Angel Hunter
One film subject that always gives me the creeps
is satanic worship. This is just something that makes my skin crawl if
done well. This film makes a stab at it, but unfortunately doesn’t really
go for it and instead falls back on some tasteless humor and conventional
action. It’s a pity because the potential was there and for a little while
the promise of a creepy film seemed hopeful. There is also a perfect cast
that could have definitely given a good script the justice it deserved,
but they are largely wasted here.
A schoolgirl is in the morgue after committing
suicide and the school counselor, Lau Ching-Wan, comes to view the body.
He notices that around her neck is a charm that is a “Heresy” sign and
he decides to look further into what led up to her death.
Vivian Chow was a friend of the girl and feels
terribly depressed by her death and by the meaninglessness in her own life.
She cries out something to the effect that 1997 is coming and that there
is no reason to hope any more. Carrie Ng comes looking for her and tells
her that her friend was a member of their church and that they would love
to have Vivian attend a service for her friend.
This of course turns out to be a satanic cult
led by the very pale and malevolent looking Anthony Wong. They play a tape
of her friend saying that she was happy to die for her religion, but instead
of being repulsed by all of this, Vivian is sucked into the cult and the
worship of Wong.
Lau Ching-wan learns of this and along with
Ng Man-Tat tries to free her of Wong’s influence and destroy this evil
cult. Vivian’s character is actually the best thing about this. On the
surface she is sweet and lovely, but she has no desire to break away from
the cult and instead finds comfort in the communal feeling and the orgies
that take place during Black Mass.
The film breaks down though about halfway through,
as it appears that they just didn’t know where to go with it. So it simply
becomes an action film as Lau goes after them with a gun. Too bad because
there were some moments that made my skin tingle such as Carrie and her
young daughter hiding their worshipping of Satan from her husband.
My rating for this film: 5.5