Movie Review: Return of the Evil Fox (1991) directed by George Leung
The Chiang family has long been involved with Taoist mysticism. In 1991, Chiang Wu (Fung Woo) is the patriarch of the clan, and moves his herb shop and exorcism business into a mall in Hong Kong. The mall is alleged to be cursed, with 106 men having died or disappeared there since its construction. What Chiang Wu doesn’t know is that the mall’s lobby art object is the resting place of the Evil Fox Witch (Pauline Yuk-Wan Wong) who was partially sealed away by his ancestor Chiang Su-Su (Charine Chan) at the cost of having to place her own essence into a jade incense burner the Chiang family still possesses. The fox spirit has been devouring men so that after 108 murders, she can fully manifest.
Chiang Wu is distracted by other problems. His materialistic (and “Hollywood homely”) elder daughter Yu (Sandra Kwan Yue Ng) has started up her own rival ghostbusting service, younger daughter Yi (Charine Chan) is far more interested in her reporting career than in carrying on the family business, and trouble on the mainland has forced Chiang Wu’s blood brother to send his son Hwa Fu Chun (Gong Ng) to Hong Kong to live with the Chiangs. Seeing the sisters as adults for the first time, Hwa is smitten with Yi, who seems oblivious to his attraction, while Yu pursues Hwa, seemingly oblivious to the fact he finds her repulsive. Also, Chiang Wu is in debt to a loan shark, and has to call in a favor from Big Rope (Fui-On Shing), a former mob boss turned Christian preacher.
Oh, and there’s a Tibetan lama (Yi-Sheng Han) wandering about. He’ll be important later.
This Hong Kong horror-comedy is much heavier on the comedy than the horror, what with the romantic hijinx and pratfalls.
Good: Some nice action sequences, many of the jokes land.
Less Good: This movie feels more 1971 than 1991, both in the style of humor and characterization, and in the special effects department. The fox spirit’s briefly glimpsed fox form is clearly a stuffed toy, and for much of the movie, she’s in human form but wearing fox paw “gloves” that make her look like a lazy furry.
Yu’s pursuit of Hwa made me uncomfortable in both its blatantness and Hwa’s poor handling of the situation. Just straight up tell her you’re not interested, dude! Admittedly, Yu has an off-putting personality, but the script is clear that it’s her appearance (again, perfectly normal) that is driving men away.
Content note: Kung fu violence, a little blood. Some young hooligans verbally harass Yi. Yu brings up consent, “having sex with Su-Su who is currently possessing Yi’s body would be rape”, but in an entirely self-serving way. Religious prejudice, and conservative Christians may find the depiction of Christianity offensive.
Overall: Not a particularly good movie, but certainly not boring! This one would be good for a watch party with friends.
