It’s not easy making a rape/revenge movie that’s fun to watch. And let’s be honest, it really shouldn’t be. The entire inciting premise of the subgenre is a brutal act of violence,followed by even more violence, aiming to satisfy both bloodlust and a need for catharsis. That one-two punch, though, is why exploitation filmmakers have seized on the setup over the years.
Some films, like The Last House on the Left and I Spit On Your Grave, lean into the vileness and cruelty of the triggering event as part of their exploitative appeal. Others, like Revenge and Promising Young Woman – both, not coincidentally, made by female directors – avoid focusing on the initial act itself and instead deliver an energetic and even entertainingly cathartic thriller.
But a truly fun rape/revenge film? One guaranteed to plant a sick smile on your face for much of its running time despite the ugliness of its setup? Well, for that you need look no further than the Category III world of Hong Kong cinema. Numerous examples like Her Vengeance and Red to Kill promise varying degrees of entertainment and poor taste, but this month we’ll be looking specifically at 1995’s The Eternal Evil of Asia and its scenes of flying fornication, suicide by self-cannibalism, talking penis heads, ill-planned hexes, invisible man fellatio, and R-rated, sitcom-worthy mixup shenanigans. It’s a lot of fun!
A brief opening narration establishes a basic belief in magic, and while that’s something that’s generally understood in most Hong Kong genre films, it’s made explicit here as a lead-in for what’s to come. Wizards, as you probably already know, often dig up dead children, steal their hearts, feed their own blood to the disembodied organ, and then use its power to commit all manner of dastardly deeds. Helpfully, we see this all unfolding as the narrator speaks, and it’s capped off with a bonus warning about avoiding strange, pale children in movie theaters because they will devour your soul in the john.
Confused? Well buckle up…
The story proper starts with a man named Nam berating his wife and son about their eating habits. A stranger walks outside ominously, and soon Nam is horrified to find himself haunted by his recently deceased parents – so he slashes up the ghosts with a cleaver only to realize too late that it’s actually his own family he’s just murdered. The haunting continues until Nam murders two more people and leaps to his death from the rooftop.
His friends, Bon, Kong, and Kent, are shocked and worry that it might have something to do with their recent trip to Thailand. That’s a bingo. They dismiss the idea, but more weird troubles arise – or fail to rise, in Bon’s case, as the stranger’s curse leaves him with a limp member while his fiance, May, tries very diligently to excite him.
Cash Chin Man-kei’s The Eternal Evil of Asia is an odd entry in the rape/revenge subgenre for numerous reasons, but the first to stand out is that the revenge begins unfolding well before we’re even made privy to the assault. We don’t even know about the incident until more than halfway through the movie, by which point all manner of madness has already splattered the screen with equal parts gore and guffaws.
The film’s first act ends with viewers none the wiser as to why any of this is happening, but May’s curiosity about their trip leads to an extended flashback that soon reveals the truth. The friends went to Thailand for some fun, as you do, and as is often customary for Hong Kong films, it’s overseas where the supernatural troubles start.
They befriend a wizard named Laimi who’s currently engaged in a deadly battle with a pair of sorcerers – a man and a woman, who are flying through the air, launching magic missiles towards Laimi, and boning each other the whole time. This is wholly irresponsible, but it’s also a ridiculously entertaining visual brought to life with explosive effects, energetic camera work, fun wire work, and performers who are fully committed to the bit.
Laimi’s sister, Shui-mei, develops a crush on Bon, who’s politely uninterested as he’s committed to May, so she asks her magic-wielding brother for some help. He casts a love spell between Shui-mei and a cake baked with her breast sweat – whomever eats her cake will have her too – but in a mixup worthy of a classic Three’s Company episode, Bon’s three friends devour it instead. The quartet engage in a saucy night of trippy fornication, but while they see her, she “sees” only Bon.
Until they all awake from the spell and she panics thinking the equally confused men have assaulted her. She grabs a knife, there’s a struggle, and she dies.
Which brings us to the film’s second big departure from the rape/revenge structure – does this actually even count as sexual assault? The pieces are there, but are the men truly culpable? To be clear, they’re sexist idiots, but they’re closer to the goofballs in The Hangover 2 than they are to the droogs in A Clockwork Orange. Laimi is seeking revenge against them for his sister’s fate, but as he’s the one truly responsible, aren’t the men victims too? It makes for an interesting conundrum for viewers conditioned to find thrills and satisfaction in the attackers’ demise.
Of course, this is no serious, meditative drama on consent. This is The Eternal Evil of Asia. Characters do raise these questions, but the focus here is on more ridiculous, violent, and entertaining things. Like Kong’s head being turned into a literal dickhead with his face in the middle and an active slit atop. And Kent being cursed to an insatiable hunger that leaves him scarfing down his own arm like he’s in an adaptation of Stephen King’s “Survivor Type.” And May agreeing to pleasure an invisible wizard’s willie in a decidedly raunchy riff on the ghostly gobby scene in Ghostbusters. And a happy ending that lands with one last horror-centric stinger. And, well, a lot more as our heroes join forces with a female sorceress to combat Laimi’s evil ways.
The Eternal Evil of Asia is as over the top as it gets, but it’s a Cat III shocker that delivers more smile-inducing fun than wince-inducing cruelty. That’s no small feat, as Cat III aficionados can attest. The visuals include some pretty stellar practical effects, some goofy optical fx, and a surprising amount of wire work stunts. It also takes a harsh, well-worn subgenre and tweaks a few beats to make it feel fresh, fun, and maybe even conversation-worthy.
Hopping Mad is a column dedicated to exploring the beautiful, thrilling, incorrigible, and wildly entertaining world of Asian horror films from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s. Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand are just a few of the 50 individual countries in Asia open to an appearance. Each is home to histories, folklore, and storytelling that don’t always reach western shores, and in keeping with the Certified Forgotten mission statement, Rob Hunter is hoping to change that by highlighting some of these underseen and unforgettable Asian horror gems.
