After striking a deal with the devil, fighter Zou Qi is able to summon nine demon spirits. Armed with supernatural abilities and bound to a chain of skulls that unleashes the flesh-hungry minions, he sets out to settle a bloody score.
Director Chang Cheh’s 1984 film “The Nine Demons” — a mix of horror, fantasy, and martial arts — follows two friends, Joey and Gary, who survive a coup against Gary’s family. During the coup, Gary is captured. While running away, Joey falls into the depths of hell where he makes a deal with the devil, trading his soul for magic powers to get revenge against those responsible. His bargain ties nine demonic spirits to him, allowing Joey to seek his vengeance.
There’s little to no downtime in Cheh’s film. It unrelentingly moves from one fight sequence and set piece to another. For fans of martial arts cinema, there are plenty of off-the-wall fights (and demonic mayhem) to whet the appetite. For me, though, it felt one note and quickly grew a little dull. While there’s enough going on, the individual fights aren’t as eye-catching as others I’ve seen from this era.
It doesn’t help that the movie veers more into camp territory, keeping everything at arm’s length. The set-up, Joey selling his soul for revenge, sounds like its from a much darker film than the one Cheh ultimately creates. The goofy charm may appeal to some viewers, but this film, full of wild ideas and non-stop action, left me feeling aloof.
“The Nine Demons” arrives on Blu-ray™ courtesy of Visual Vengeance. The film has been sourced from a “new 2K transfer from original film elements supervised by film archivist Toby Russell.” There is also a small note on the back of the case (and a disclaimer that starts the disc) that states, to paraphrase, the best source material was used and the audio and video quality reflects the condition of the source material. From these statements, I expect the film was scanned with little to no restoration work done.
For those that care which language the film is presented in, the disc defaults to the English-dubbed audio track. If you’d like to watch in the original language, make sure to switch tracks and turn on subtitles in the disc’s menu. Both tracks are lossy Dolby Digital, which seems odd for a Blu-ray™ release in this day and age.
In general, the transfer is rough, with the opening scene faring the worst. When watching with the Chinese track, the audio is severely out of sync with the video. The actors are talking, but instead we hear fighting; when the fighting starts, we hear dialogue. The English track doesn’t have this issue, which may explain why the disc defaults to it. Once the next scene starts, everything syncs for the rest of the film.
That snafu aside, there are still issues. The film is riddled with dirt, debris, and color fluctuations. It’s distracting, but the film is still plenty watchable. The audio is more stable but has its share of oddities, including abrupt silences and moments that sound warped. To be fair, I don’t know if the warped audio is intentional since I have never encountered this movie before.
Visual Vengeance has included a wealth of special features for this disc. Extras include a commentary with Justin Decloux and Dylan Cheung, two video essays by Decloux, an episode of the “Unsung Horrors” podcast on “The Nine Demons,” an interview with actor Yu Tai-Ping, an image gallery, and trailers. There’s also an included booklet with notes by CJ Lines and a fold-out mini poster. Decloux and Cheung give lively, informative commentary. The two video essays — one on the film’s cinematographer James Wu Kuo-Ren and the other on the film’s director — find Decloux just as passionate about his subject, offering overviews of both filmmakers although the Cheh essay focuses on his later career after he left Shaw Brothers.
The special features also include a VHS version of the film. Like most VHS tapes, the image is cropped to full frame. The movie is presented with an English-language dub. It’s an interesting curiosity, offering the film in a format that many viewers probably first experienced years ago.
While I continue to find these martial arts films aren’t to my taste, Visual Vengeance deserves credit for bringing this lesser-known film to Blu-ray™. Although the transfer is rough, it allows viewers to see the film in its original aspect ratio, sourced from what the label describes as the best available elements. The roughness of the print reminds me of going to see a popular movie at the discount theater after it has been playing for months on end, offering a bit of nostalgia (at least for me). The included extras are interesting and worthwhile as well. Issues aside, fans of “The Nine Demons” should appreciate this release of a difficult-to-find film.
Available on a Special Visual Vengeance Collector’s Edition July 28th
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