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The Seventh Curse (1986)

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  • #31
    The new transfer is splendid. It was a delight to watch the movie again.

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    • #32
      I'm waiting not so patiently for my copy to show up from Diabolik. Very excited to see this in proper quality.
      Rock! Shock! Pop!

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      • #33
        If the handsome-looking booklet is tempting you to contemplate purchasing the more expensively packaged version of 88 Films Seventh Curse, I urge you to hold on to your money. All of the pictures are stills and promotional material of the film. Only one is captioned. Curious as to what the director looked like? That’s what the internet is for. The production of a film like this must have been wild. There are no behind-the-scenes shots. Perhaps you are looking for a cast and crew list? Well, there is a list of the folks who worked on the 88 Films blu-ray.

        There are three essays. The first two are by Matthew Edwards, one on Hong Kong horror between 1980 and 1997 and the other on the film itself. Both are rambling and repetitive. There are inaccuracies (Centipede Horror was not a Shaw film; Betsy does not slice “off one of her ample breasts,” it’s more of a self-administered field lumpectomy) and typos (sacred seeds, not “scared seeds;” expect, not “aspect;” evade the local Police Officer, not “invade,” etc.). Mr Edwards also alternates freely between referring to the lead character as Dr Yuan and Dr Yuen, sometimes in adjacent sentences. At one point he calls him Dr Yan, apparently to keep the reader on his toes. Stylistic and grammatical infelicities abound.

        The third essay is “The Blood, the Bad and the Ugly: Getting to Grips with Lam Ngai-Choi’s bizarre fantasy horror, The Seventh Curse (1986)” by Andrew Graves. I suggest you not turn to Mr Graves for help getting to grips with anything. While Mr Edwards can’t decide how to spell Dr Yuan’s name, Mr Graves can’t identify which character Dr Yuan is. This leads him to remark that the director Ngai-Choi places “Wisely at the centre of the action rather than him being the side character.” Unbelievably this error seems to arise from the fact that Mr Graves can’t distinguish Chow Yun-Fat from Chin Siu-Ho. Thus we read in regard to shoot-out in which Maggie Cheung’s character is introduced: “… the escalating tensions are shifted into the hands of Wisely (Chow Yun-Fat) …” All the while Mr Graves adopts a gallingly condescending and jokey tone to the subject. In a world dominated by the tedious and noisy Marvel “multiverse,” the Seventh Curse constitutes high art.

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        • #34
          Yes, I didn't bother to read the booklet after the Zeder one which was laughable. 88 aren't blowing their budgets on quality film writing, that's for sure.
          I'm bitter, I'm twisted, James Joyce is fucking my sister.

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          • #35
            Damn, I bought the deluxe version of Zeder too. I just haven't gotten to it yet.

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            • #36
              I've not yet picked up 'Seventh Curse' or 'Zeder', but the essay accompanying the 88 release of 'Violent City' is also quite poor - one of those deals where I found myself marking it up with my hypothetical red pen whilst reading, noting typos and grammar and "this sentence makes no sense?", "I'm pretty sure X was released before Y?", etc.

              The writers they're currently using are at least masters in the subtle art of filling three pages with text whilst communicating absolutely nothing however, which possibly explains their continued employment... slightly more presentable than some of the "shit, I know nothing about this movie and need to submit this in 30 minutes" classics previously turned in for them by an individual I'll refrain from naming, at any rate.
              https://breakfastintheruins.blogspot.com/
              http://stereosanctity.blogspot.com/

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              • #37
                Originally posted by mjeon View Post
                The production of a film like this must have been wild.

                Yup. I want to know what happened to that extra who absolutely got cleaned up by that out of control jeep. Surely that had to be a death on set?
                "Never let the fact that they are doing it wrong stop you from doing it right." Hyman Mandell.

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                • #38
                  armour of god's booklet features an essay about an UK based HK-cinema fanzine, that apparently was a big thing back in the day, but no one really gives a fuck about anymore, some weird "reviews" of ancient jackie chan nes games and an article where a guy discusses the tiny changes in the production logo of jackie chans film company through the years -- but not a single word about armour of god!

                  I recall waddell pitching the idea that "nowadays, almost everyone can write their own essay about genre movies" in one of their old booklets. seems like 88 loved that idea!

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