Synopsis:

While US horror / exploitation film was endlessly regurgitating the worn and tired slasher formula (stolen from the Italian Giallo), the Shaw Brothers produced this exploitation extravaganza. It begins as a soft-core skin flick as it witnesses the adulterous affair, then becomes a tense stalk and assault thriller in an abandoned Victorian mansion. The husband gets assaulted by his wife’s killers but thinks they were hired by the lover to kill him! More bad mistakes and bad luck follow, resulting in black magic rites on the revived corpse of the wife, possession of the lover’s wife, epic battles between priests and sorcerers, and finally all hell breaks loose.

The movie engages in excess, but does so in a restrained manner. There is lots of full frontal nudity, but the actresses are presented in a flattering manner – except maybe when they’re dead or possessed. The plot makes sense (in context) and the climax is truly memorable. The special effects and even the soundtrack are obviously modeled after John Carpenter’s The Thing, and that’s a major strength. Though the movie does contain bizarre scenes, they are not the primary reason for its existence, as was the case with Boxer’s Omen (another bizarre Shaw horror released 2 months earlier).

The acting is fine by a large cast, especially the two wives, and all the leading ladies show quite a devotion to their craft (no optical fogging here). The weak link is probably the taxi driver husband, but he’s supposed to be a dork.