Black Magic 2 (1976)

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is some time since I had watched a Hong Kong film from the Shaw Brothers and this turned out to be quite a surprise. Number one was the fantastic clarity of the picture (thank you Blu-ray) but No.2 was that instead of being set in the British colony, these are Singapore locations. Mainly we see the botanical gardens but also a glimpse of Orchard Road and the cable cars going over to the island. No sight at all of Chinatown! Story is crap, acting pretty much the same but there is so much vigour here and the urge to put everything in that we get quite a concoction. I liked the nine inch nails, hammered in and wrenched out of people's skulls, the main protagonist's need to drink human milk (one of many opportunities for nudity) and the gory seeping body fissures brought on by the infamous 'black magic'. Not for everyone but rather a novelty.

You might be surprised by the "Black Magic" films, as they have no martial arts in them yet they were made by the famous Shaw Brothers' Studio. Instead they are gross films about the occult. However, despite the gross scenes, most of it is really pretty tame. What IS gross are the scenes where the octogenarian black magician is shown drinking human breast milk to stay youthful! Yuck! And, speaking of that, this and the previous film in the series both have a lot of nudity--so it's probably not a good film to watch with your mother.As for the first film (1975), it was a thoroughly stupid and low-budget film. While this one is also stupid and low-budget, it manages to work much better--with a more believable bad guy, better special effects and some really, really spooky scenes. It's still not an especially good film, but considering how bad the first one was, it could only improve!! Not worth seeking out unless you could use a laugh or have a bizarre fetish about breast milk.

Two doctors Ti Lung and Lam Wai-tiu take wives Tanny Tien Ni and Lily Li on vacation and there they met the horrors of black magic.Lo Lieh plays an evil sorcerer,who whips female pubic hairs and breast milk into powerful zombie potions,controls his creations via giant metal spikes pounded into their heads.Not only does he turn Li into an walking dead after luring her from the group,he casts a love spell on both Ti's wife and his colleague.This surprisingly eerie Shaw Brothers productions offers some nifty special effects and gross-out moments.I enjoyed "Black Magic" and "Black Magic Terror" and this sequel to Meng Hua Ho's horror hit is also worth looking for.7 out of 10.

Hooo, Boy!!! I had to wait a bit for this one but it was, indeed, worth the wait. Being a fan of B and sub-B Movies does contribute to one's insanity...So please take that into consideration when I say that I loved this film.! Revenge of the Zombies could serve as a model for all that is good and right about the Hong-Kong film Machine. Plenty of campy acting, bad translation,bad dubbing, mediocre to awful special affects,and at least one wholey original twist on the Zombie bit. The next two lines may or may not qualify as a "spoiler"--depending on how picky you are. 70+ year old Black Mage has remained 'young looking'(he claims 30 - I say 45-50) by drinking human milk every day of his life - we later get an example of how he arranges this. The cool twist is that he controls the vitality of his zombies with a big metal spike in their heads!! I, personally do not consider this a spoiler as it is mentioned in the title (literal translation is "Bewitch Tame Head"). Go ahaed! Rent it! You know you want to! Better yet, make it a double feature with the sub-B Warehouse flick from Japan "EMERGENCY!!!-Living Dead in Tokyo Bay!!".This one's harder to find but worth the search if you like the cheapo warehouse -type movies. EnJoy!!500 Club Diva - Your Diva from the Dive-a