Nostalgia Kinky

Picking up right where THE PEACOCK KING (1988) left off, SAGA OF THE PHOENIX is a rare sequel that I found as strong as the original but for completely different reasons. THE PEACOCK KING, with its wonderful monster creations and effective moments of horror, was a far more adult oriented work than the much more juvenile geared sequel. It’s a bit-like going from the Dark side winning in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK to the Ewoks of RETURN OF THE JEDI, but it actually works as SAGA OF THE PHOENIX is a truly charming stop-motion driven fantasy film that I would have loved as a kid. Imagine my surprise to find myself loving it just as much as an adult, and 88 Films new Blu-ray dedicated to the film is a perfect way to discover it at any age.

The original THE PEACOCK KING had a great cast, fun stop-motion effects and some killer monster creations. It was a sometimes emotional and occasionally silly Hong Kong fantasy from Golden Harvest. Featuring a hell virgin, witches and literal gates of hell, you’d suspect that THE PEACOCK KING might be intensely horrifying but despite some nice oozy practical gore effects, Nai-Choi keeps things fairly light and youthful. The script for THE PEACOCK KING, credited to half a dozen writers, is a bit all over the place but the film’s cast and great technical qualities overcome any narrative limitations. This is a great looking and sounding film. The score from HOUSE composer Mickie Yoshino is exciting and sublime and the weird Gigeresque creature effects are just so utterly cool. And it must be noted that having future legend Takashi Miike on set as assistant director is pretty damn neat as well!

Lam Nai-Choi again returns as director here, although for SAGA OF THE PHOENIX he is assisted by Lau Shut-Yue, who gets a co-directing credit. Hong Kong director Lam Nai-Choi is immensely talented and does some wickedly inventive things behind the camera throughout this duo. He’s probably best known for the two films that appeared a couple of years after THE PEACOCK KING, EROTIC GHOST STORY (1990) and RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY (1991).This still has Nai-Choi’s stamp all over it though. Focusing again on Ashura, The Hell Virgin, as played by the wonderful Gloria Yip Wan-Yee, looking to remain on earth longer then the 7 days allotted to her, THE SAGA OF THE PHOENIX spends much of its run time on ‘Tricky Ghost’, a little Gremlin like Imp that’s definitely been fed after many a midnight.

Honestly, a lot of whatever mileage a person gets out of SAGA OF THE PHOENIX will most likely come down to how they feel about Tricky Ghost. As someone who watches pretty much every type of cinema except for kids films, I’m shocked by just how charmed I was by this bizarre little mogwai looking fellow. Perhaps much of it is due to how much I love both this and THE PEACOCK KING’S stop-motion effects but I found SAGA OF THE PHOENIX’s most polarizing character quite winningly memorable and sweet.

Like its predecessor, SAGA OF THE PHOENIX is a dazzling looking film, shot so colorfully again by Kwan Chi-Kan. It seems even the folks who felt letdown by the film at least appreciate the film’s obvious visual charms. On a purely technical basis, SAGA OF THE PHOENIX might even be a superior film to its more famous first chapter, even if it ultimately does lose some of the original’s intensity and urgency.

While much of the original cast returns, a few key roles are replaced with new actors. Still taken together, the two films feel like a unified whole. Manga inspired, trippy, surreal and even a bit silly at times I can see myself revisiting SAGA OF THE PHOENIX as much as THE PEACOCK KING in the future even if I do concede the film as a whole isn’t quite as strong as the first.

88 Films new 2K restoration of SAGA OF THE PHOENIX is very strong as is the original Cantonese mono audio track. I absolutely loved the score to this and it sounds lovely via this new release. Extras are fairly light but very solid. A 22 minute interview with Albert Lee about Golden Harvest distribution methods is super fascinating and HK Cinema Experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto are on-hand for another one of their entertaining and informative audio commentaries. Most intriguing is a reel of cut standard definition footage from an alternate version of the film. 88 Films have also provided one of their beautiful slipcover/hardshell cases for this release, complete with a beautiful packed book of photos and writing on the film. SAGA OF THE PHOENIX really captivated me throughout and this new 88 Films collection is an ideal way to discover or reconsider it.

-Jeremy Richey, February 2026-

This post was compiled from my looks at both The Peacock King and Saga of the Phoenix over at my Letterboxd.

Saga of the Phoenix can be ordered directly from 88 Films or from MVD. The Peacock King is also currently available from 88 Films.