The Evil Cult (aka “Lord of the Wu Tang”) is a wildly and wacky supernatural epic in which Jet Li masquerades as Mo-kei, a weakling warrior orphaned as a child when his parents are killed by two evil Jinx warlords. Chased out of the Wu Tang compound by a leader who considers him a liability, Mo-kei (and his female protectress) find themselves trapped in a dark abyss where they stumble upon a “cooking monk” trapped in a massive boulder who holds the secret to a lost form of Shaolin kung fu. They trick him into teaching Mo-kei the secret of his “solar stance”. Newly empowered, Mo-kei sets off to find his maternal grandfather, King of the Gold Lion (de facto leader of the Evil Cult), to rally his clan with the Wu Tang in order to defeat the stifling government forces and exact revenge on the terrible Jinxes. Martial Law‘s Sammo Hung appears as Chang San Fung, Tai Chi Master of the Wu Tang clan (Hung also choreographed the action sequences for this film). Director Wong Jing (who also helmed the God of Gamblers series, Hard Boiled 2, and Return to a Better Tomorrow) just about keeps a handle on the plot and ably directs the stunning action sequences, some of which occur on battlefields swarming with soldiers.

On the DVD: the main feature is presented in letterboxed format with original Cantonese dialogue and English subtitles. The print is generally of good quality but afflicted with blemishes and white flecks throughout. The subtitles are clear but their awkward translation and speed of transition serve at times to make an already convoluted plot harder to understand. It’s a shame that an option to listen to a dubbed soundtrack wasn’t added as the dubbed theatrical trailer (included here) enhances the daffiness of the movie. Other extras include comprehensive cast and crew filmographies and a small selection of stills. –Chris Campion

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The Evil Cult (aka “Lord of the Wu Tang”) is a wildly and wacky supernatural epic in which Jet Li masquerades as Mo-kei, a weakling warrior orphaned as a child when his parents are killed by two evil Jinx warlords. Chased out of the Wu Tang compound by a leader who considers him a liability, Mo-kei (and his female protectress) find themselves trapped in a dark abyss where they stumble upon a “cooking monk” trapped in a massive boulder who holds the secret to a lost form of Shaolin kung fu. They trick him into teaching Mo-kei the secret of his “solar stance”. Newly empowered, Mo-kei sets off to find his maternal grandfather, King of the Gold Lion (de facto leader of the Evil Cult), to rally his clan with the Wu Tang in order to defeat the stifling government forces and exact revenge on the terrible Jinxes. Martial Law‘s Sammo Hung appears as Chang San Fung, Tai Chi Master of the Wu Tang clan (Hung also choreographed the action sequences for this film). Director Wong Jing (who also helmed the God of Gamblers series, Hard Boiled 2, and Return to a Better Tomorrow) just about keeps a handle on the plot and ably directs the stunning action sequences, some of which occur on battlefields swarming with soldiers.

On the DVD: the main feature is presented in letterboxed format with original Cantonese dialogue and English subtitles. The print is generally of good quality but afflicted with blemishes and white flecks throughout. The subtitles are clear but their awkward translation and speed of transition serve at times to make an already convoluted plot harder to understand. It’s a shame that an option to listen to a dubbed soundtrack wasn’t added as the dubbed theatrical trailer (included here) enhances the daffiness of the movie. Other extras include comprehensive cast and crew filmographies and a small selection of stills. –Chris Campion

Evil Cult [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] <- Read More

The Evil Cult (aka “Lord of the Wu Tang”) is a wildly and wacky supernatural epic in which Jet Li masquerades as Mo-kei, a weakling warrior orphaned as a child when his parents are killed by two evil Jinx warlords. Chased out of the Wu Tang compound by a leader who considers him a liability, Mo-kei (and his female protectress) find themselves trapped in a dark abyss where they stumble upon a “cooking monk” trapped in a massive boulder who holds the secret to a lost form of Shaolin kung fu. They trick him into teaching Mo-kei the secret of his “solar stance”. Newly empowered, Mo-kei sets off to find his maternal grandfather, King of the Gold Lion (de facto leader of the Evil Cult), to rally his clan with the Wu Tang in order to defeat the stifling government forces and exact revenge on the terrible Jinxes. Martial Law‘s Sammo Hung appears as Chang San Fung, Tai Chi Master of the Wu Tang clan (Hung also choreographed the action sequences for this film). Director Wong Jing (who also helmed the God of Gamblers series, Hard Boiled 2, and Return to a Better Tomorrow) just about keeps a handle on the plot and ably directs the stunning action sequences, some of which occur on battlefields swarming with soldiers.

On the DVD: the main feature is presented in letterboxed format with original Cantonese dialogue and English subtitles. The print is generally of good quality but afflicted with blemishes and white flecks throughout. The subtitles are clear but their awkward translation and speed of transition serve at times to make an already convoluted plot harder to understand. It’s a shame that an option to listen to a dubbed soundtrack wasn’t added as the dubbed theatrical trailer (included here) enhances the daffiness of the movie. Other extras include comprehensive cast and crew filmographies and a small selection of stills. –Chris Campion

Evil Cult [VHS] – Read More

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The Evil Cult (aka “Lord of the Wu Tang”) is a wildly and wacky supernatural epic in which Jet Li masquerades as Mo-kei, a weakling warrior orphaned as a child when his parents are killed by two evil Jinx warlords. Chased out of the Wu Tang compound by a leader who considers him a liability, Mo-kei (and his female protectress) find themselves trapped in a dark abyss where they stumble upon a “cooking monk” trapped in a massive boulder who holds the secret to a lost form of Shaolin kung fu. They trick him into teaching Mo-kei the secret of his “solar stance”. Newly empowered, Mo-kei sets off to find his maternal grandfather, King of the Gold Lion (de facto leader of the Evil Cult), to rally his clan with the Wu Tang in order to defeat the stifling government forces and exact revenge on the terrible Jinxes. Martial Law‘s Sammo Hung appears as Chang San Fung, Tai Chi Master of the Wu Tang clan (Hung also choreographed the action sequences for this film). Director Wong Jing (who also helmed the God of Gamblers series, Hard Boiled 2, and Return to a Better Tomorrow) just about keeps a handle on the plot and ably directs the stunning action sequences, some of which occur on battlefields swarming with soldiers.

On the DVD: the main feature is presented in letterboxed format with original Cantonese dialogue and English subtitles. The print is generally of good quality but afflicted with blemishes and white flecks throughout. The subtitles are clear but their awkward translation and speed of transition serve at times to make an already convoluted plot harder to understand. It’s a shame that an option to listen to a dubbed soundtrack wasn’t added as the dubbed theatrical trailer (included here) enhances the daffiness of the movie. Other extras include comprehensive cast and crew filmographies and a small selection of stills. –Chris Campion

Evil Cult [DVD] [1993]

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Amazon.co.uk Review
In Transformers: The Movie it’s the year 2005, and the universe is going right down the toilet. Not only have the heroic Autobots lost their homeworld of Cybertron to the evil Decepticons, a giant metallic planet named Unicron is on the prowl, treating solar systems like a gigantic buffet and gunning for the Autobots’ matrix of leadership. Fortunately, struggling against the odds is what heroes do best, and it is indeed hard to keep a good robot down. As the battle rages from space to earth and back into space again, characters die, others are reborn and, ultimately, good must face evil in a climactic battle for the fate of the universe. When this animated film arrived in American cinemas in the mid-1980s, the Transformers–both the robot toys and the television show–were at the height of their popularity. Transformers The Movie took these battling ‘bots and, er, transformed them into film stars, albeit of the cult variety. The animation is a bit touch-and-go: at its best, it’s up there with classic Japanese manga; at it’s worst, it reeks of horrible 80s assembly-line productions. And the plot is little more than an advert for the (then) new toys, many of which show up as main characters in the film (Hot Rod, Kup, Ultra Magnus, Galvatron, etc). However, some of the action sequences are indeed spectacular–especially the battle for Autobot City–and the violence is a bit intense for what is, basically, a kid’s film (they may just be robots, but they still die, apparently). What really makes this film more than meets the eye, though, is the names who show up as voices in the credits: Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson, Robert Stack, Eric Idle and even Orson Welles, in one of his last roles, as Unicron.

On the DVD: In order to please the growing numbers of hardcore Transformers fans out there, the DVD version of Transformers: The Movie has been beefed up with loads of extra features: the original theatrical trailer, introductory footage taken from the BBC’s I Love 1984 and a picture gallery with music are all excellent additions, but best of all is Takara’s “The Four Soldiers from the Sky”. Though the dubbing and translation are a bit poor, it’s still a rare opportunity to see a Transformers episode that never aired outside of Japan.–Robert Burrow

The Transformers: The Movie

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