User Reviews

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Witch With The Flying Head; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.25 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.25

TOTAL: 6.25 out of 10.00

The moral of this story is - when an evil sorcerer comes visiting and asks for your hand in matrimony, grab that hatchet and give that necromancer your mitt.

I was a little circumspect about watching this flick; Hey, come on, you read that English title, so wouldn't you be(?) But I remembered watching Mystics In Bali, which contains another flying head and guts. What's more, I recalled I even enjoyed it. So with thoughts of a possible diamond in the rough, I settled down to an evening's viewing. The story is a tad different from the Bali one, and I may remark, it's more sincere - Truth be told, I prefered Witch over Bali. For one, the characters and their motives are credible and enduring. And secondly, it has a logical process to the bewitched living with the curse, and this is the one thing that floated my boat the best. Most times, horror flicks are not known for their rationale. It's not hard to believe that the sorcerer is infatuated with the beautiful victim of the tale. Though the writers don't state that he's been stalking her, I found if I believed this, it made the story near-perfect and clarifies why he'll cure her if she marries him. Not wanting to be a ball and chain to the evil nutter, she confides in her father about her new foul curse. He rushes her to the local temple and asks the monks for help. Regrettably, they cannot purify her of the curse or overpower the sorcerer. Not wanting to be a murderess and especially not wanting to hurt her doting father, she and her handmaidens move into the countryside and away from civilisation. But one day, a passing priest offers her hope of cleansing her of the curse. Alas, it requires an object the sorcerer possesses. However, he gives her the magic to make it a monthly incident rather than a daily one. Now she'll only lose her head on the 15th of every month - I prayed it didn't coincide with her other monthlies - can you imagine The Witch With The Flying Head And PMS? Will she ever free herself of the dreaded periodical scourge? For that answer, you'll have to watch the film.

The director isn't one of the best Chinese filmmakers I've seen, but he delivers an enjoyable romp through the supernatural. Some sections of the cinematography could have been sharper, especially the battle between the Monks and the Sorcerer. The segment cries out with missed opportunities - it was perfect for better composition, engaging angles, and quicker cutting. It's not terrible. On the whole, it works, though it could have been better with a few slight changes. And this is also the case with the entire picture.

The cast is fine, though, as is the case with the 1970s and 80s Chinese movies of this ilk, some of the actors and actresses overcook their emotional scenes. So when somebody cries, it's a full-on bawl, complete, with waving arms and shaking heads.

One of the things I enjoyed most was the fact there was no Witch With A Flying Head in the film. The poor beautiful lady with the detachable noggin is just your average pretty oriental Jane Doe until the curse hits her. If she were a witch, wouldn't she find it simple to lift the curse herself? But then we wouldn't see those tusk-like fangs that pop up (not down as with most bloodsuckers). Those buggers look like they mean business and would hurt like hell when impaling you.

I would happily recommend Witch With The Flying Head for a single viewing. It's one of those movies that entertain better the more imbibed you are. So, invite your mates round for a bevvy and a movie and enjoy.

Once your spine and innards snap out, fly over to my Absolute Horror list to see where I ranked The Witch With The Flying Head.

Take Care & Stay Well.

This film is all Pete Tombs' excellent book MONDO MACABRO promises and more.

The action more than speaks for itself. It kicks right in with the amazing sight of the young girl cursed by a wizard, sprouting lower-jaw fangs, her head flying in search of blood, with spine and guts hanging below. WOW! This film is only marginally cheesy or camp, a genuine chiller, in line with much of the Shaw brothers 70s productions. The presence of Taoism saving the day is a common thread in Chinese horror, too. The film moves fast, doesn't waste a scene, and there's plenty of blood and guts for the gorehounds. ****

The title creature is one of the most grotesque monsters known to zoophagousdom. Neither gorgon, nor utukku nor amphisbaena, it is rather a flying head, or undead being that could detach from it's trunk at will to swallow the living whole and has bloodthirsty tendencies, still having the spinal column & all of the internal organs intact! This aeronautical mooncalf, as depicted in this movie, can breathe fire, shoot laser beams from it's eyes, & even spit out exploding miniature disco balls. After a long night of blood drinking, the monstrosity floats back to rejoin with the body. By day, the beast is an innocent girl who's the victim of a terrifying curse, caused by a mass of fleshy matter, generated in the uterus, that lives within her body...

The origin of the Penanggalan (for such it is called) can be traced to the Malay Peninsula, it's legend tenuously handed down through the gauntlet of time, leaving us with only tattered remnants of its original horrific glory. Having full control over her organs, the dreadful cockatrice uses them much as the octopus manipulates its tentacles, yet this fact is often overlooked in descriptions. The Penangalian would use her entrails (primarily her small intestine, because of their length) to perform a variety of common mechanics, as well as using them to grapple with & constrict her prey. In the Philipines, and throughout Southeast Asia, it was said she would land on rooftops of houses where children were being born, signaling her appearance with a high-pitched whine.

The IMDb lists Féi toú mó nü as a 1977 production, yet the soundtrack blatantly steals music from other movies (a common HK movie practice) bearing later copyright dates, most noticeably THE BLACK HOLE (1979), CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982), HERBIE IN VANCOUVER(1982), and STAR TREK 2(1982) , and This particular film has never been subtitled into English, but is none the less perhaps the most accessible to Western viewers, with the possible exceptions of STREET RACING GRASUEH (Ta'ah Psushii Le'ak) & the more recent DEMONIC BEAUTY (Krasue). But this being a HK flick Kung Fu, Nunchucks, plus a highly psychedelic climatic battle between powerful Taoists are featured as well. And let us not forget the pulsating organs that are attached to the head, and the extremely brutal. blood-saturated showdown where teeth bore into flesh, knives penetrate intestines, and an axe chops into necks and hacks limbs off causing the red red blood to spray, and making this one of the most intense films from out of Hongkong!

My beaten-up copy of "The Witch with Flying Head" is in Mandarin,so the plot went beyond me,but here is the general gist:a young woman is possessed by evil sorcerer via his little snake.She becomes a witch with a detachable head that flies around complete with a spine and pulsating entrails hanging from it.This sexy witch preys on people sucking their blood.Fast-paced and vastly entertaining black magic/terror tale with a nice amount of gore.The action is filled with bloody deaths,crazy Chinese magic rites and incantations,not to mention martial arts fights.The soundtrack is stolen from "Star Trek 2" and "Conan the Barbarian",but I ain't complaining.Overall,I enjoyed this sleazy spectacle and I want another flying head's bite.8 out of 10.