This movie is available for purchase at www.edaymovie.com

Rating:

5

AKA: Demon World, Shaolin Vampire

Year of release: 2004

Genre: action/comedy

Director: Douglas Kung

Action director: Yip Wing-Kin

Producer: Jeremy Cheung

Writer: Ho Yiu-Wang

Cinematographer: Kwan Chi-Kan

Music: Brother Hung

Stars: Gordon Liu, Fan Siu-Wong, Shi Xiao Hu, Jacky Woo, Shannon Yao Yao, Kit Cheung

Rated IIB for violence and language

DVD Information

Company: Tai Seng

Format: widescreen

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin

Subtitles: English

Extras: none

Notes: This is pretty cheap even by Tai Seng's standards. It's watchable, though.

Related links:

Movie Review index
Main Page

Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead

Despite some of the other reviews out there, Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead isn't the biggest pile of crap out there -- several other movies have that dubious distinction, with the William Hung-starring torture device Where is Mama's Boy currently running away with the title. But Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead isn't that great of a movie, either, mostly because when things actually start clicking, the film-makers pull a Kill Bill and just end the movie, except without any of the style and flair of Tarantino's two-part epic. The movie just ends and a trailer for the next installment plays over the end credits, and the footage frankly looks a lot more exciting than what the viewer just sat through for the last ninety minutes. It just feels cheap and leaves a very bad taste in the viewer's mouth.

It's a shame, because Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead does have the seeds to be a good -- if ultimately goofy -- movie. The plot is pretty basic; Gordon Liu and his sidekicks are trying to battle some demons and an arch-rival (Fan Siu-Wong, who seems to have changed his English name from Terry to Louis according to the credits). Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead was filmed in Mainland China, and frankly looks it; the special effects aren't anything that great, but the film-makers do try hard with what they had to work with. Still, there is some sort of charm to the proceedings.

Even though this could have turned into a total garbage dump, somehow Gordon Liu's performance manages to hold everything together... and hell, he still does look pretty damn good during the fights. But even if Gordon holds the film together, he can't pull it out of the pit that the clunky ending digs and Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead ends up falling apart in the last few minutes. Perhaps when part two comes out, Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead might be a more worthy viewing, but as for now, most viewers would probably be better off leaving this one of the video shelf.