Seeding of a Ghost (1983)

Good concept, poorly executed.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

SEEDING OF A GHOST is another incredibly visceral slice of Hong Kong horror that comes to us courtesy of the Shaw Brothers studio. It's a film that might as well be called BLACK MAGIC 3 as it feels very much like the previous films in that series as opposed to something like HEX or THE BOXER'S OMEN, more contemporary fare. The film's protagonist is the excellent and under-appreciated Phillip Ko, who plays a taxi driver whose life falls apart when he accidentally interrupts a black magic spell by knocking over the wizard busy casting it.The film then slows down a gear to depict Ko's wife, busy having an affair with co-star Norman Chu. This goes on for a while and there's plenty of sex and nudity for those who enjoy that stuff. Eventually, Ko's wife is accidentally killed after being raped by a couple of street thugs, and he brings her back from the dead for revenge. You know the score here: there's a whole bunch of icky ritual scenes with a dead body, some outlandish and pioneering special effects work, and lots of weird deaths and decaying scenes.This film's major sources of inspiration seem to be THE THING, DEATH WISH 2, ALIEN, and THE EVIL DEAD. The FX are wacky and gross in the extreme and also very good. Ko and Chu are seasoned professionals and help to ground the movie; they play off nicely against each other too. There's a little action here and there although the main emphasis is on displaying the female form in its unclothed glory. The usual worm-spewing gross-out scenes are present. Things build to a mini monster movie climax which really does have to be seen to be believed; it's something else, that's for sure.

This weirdo tale revolves around lies and deception, lots of revenge, and even more black magic.When our leading star's wife is killed he seeks revenge by acquiring the local Voodoo dude. Who for some weird reason, was played by two dudes, which they tried hiding up that fact by loading the second player with tons of make-up....pretty weird/funny. Anyways, when Mr. Voodoo comes into play all the people who were bad to the wife prior to her death "will never know peace again", or something like that. And ain't that the truth.When you Seed a Ghost, you better know the results, because they're f@cked up. Just like this movie. And that's a good thing! With a high amount of nudity, some sex and even a fight scene for good measure, the movie delivers loads of entertaining qualities. It's like an action/horror/fantasy/comedy flick rolled into one. And when the end comes you're only treated to a sorcery fight with one of the most fun and silliest ending I've seen in a long time. There's a lotta blood flying.I've gotta mention the direction and cinematography, for a flick like this (and I say that with love), it had some pretty inventive shots. Definitely surprising.The flick unfortunately kinda dragged at parts though. You once in a while will realize that something entertaining hasn't happened in a little bit. But don't dismay, since the movie does entertain pretty consistently. And also, maybe fault to the writing, you just never really care for any character. But with a movie like this, I only came into it looking for the "goods" and that's what I got.Seeding of a Ghost is a truly weirdo hybrid of a flick that should be watched if you like to watch different movies. It's really a recommendable flick just because it seems to be one of the best this whacky genre of action/horror/fantasty/comedy combo flick has to offer. Definitely one of the most bizarre times I've had in a while watching a movie.

Perhaps the extreme cinema of the Far East simply isn't my cup of tea, but I can't possibly be as praising about "Seeding of a Ghost" as most of my fellow reviewers around here. Moreover, if it hadn't been for the excellent last half hour and the downright brilliant end-sequences, I probably would have rated the film negatively. "Seeding of a Ghost" is a difficult film to get into… It's all very hectic at first, with the introduction of numerous characters and the entire plot synopsis as described on the back of the DVD happening in the first 10 minutes already. Oh yes, the least you can say about this Shaw-brothers production is that it's a spirited and outrageous film! An amiable-looking cab driver accidentally runs over a sorcerer and this uncanny figure promptly informs him that very BAD things will happen to him as from that moment. He sure isn't lying, as the cabbie's wife starts an extramarital relationship with a gambler and shortly after she's raped and killed by a duo of thugs. The heartbroken cab driver, after being suspected of the murder by the police, attempts to get back in contact with the sorcerer and develops a plan to wreak havoc upon everyone who was responsible for his wife's death. The whole building up to the supernatural vengeance (which is, according to me, the actual point of the film) is very incoherent and contains too many redundant moments. Considering the available budget, however, it's an adequately made film with a solid director and fairly stylish camera-work. Even though you sometimes haven't got the slightest idea what's going on, you keep watching because it's intriguing and because you inexplicably know that somehow your patient will be rewarded. And, indeed, then comes the sensational finale that instantly causes you to ignore everything that might or might not had bothered you until then. The gambler's pregnant wife literally SPAWNS a grotesque and hideous monster that repulsively butchers a whole bunch of unrelated party guests. It's a non-stop series of splattering blood and guts and it kind of feels like a crossover between John Carpenter's "The Thing" and Peter Jackson's "Braindead". You don't have to be a horror specialist to realize there are far worse films to get compared with! The make-up effects are deliciously nasty and the smutty monster is a very engaging little creation. It's one of the greatest closures to an average film I ever saw and it forced me to rate the wholesome rather positively after all. Recommended especially to cult-hunters and other sick puppies.

SEEDING OF A GHOST is a pretty bizarre HK horror film about infidelity and revenge. Although the film is pretty decent as a whole, I didn't find it quite as gory or intense as many other reviewers.A cab driver is out doing his thing one night and accidentally runs down a sorcerer (talk about bad luck...). The sorcerer talks about a curse on the cab drivers family and the driver ain't really buyin' it...until his wife is raped and murdered, that is. The cab driver goes back to the sorcerer to try and enlist his help in exacting a little black-magic revenge on the thugs responsible for his wife's death, and things start to go downhill from there. The sorcerer and the cabbie dig up the cabbie's dead wife to use in a ritual to bring vengeance down on those involved with her death. The resulting payback sure is a bitch...SEEDING has some pretty decent scenes and a few gross-out moments, but not quite as many as I was expecting. The pace is pretty slow at first and the "cool parts" don't really happen until pretty close to the end. The creature that bursts from the pregnant woman towards the very end is pretty cool looking and is rightly compared to some of the creature FX used in Carpenter's THE THING. Not a bad film overall, could have used a little more gore and a little more action towards the first half of the film. Recommended for those into strange Asian horror. 6.5/10