Evil Cat – original title: 凶貓 aka Xiong mao – is a 1986 Hong Kong supernatural horror film produced and directed by Dennis Yu (The Beasts; The Imp; Sketch of a Psycho) from a screenplay by Wong Jing. The film was released on 1st January 1987. It stars Lau Kar-leung, Tang Lai Ying, Mark Cheng, Ping Ha, Shu-Yuan Hsu, Tom Poon, Ho Ying Sin, Hon Sang So.
The Cheung Family has been feuding with the supernatural Evil Cat for eight generations. This time, the Evil Cat reincarnates and possesses a tycoon’s body. Severe fights ensue in order to eliminate the supernatural presence…
Review:
” … there are some nice twists to the plot, a benefit of it being coherent for once, and the “anyone can be possessed” thing allows for a fairly fast pace – whenever someone is “killed”, the spirit just takes another body, limiting the down time. There’s even some surprising gore; at least two people get arms through their chests…” Horror Movie a Day
“Dennis Yu’s inventive angles and energetic editing coupled with Arthur Wong’s skillful lighting tricks lend an ominous atmosphere to an otherwise silly premise. Wong Jing’s script is a familiar hodgepodge of sex, schlock horror clichés, slapstick tomfoolery and themes shamelessly lifted from other better known HK horror films…” Andrew Pragasm, The Spinning Image
“With so much going on, the film is hardly ever dull, but that does not necessarily mean it is good. The violence and gore safely pushes the story into horror film territory, but the whole thing is too silly to take seriously, so no real thrills emerge. The cast of characters is rather generic, and the obligatory twist ending is so perfunctory it barely has any impact at all.” Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique
“A fascinating film that is also very scary. There are lots of plot twists but the final twenty minutes is especially memorable.” Thomas Weisser, Asian Trash Cinema, 1997
