Satan Returns
Its amazing how one actor can nearly ruin a film
that has real potential. This is certainly the case in this instance. Everyone
else in the cast is playing this supernatural tale about the Devil coming
back with a modicum of seriousness, but for some reason Dayo Wong acts
as if he wandered in off the set of a Lucky Stars film. His feeble and
totally inappropriate attempts at schoolboy humor constantly breaks the
somber and creepy mood of this film. He was just incredibly irritating
and I so wanted him to end up as an appetizer for the Devil. Well, the
film still had Chingmy to help compensate!
The Devil is using his vile servant Francis Ng
to locate his daughter that he left behind some ten years previously when
she was just a little girl. One would think the Devil could keep track
of his daughter but I suppose good record keeping is a problem in Hell
like everywhere else. So apparently, his poor daughter never received a
birthday card or a Christmas present or even child support from dad but
then no one ever said that being the daughter of Satan was easy.
But even though the Devil seems to have misplaced
his daughter, he remembers her birthday an easy date for the Devil to
recall of course 06/06/1969 - and so has Francis giving women with
that date of birth a test to see if they might be his little sweetie. Its
not an easy test to pass, but certainly a simple one. Basically, Francis
cuts their heart out and if they live it proves that they are the one Satan
is searching for. If not well you die.
Two cops, Donnie Yen and Chingmy Yau, discover
some of these left over bodies and begin the investigation with Dayo also
helping out. Ivy Leung volunteers to be a decoy and soon has someone on
the phone hypnotically promising her anything she wants if she only comes
to see him. It soon becomes apparent though that Francis thinks Chingmy
is the one he is searching for, but she is in no particular rush to have
her heart cut out.
If she is, Ng tells her, she will be the most
powerful person in the world. When a priest, played of course by Spencer
Lam, tells her that he knew her father and always thought it was odd that
he had 666 tattooed on the back of his neck, Chingmy begins to wonder
if it could be true. Maybe this explains how she got all those great roles
co-starring with Jet Li!
Parts of this film are quite well done quick
pace, interesting concept, and good lighting - and even with the extremely
annoying Dayo it is still watchable. One just wished a HK horror film
didnt find it necessary to so often include supposed comic relief. Chingmy,
Donnie and Francis are all very good in this. Donnie behind his thick square
rimmed spectacles is quiet, angry and focused with a couple of decent action
sequences, Francis has done the psycho turn many times but no one does
it better and Chingmy has many lovely close ups. Need I say more?
My rating for this film: 6.0