The Jiuxian Witch and her Bloody Ghouls Clan (somehow you just know that these arent the good guys) are planning domination of the Martial Arts world. Standing in their way are two clans who posses a magic mirror each. The two clans enjoy friendly relations, but when one mirror is stolen and the blame seems to rest with the other Clan, suspicions and tempers run high. Its left to the young renegades from each Clan to find the true culprit or culprits, and to ease the tensions of their families. Not to mention ridding the world of the evil Jiuxian Witch.
I must admit to being totally ignorant of Suen Chungs work until I stumbled across this little nugget purely by accident. THE DEVILS MIRROR is a Wuxia movie made in 1972 when the world was going Bruce Lee mad and this sort of thing was becoming very unpopular indeed.
Nevertheless, this film has much to recommend to fans of the genre, although the plot is sometimes mad to the point of stupidity. Theres a twist near the end that left me breathless with incredulity for a moment things become almost like a parody (Im not going to give a spoiler, but it concerns Chief Bais leg a real WTF?! moment). Furthermore, the lead characters are almost entirely charisma-free, and their plight is sometimes hard to care about.
What it does have (apart from a three-eyed super-slut witch) is some jaw-dropping action for the day and some great production values. The sets (both outdoor and indoor) are fantastic and lend a great deal of atmosphere to proceedings, but suffer from over familiarity with other Shaw Brothers films (the bridge from THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN and THE WATER MARGIN features heavily).
Its also extremely violent. I dont remember ever seeing a Hong Kong film quite so bloody even the climax to HAVE SWORD WILL TRAVEL isnt this blood-drenched. I suppose it just goes to show that Chang Cheh didnt have the monopoly on fake blood in this one, even the sets are left dripping with it by the end. I would gauge my tolerance to screen violence as quite high, but even I cringed at one point where an assassination attempt with a blowpipe backfires and the would-be murderer has the whole thing rammed straight through his mouth nasty! Seriously though, it IS a bit much from time to time if youre not used to that kind of thing.
But this film has to be seen if only for the scene where the reluctant raiders (who are doomed to a fate worse than death due to being force-fed Corpse Worm Pills by the witch) storm the Phoenix Tower to take one of the mirrors. Its simply stunning and I doubt that even today, in our CGI world, it could have been done more dramatically. The fight itself is entirely one-sided, but thats the point rarely has a complete massacre been so entertainingly shot.
Its pretty hard for me not to compare this film to the films of Chang Cheh and King Hu and find it lacking in some respects, but the truth of the matter is that its got some superb moments in it. Just dont expect it to make a lot of sense.
Id give it a 7½.
Reviewer Score: 7
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