Devil Sorcery - 1988

This belongs next to the Mystics in Bali type of cult horror from the 80's which was made in Asia.  I haven't reviewed that one on here, I think I watched it shortly before I began this blog.  I found it to be highly entertaining though also highly confusing.  In short Mystics in Bali is about a woman who is seeking out a witch in Indonesia, and who gets wrapped up in her spells.  This one is clearly based on similar myths of the witch, which all revolve around what's known as Penanggalan: a flying head with it's internal organs hanging from the neck.

Devil Sorcery is Chinese, and was quite entertaining to cut to the chase.  Mystics in Bali got me lost and confused, from my memory.  I could and should probably watch it again, but short of that my memory of it is that I kinda stopped paying attention around 45 minutes in, because it was just too much WTF.  Devil Sorcery was way more linear, more straight forward in approach.

In Devil Sorcery, which I should say is itself not entirely that linear, a master witch is killed by his understudy Tung.  Tung inherits the witch's power, but he does not intend to use the powers for good.  Tung raises two of the Penanggalan, heads that do his bidding, and Tung also puts a spell on local women, cause he's cool like that.

The witch spells are easily the highlight of the film, which is good cause it's also the majority of the film.  Several girls immediately begin to go missing.  Tung has a couple different powers to kill the girls.  He can burst flames out from candles, he has the two floating heads, and he has vague "other powers" and in short....yeah the movie doesn't really show how he does any of this.  It's all implied.

You know, it's been a while since I saw it, but it was entertaining.  It has an other-worldly quality to it and the characters are likable.  Main character and evil baddy Tung is a great character and has plenty of time on the screen.  He is allowed to be funny, silly, boy-like, angry, and lustful all at the same time, and makes for an enjoyable watching experience.  To cut this short, I give it 3.5.  Plus, the subtitles ranged from fine to laugh out loud.  Here's a good one below: