Gong Tau: An Oriental Black Magic (2007)

Gong Tau takes the audience back to an earlier time, when Hong Kong movies were gory, twisted, and enormously entertaining guilty pleasures. Mark Cheng (Election 2) stars in this Category III shocker as Rockman, a chiseled cop whose latest case may be the death of him. When a series of brutal cop killings occur, all signs point to Lam Chiu (Kenny Wong), a nasty perp who once took a bullet to the head from Rockman, and can no longer feel any pain. However, the deaths all carry signs of dark eastern mysticism, and when Rockman's wife (Maggie Siu) becomes afflicted with unexplainable pain AND his infant son suddenly - and shockingly - dies in his home, Rockman knows something is up. His veteran partner Fat (Lam Suet) has the answer: "It's Gong Tau." Bearing the same Chinese-language title as the 1975 Shaw Brothers shocker Black Magic, Gong Tau is a return of one of Hong Kong's more unique movie genres. Director Herman Yau, auteur of the Category III classics The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome, has plenty of fun with this shocking, sometimes darkly funny exercise in cinema excess. Over-the-top gore effects and images abound in Gong Tau. This film has it all: sex, revenge, brutal violence, twisted black magic, copious bodily fluids, and even a severed flying head complete with attached spinal cord! Not for the squeamish or faint of heart, Gong Tau is the perfect antidote to Hong Kong Cinema's recent run of popstar vehicles, and a good bet for anyone looking for a little midnight movie madness.