Anyone familiar with the Hong Kong movies from the mid- to late-eighties will know exactly what they are getting into here with "The Seventh Curse" ("Yuan Zhen-Xia Yu Wei Si-Li) from 1986.This is a typical action movie from that period of time, where Hong Kong cinema also blended into elements of comedy and, of course, martial arts into just every movie. As is the case with "The Seventh Curse" as well.The movie is rather enjoyable on several accounts though, although my main reason for watching it was because of Maggie Cheung and Chow Yun Fat. But aside from them, then the movie is actually a fun and good action comedy with a hint of supernatural thriller as well. Lots of action, a fast pace and a good story.The story in "The Seventh Curse" is about Yuan Chen (played by Siu-hou Chin) who has been stricken with a deadly Thai blood curse, a curse that will claim his life in a matter of days. In order to lift the curse, a special seed must be found and consumed. But the path to salvation in Thailand is filled with peril in the form of a wicked sorcerer, an undead ancestor and a tribe working to keep foreigners away from their sacred temple.For a movie from 1986, then I will say that the effects were actually quite good. Of course, by todays standards then they are fairly bad to look at and anything but dazzling. But I found the effects to be good enough, and the undead ancestral skeleton was actually quite cool. Wooden in his movement, sure, but cool in concept and appearance. And as cool as the skeletal ancestor was, just as equally bad was the strange 'ghost' creature that looked sort of a mutated hybrid of an infant and a scorpion. It was so badly made and so bad to look at that it was actually funny.One thing I did wonder about was why all Thai people in Thailand (or at least the ones in the movie) were speaking Cantonese and not native Thai. That was just odd. Perhaps a choice made back in the day to cater the movie for a Hong Kong audience and not have them reading subtitles. Perhaps it worked good enough back in 1986, but today not so much."The Seventh Curse" is good entertainment if you enjoy these cheesy mid- to late-eighties Hong Kong movies. I did enjoy the movie and am rating it a 6 out of 10 stars.

This could be discribed as a splatter version of Indiana Jones. Throw in some martial art scenes, stupid looking monsters and a dull Chow-fat, and The Seventh Curse is what you get! It's stupid and badly acted, but the entertainment value is huge. This is what entertainment is all about...

THE SEVENTH CURSE (1986) is something of a companion feature to WITCH FROM NEPAL (1986) a similarly themed Hong Kong supernatural thriller which also features Chow Yun-Fat. CURSE is the more entertaining of the two, thanks to its frequent action and impressive gore effects, although WITCH had a more interesting premise and would have made a better film with more imaginative direction. CURSE has plenty of imagination, but not enough of a story to keep us involved in the twists and turns of the convoluted plot about a Hong Kong doctor seeking to rid himself of a blood curse by going back to Thailand to confront the sorcerer who cursed him. (WITCH was about characters from Nepal who come to Hong Kong to follow the central character.)SEVENTH CURSE is a film in the `Wisely' series about a young expert in the occult, played by a different actor in each of the films (the others include LEGEND OF WISELY and BURY ME HIGH). Wisely, here called `Wesley' in the subtitles, is played by Chow Yun-Fat, who has only a supporting role as he is called on to help out his friend, the doctor, at various points. Chin Siu Ho plays the kung fu-fighting doctor and may be known to kung fu fans for his roles in the Jet Li films TAI CHI MASTER and FIST OF LEGEND. Maggie Cheung plays a nosy lady reporter, the kind that barges into every dangerous situation imaginable. Dick Wei, the Nepalese sorcerer in WITCH FROM NEPAL, plays a good guy here, a Thai warrior who helps the doctor in Thailand.There are lots of action scenes involving kung fu combat or shootouts in which the heroes face down dozens of anonymous Thais. The white-faced sorcerer, Aquala, played by Elvis Tsui Kam-Kong, makes quite a formidable villain and has a pack of monsters at his disposal, all created with make-up effects similar to those used in the ALIEN series and numerous Hollywood monster films of the time. Given the lower HK budgets, the effects here are quite good. There is a Crypt-Keeper-style living skeleton called `Old Ancestor' who, at one point, sucks what appears to be the spinal cord from a man's back.The problem with the gore effects is that no one really takes the monsters very seriously. Chow stands around smoking a pipe incessantly, even in the midst of peril. We're never actually scared by the over-the-top effects. Only Maggie reacts with fright and emotion, although her character is so quick to scream, like so many old monster movie heroines, that we don't really feel any tension. Still, HK fans will be hard-pressed not to drop their jaws at the sight of two of HK's greatest stars, Chow Yun-Fat and Maggie Cheung, battling bloodthirsty reptilian monsters in a giant cave in the film's finale.There are cameo appearances by kung fu vets Wang Lung Wei, Yasuaki Kurata, and Kara Hui Ying Hung in the opening action scene, a terrorist/hostage/SWAT team standoff in an office building.

I have seen many a horror film in my day; Americain, Canadian, European, Japanese, Korean and Hong Kong. The Seven Curses brings cheesey eighties horror to new heights for gore and blood. Not to say that this is anything remotely scary, but a couple of scenes are brutally gory. Best part of the film: check it out in slow-motion in the scene where they drive the jeep through the worm-tribe's hut and up the steps of the temple. Just after they drive the jeep through the hut, one of the extras is a little slow on his feet and gets PLOWED by the jeep! I can't believe they used that take! OUCH! Anyways, if you're a fan of cheesey horror, and like gore and splatter-fests, check it out. If you like doing the whole MST3000 thing, check it out. If you're a big fan of horror, check it out. Otherwise, find something else to watch...