“Evil Cat” Poster
Director: Dennis Yu
Cast: Lau Kar-Leung, Joann Tang Lai-Ying, Mark Cheng Ho-Nam, Wong Jing, Hsu Shu-Yuen, Stuart Ong, Tom Poon Chun-Wai, Teresa Ha Ping
Running Time: 91 min.
By Z Ravas
A textbook example of the free-spirited Hong Kong genre medley, one of those movies like A Chinese Ghost Story or Mr. Vampire that willfully tosses action, horror, and comedy into a blender and sees what results. The plot of Evil Cat (‘plot’ may be a loose word here) concerns Lau Kar-leung as the latest descendent in a long line of demon hunters who are meant to stop the monstrous Evil Cat as it attempts to break free from its prison and possess humanity every fifty years. There’s one wrinkle: his character is suffering from liver cancer and has just days to live with no male heirs in sight. When the Evil Cat is liberated and begins hopping from body to body a la The Hidden (which coincidentally released the same year), Lau Kar-leung is forced to team up with Mark Cheng’s corporate driver in an attempt to put the finish on the feline demon.
Evil Cat is a fun movie that still somehow never seems quite as fun as the sum of its parts. I point the finger at Wong Jing. I know, I know: likely target, right? The divisive filmmaker has long been notorious for his sophomoric humor and crude sensibility; at least on Evil Cat, he was only responsible for the script while directing duties went to Dennis Yu (The Imp). Truthfully, the movie isn’t nearly as scatalogical in its focus as many of Wong Jing’s other efforts (amazingly, there are no jokes about AIDs), but it is hindered by a sense of stop-start pacing, this feeling like the plot is consistently stuck in third gear. For one thing, there are a bunch of cliche horror movie scenes that seem like they’re only here to help pad out the runtime—long shots of characters wandering by themselves through empty corridors, stairwells, and hallways while some menace lurks just offscreen.
It’s a shame that this script only intermittently comes to life because when Evil Cat is at its most delirious, it’s quite a good time: like the scene where Mark Cheng drives into roadside objects as his Evil Cat-controlled boss clings to the hood of his car (the way that people possessed by the Evil Cat roar like a jungle lion is never less than amusing too) or the climax where the Evil Cat goes on a Terminator-style rampage through a police station, swiping off heads and punching through torsos with feral strength. If director Dennis Yu had summoned that same madcap energy more consistently throughout the film’s runtime, Evil Cat could have been up there with Mr. Vampire III or, heck, The Cat as one of those gonzo Hong Kong movies you just have to recommend to viewers in search of an off-kilter genre transmission. As it is, the movie is still worth a watch for those moments when its elements of horror, comedy, and martial arts are all working in tandem.
Evil Cat appears to be part of Shout Studios’ acquisition of 156 Hong Kong films known as the Golden Princess Collection. Unlike their high-profile, 4K UHD versions of classics like City on Fire and The Killer, it seems that no physical release of Evil Cat is planned—and somewhat understandably so, as its appeal is admittedly much more niche. Instead, Shout has licensed the title out so it’s available to rent or purchase in HD on major services like Apple and Amazon. I watched it streaming from the Criterion Channel, but I will caution that the visual quality was rather poor; the movie looked upscaled from a standard definition source. I felt like I was watching one of those old Tai Seng DVDs from back in the day. Nostalgia can be a hell of a drug, but I have to say I’m glad that many of these older Hong Kong titles are finally getting the restoration they deserve. You can consider Evil Cat one for the oldheads and die-hards who thrive when exploring the more offbeat corners of international cinema.
Z Ravas’ Rating: 6.5/10
