope Volume 4, as people like myself blown away by the likes of HEX would have absolutely and regrettably sought it out otherwise.
    

Arrow’s Films Shawscope Volume 4 is a tremendous set that I had a blast with through a chunk of this bitterly cold winter we’re having. The set comes with a packed book and, best of all, a bonus disc with hours of additional interviews, video essays, archival footage and tons of trailers. Just a lovely and fantastic collection all the way around.

-Jeremy Richey, February 2026-