Evil Cat (1986)

An evil force is unleashed every fifty years to feed on carp and kill indiscriminately. Its mortal enemy is a line of Taoist priests ending with Master Cheung (Lau Kar Leung). As this evil resurfaces to plague Hong Kong, Cheung recruits an apprentice (Mark Cheng) in an effort to destroy the demon for good.

Hong Kong has never been known for creating the best horror films, a distinction generally reserved for Europe and Japan. Having Wong Jing, the purveyor of mass market schlock produce one doesn’t improve Hong Kong’s standing. Evil Cat is about as sophisticated and genuinely frightening as it’s ridiculous title suggests. But what is really unfortunate is that Lau Kar Leung was starring in this film instead of directing another outstanding martial arts film. With kung fu movies having temporarily lost popularity, it was a bad year for him.

“Evil Cat” refers to a demon feline that possesses people, causing them to eat raw carp, transform into a cast member from Broadway’s CATS, and kill victims in a rather vague way. After a construction crew unearths the demon, it takes over an office building, killing almost everyone inside and possessing the company president. Ah Long (Mark Cheng) is one of the employees who was not there at the time, but soon finds himself the target of this creature’s wrath after he rudely interrupts the demon’s feeding frenzy. His mother is played by the prolific former Shaw Brothers actress Ha Ping who shined as the “Devil Grandma” in The Magic Blade. Luckily, Ah Long soon catches up with Master Cheung (Lau Kar Keung), a Taoist whom his own daughter (Joan Tang) thinks is insane. But his obsession with the occult and defeating this demon comes in handy. You see, Cheung has this nifty bow with magic arrows that can apparently kill the creature, although Cheung doesn’t seem to certain of this. More likely, Wong Jing didn’t know what to do with this plot device. The demon gets the shaft, but just transfers to the body of the company president’s nubile secretary. The way in which this is done with moderately impressive pre-CGI special effects is reminiscent of the tasteless scene in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead where a young girl is sexually assaulted by a vine. After the demon lures a pop star into a little bump and grind action in the secretary’s car, it bites his tongue off and finishes him off following a sewer chase. Cheung, his daughter, and Ah Lung soon confront the evil with bow and arrow in hand. But any attempt to kill the creature with any weapon just forces it to find another body to possess which leads to a predictable conclusion.

I have to state it. Wong Jing is just a hack. He watches a lot of Hollywood films and then cobbles together elements of them to make his own sloppy movies. The script is packed with inconsistencies, plot holes, and just isn’t scary at all. The film is light on gore, light on suspense, and worst of all, light on menace. The villain is an intangible “force” that inhabits people. If you’ve seen The Exorcist, then you know how creepy this premise can be when done well. Even campier films like Evil Dead are at least amusing for being over the top. But like so many Hong Kong films, everything is hurried and without great action scenes, there is little left to enjoy.

Lau Kar-leung as a Taoist master fighting demons just doesn’t work. Wong throws him one little scene to perform kung fu as he takes on security guards and that’s it. Kar Leung’s greatest assets, his fighting skills and choreography are hardly used at all and he makes a lousy ghost buster. The rest of the cast are forgettable, especially Wong Jing, playing a horny police officer who spends all of his time trying to impress an understandably uninterested Joan Tang.

While I will admit that this effort is mildly diverting as a midnight movie, the final word on Evil Cat is Wong Jing does not equal entertainment. He may have gotten lucky with a number of hits such as The Prodigal Son and God of Gamblers, but most of his work has gone through the pop culture meat grinder and come out as low grade cinematic sausage meant for quick consumption. Lau Kar Leung fans can skip this exercise in mediocrity without reservation.