Review: The Boxer’s Omen (1983)

Lung-Wei Wang plays a boxer who gets permanently disabled by the hulking, cheating Bu-bo (Bolo Yeung). His brother Chan Hung (Phillip Ko) a small-time crook, is having a bit of a tough time of it himself. Not only have the chieftains of his criminal gang been killed by rival gangsters, but Chan Hung himself gets kidnapped only to be saved by some kind of ghostly monk. More ghostly visions occur, so he goes to a Buddhist temple where he learns his arrival was foretold by the deceased chief abbot. This abbot tried to put an end to some black magic practitioners who eventually destroyed him, or at least part of him. His soul remains alive inside his decaying human body. Now Chan Hung has arrived to fulfill the prophecy, he is asked to become a monk and help the abbot take down the black magicians. But first, he takes on Bu-bo in revenge for his brother.

 

If you enjoyed 1986’s “The Seventh Curse”, director Chih-Hung Kuei and co-writer On Szeto (who wrote the enjoyable “The Magic Blade”) offer up similar delights with this unhinged 1983 Shaw Brothers horror film. Bizarre and grotesque in the best way possible, only a too long running time prevents it from being even better. At 85 minutes this would’ve been masterful, at 100+ minutes it’s too much of a WTF thing, but I sure as hell won’t forget it in a hurry.

 

Almost bordering on avant-garde at times, narrative sense and intrigue take a backseat to weird shit happening upon weird shit happening. I was never quite sure why any of this was happening to the poor guy, but I found it too mind-blowing not to be entertained. The black magic guy in particular is hilarious. I guess the Shaw Brothers had a few bucks to spare here because although obviously low-tech by 2026 standards, the sometimes trippy FX are pretty decent for 1983. Even when the budget does show it just makes things even funnier. Case in point, there’s a genuinely funny bit of disgusting gore as some guys open up a dead crocodile, and a pretty unlikely amount of clearly fake guts are taken out. It’s funnier than it sounds I assure you, especially when we see there are also bugs inside too.

 

This isn’t a film so much as a wild experience. I wish it didn’t run so long, but in terms of pure spectacle – and pure insanity – this one scores. The WTF factor carries this one quite a long way, and is a must-see if bizarre fantasy-horror is your thing. If it’s not your thing, you’ve been warned.

 

Rating: B-

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