Reviewed by: ewaffle Date: 03/21/2011 Summary: Disorganized and terribly edited “The Seventh Curse” has something for almost every fan of Hong Kong film. If the thirteen minutes cut from the version we watched was restored it might have hit the target with at least one scene—or even one shot—that would be just the thing for anyone who might stumble across it. There is very early Maggie Cheung--only her seventh film, and still more a pouting and cute presence than an actress. Her character is an enterprising reporter who hits a nurse with a brick in order to take her place and sneak into a crime scene. There is Chui Sau-Lai nude in two scenes, one popping out of a lake, the other posing on a rock and for mutilation fans she takes a scary looking knife, slices open the top of a breast and removes a magical talisman that stops the spread of the Worm Curse that has infected Chin Siu-Ho. The Worm Curse comes from the Worm People, a renegade tribe in the wilds of Thailand, the place where citizens of Hong Kong travel and always return worse off than when they left. Sibelle Hu is a nurse who has the magic antidote in a huge syringe she always has nearby to make sure no one dies too early in the story. It has Elvis Tsui in bright red lipstick; Chow Yun-Fat in full dinner jacketed Cary Grant mode with a touch of Roger Moore as James Bond; a bloodthirsty ghost baby with a long tail that has a fight to the death with a reptilian monster and the Old Ancestor who might be a first cousin to the Crypt Keeper but without the CK’s sardonic sense of humor. Human sacrifice and 100 children squeezed to death in a giant press round out things for the gorehounds and some very dodgy monks on strings make a poor show of martial arts prowess. There are bits from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Alien”—probably a lot more than I recognized. Any 20 minute stretch of “The Seventh Curse” is funny and engaging in a mindless way but the entire movie, even with the meat cleaver editing it underwent, is much too long to enjoy. It would be just the thing to cram into a two hour slot with interruptions for commercials. Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: dandan Date: 07/02/2008 Summary: eating spinal columns... wisely (chow yun fat) and dr yuen (chin siu-ho) are enjoying an evening in the company of dr yi (ni kuang) and a host of young ladies. talk soon turns to tales of adventures and dr yi is charged with recounting a tale featuring wisely and yuen... a year after visiting thailand, and getting into a nasty scrape with the worm tribe, yuen is visited by black dragon (dick wei). black dragon tells yuen that his blood curse had been suppressed for the last year, but he'd better get himself to thailand, in the next couple of days, to save himself and betsy (chui sau-lai), a young lady he saved from the worm tribe. after going to see wisely, the pair, along with rainbow (maggie cheung), wisely's annoying, journalist, cousin, set off to thailand. now, they have to face the worm tribe, the evil sorcerer aquala (elvis tsui), whilst saving both yuen and betsy from their curses along the way... well, i haven't seen a film, featuring the wisely character, which i haven't enjoyed. this is no exception. in fact, it may be one of the most enjoyable. now that joy sales have "remastered" the film, you get a reasonable picture, sound and subtitles that, although they aren't great, allow you to keep track of the narrative, which seemed to have been a problem with prior releases... the film pretty much tries to fit in a bit of everything; black magic and lost tribes, martial arts and gun-play, miniature demons and creatures that look like aliens (from 'aliens'), a fighting skeleton and some nasty worms. oh, and there's a surprising amount of rather nice gore, which always goes down well. elvis tsui does a good job of being evil, especially when he has his little ghost with him, whilst chin siu-ho and dick wei do a good job of running around and killing people with guns, knives, grenades, a bow and arrow, plus some good old-fashioned martial arts. although, chin siu-ho's sequences feature some less than discreet under-cranking that may annoy some people. maggie cheung has interesting hair and chow yun fat crops up, from time to time, to dish out advice and blow stuff up. in the end, you get a pretty fast paced, spectacle filled romp, which, if you're a fan of gore, slightly hokey effects and slightly ludicrous adventures, you'll probably enjoy. it's the film 'kingdom of the crystal skulls' wishes it was... super fun...

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 01/16/2006 On a trip to Thailand, Yuen Cheung is cursed by an evil sorcerer when he saves a girl from becoming a human sacrifice. She gives him an unusual medicine, but 12 months later the curse returns. He must return to Thailand to save himself and the girl. Spoilt brat Maggie Cheung tags along to get in the way, but earns her keep by bringing loads of guns :) THE SEVENTH CURSE is based on one of the "Wisely" stories from unfeasibly prolific writer Ni Kuang. It's an Indiana Jones style adventure with extra blood, guts and nudity. There's some great special effects for the time, a dash of action and a good story. Very enjoyable! Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/17/2005 This is one strange movie. It's part horror, part comedy, part supsense, part exploitation...you get the idea. If I was to compare it to another movie, I would say Evil Dead 2, but Raimi's work seems sedate compared to this (interesting) train wreck of a movie. It starts off at some high-class party (where a drunk and horny Wong Jing is among the guests) and Andy Lau telling a story to entertain the guests. Turns out he's some kind of doctor/professor/archeologist (the poor subtitles never make it clear exactly what the hell he does for a living, but he wears glasses, so he must be some kind of smart guy) who traveled to Thailand to check out a mysterious tribe. He runs into a beautiful girl and begins to follow her. The girl just happens to be the tribe's sacrificial virgin for the evening and being the hero that he is, Lau saves her, which pisses off the tribe. They capture Lau and impregnate him with some nasty worms which burst his blood vessels. The girl manages to save Lau (by feeding him one of her nipples!), but the curse is still in his system. After getting some advice from pipe-smoking occult expert Chow Yun-Fat, Lau heads back to Thailand to kill the tribe's god, known as "Old Ancestor" (which looks a hell of a lot like the creature from Alien, down to popping out of people's chests), with a bodyguard (Wei) and nosy reporter (Cheung) in tow. Like I said before, this is a train wreck of a movie, but it's fun. Wong Jing's touch is obviously in here; everything but the kitchen sink is thrown at the viewer during the running time. The plot is a mess (especially with the aforementioned bad subs), the acting is pretty poor for the most part, some of the special effects are incredibly cheesy...but this is one of the most unique films you're ever likely to see. If you're tired of the usual action stuff, give this movie a try. [review from www.hkfilm.net]

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 05/08/2002 Summary: Average Well, it is pretty strange I will say that. Though the story is confusing at times, and the acting is poor, there is something so weird about this film that it is fun. It's one of those classic 80's poor effect horror movies, but worth checking out. Rating [2.5/5] Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: metamovie Date: 07/18/2001 For a stupid adventure/horror movie, this is fun. It is awkwardly structured, with a lengthy flashback inside a flashback, and an early scene, irrelevant to the plot, apparently thrown in just to pad the running time. The effects start out good but get progressively less convincing. However, so much is happening and nothing of it makes much sense that it doesn't really matter. More about it: http://www.metamovie.de/film/7curse.html

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 05/08/2001 Summary: Ummm Another movie i thought i ahd already reviewed!! When i was young i saw this and was very scared now it's nothing!! Chow Yun Fat doesn't seem to be the main character and it's not all that scary but plenty of blood!! 6/10 Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: STSH Date: 01/06/2001 Summary: Rip-roaring fun First up, if you're a Chow fan, don't expect a lot. Chow jumps in and out of the tale, and is on screen for 15 minutes at the most. This is tales of derring-do on steroids. There are gun battles, spirit battles, drooling monster battles, weird black magic and sacrifices. There's even some brief titillating nudity. The lovely Chui Sau Lai provides a brief full frontal flash when she leaps out of the lake in a wet shirt in front of a surprised Dr Yuan, and she later takes her gear off in a more discreet full nude scene. Gwailo actress Chui Suk Woon also provides some discreet nudity. This is pretty tame stuff, and I'm puzzled as to why it is rated R (in Aus, this is equivalent to Category III). It should be Cat IIB at most. And if, like me, you like to know exactly who is who, this film is great. All of the major actors, and most of the minors, have their real names flash on the screen when they appear. In chinese of course. Very helpful if you're learning chinese names..... The monsters are pretty good by HK standards. They're made up of bits and pieces from all sorts of other movie sources. The "Little Ghost", for instance, is a combo of the hatching monster from Alien and the long-tailed beasties from Eraserhead. I found the framing of the story curious, although it worked. Extremely busy screenwriter Ngai Hong introduces the tale at a party, then the tale is told. And it wanders around all over the place, but doesn't suffer for it. Highly recommended. Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: hellboy Date: 08/28/2000 A terrific blend of supernatural horror and kung fu action. A pulpy romp reminiscent of a 1940's serial. The story is set up a flashback within a flashback and we are introduced to characters that have a rich backstory that is only hinted at, with the storyline from Seveth Curse being an episode from the many adventures of Dr. Yeun (and his mentor Wisely). The end battle between the two monsters is a definite crowd-pleaser! 8/10 Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: hokazak Date: 12/09/1999 Another crazy fantasy-adventure featuring the "Wisely" character [cf. "Legend of Wisely," and "Bury Me High," among others], played this time by Chow Yun Fat. These movies tend to mix fast-paced madcap adventure and supernatural magic/demons/monsters stuff in a manner sort of reminiscent of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" - but with some *extra* doses of the bizarre...

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 Beautiful maidens in mortal peril, men possessed, macabrecurses and bizarre rituals -- it's all here as Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun Fat injects some new verve into the genre. [Reviewed by Rim Films Catalog]

Reviewed by: spinali Date: 12/08/1999 Summary: NULL When explorer Chian Shiao-Hau visits the Worm Tribe in the wilds of Thailand, a witch-doctor infects him with a "blood curse"; within the year, he must return for a cure or explode. Young reporter Maggie Cheung (or is it Yukari Oshima) and Chow Yun-Fat ("an expert in the witchcraft world") help out, leading eventually to a fight against the Great Ancestor -- a flying skeleton with glowing eyes that turns into a Aliens-like monster that sucks out its victims spinal cords. It's a fun gross-out with crappy effects, and a terrific fight sequence on a huge stone Buddha. (3/4) [Reviewed by Steve Spinali] Reviewer Score: 7