The Devil

Director - Jen-Chieh Chang (Wonderful Killer, Tower of the Drunken Dragons)

Starring - Shao-Tung Chou (Monkey War, Funny Face), Bao-Yu Wang (Boss No Balls, Midnight Flower), and Ti Ou (Bloody Killer, Combat Camp)

Release Date - 1981

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Crawling horror from the depths of hell!"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) 

Rating (out of 5):

     Massacre Video was a company that I always heard about but never really got into their releases until they put Hack-O-Lantern on blu.  After that release I started slowly gathering all their films for my collection.  Around the time of the Hack release I met the Massacre founder Louis Justin at Cinema Wasteland and spoke with him a little about the release.  He was pretty chill and very down to Earth to speak to.  Sometime last year Massacre announced the blu release of the 1981 Taiwanese horror film The Devil from director Jen-Chieh Chang.  I was all about this release and quickly snagged the blu around the same time I got Mr. No Legs. I put them both up to watch later when I had more time and forgot about them.  When I started my Massacre marathon I decided to dig this one out as well and finally watch it.

     The film follows a young man staying at a hotel owned by a wealthy man with a beautiful daughter.  After tricking her into marrying him and ruining the business, they discover that he may have changed his name and was married once before to a woman that is now missing.  A jealous employee of the wealthy man knows that the young man will ruin the business and turns to black magic to curse him before he can get away with it.

     The artwork for The Devil sold me on the film.  I love Asian splatter films but the more extreme horror releases bore the shit out of me.  I was afraid this one would be one of those but it wasn't.  It was very story driven with a lot of character development and gooey effects.  I really enjoyed this one.  The acting in this one is great.  I loved the casting and the character development really gave the cast something to grab on to.  The characters do have a few funny moments but the overall performances in this one is fantastic.  The story for this one is a bit messy and uneven but I really enjoyed it.  The film starts out with a witch "healing" a man whose insides were turning to creepy crawlies.  It was a great scene that had some great atmosphere but it did not set the tone for the film.  We then move to a bit of a drama with the family that is deceived by the young man.  We do slowly make our way back to the curse but its a bit of a long and often times dry process to get there.  Finally, the film has some fun green goo, practical effects, and some not so impressive make-up effects.  I was expecting a little more gore but it was still fun the way it was.  These scenes will stick with you for a good bit as well.  Overall, The Devil is a great release from Massacre Video and a damn fun film to watch.  We get some highly entertaining death scenes and some great acting but the story is a little inconsistent.  With that being said, I highly recommend it.