REVIEW:
An incredibly poor offering from the great Chang Cheh that revels in cheap special effects and an ill conceived plot will no doubt disappoint fans of his Shaw Brothers films.

This is not a Shaw film or even a Venoms film as Ground Zero packaging would lead you to believe. Produced after Cheh left Shaw Brothers and co-starring only two of the Venoms in forgettable roles, "Nine Demons" is a feast of cheesy visuals with plastic skulls supposedly sucking the blood of their victims illuminated by overbearing disco lighting while Cheng Tien-chi looks on sporting a gaudy witch doctor suit and matching makeup. The demons who are controlled by a pocket mirror turned into the "Power Plaque" alternate between these after-Halloween sale skulls and eight young children bouncing off the walls, led by one young woman.

Even the English dubbing rates lower than normal with renamed characters like Gary, Joey and Johnson populating the film. Lines such as, "Baddies always end up hacking themselves for money" makes most other kung fu flicks appear to be masterpieces of screen dialogue. The sampled soundtrack is dismally familiar and even includes a bit of Vangelis off their "Blade Runner" soundtrack.

Thankfully, the martial arts itself is entertaining. The film's finale features a terrific series of battles on and around an impromptu bamboo structure spanning a mock-frozen pond. If only Cheh had stuck to the fighting and ditched the frighteningly bad supernatural elements, "Nine Demons" might have have been at most an average picture. This film can only be recommended to fans of grade B effects films that would surely make Ed Wood proud.

Two friends with very Chinese names (Joey and Gary) survive the slaughter of their family by greedy land barons. Gary, however, is captured, and Joey falls through a mystic portal, where he meets the King of Hell! He cuts a deal with the Prince o' Darkness, gaining supernatural powers and control of nine blood-guzzling demons in exchange for his eternal loyalty to the King of Hell.

He manages to save Gary after Gary's head is chopped off, and sets out to reclaim Gary's fortune for him, as well as deal out hellish justice to those who conspired against them. The nine demons he control remain dormant as a necklace of skulls until he summons them up, at which time they become eight giggling fanged children and one sexy woman. They then jump around, flip about, and suck the blood of Joey's enemies.

Gary reclaims his estate, but soon other greedy people are out to get him, and Joey has gotten a reputation as an evil spawn of hell, being that he is now an evil spawn of hell and all. It's interesting to hear people refer, in all seriousness, to "The demon Joey!"

Gary gets murdered a second time. Joey befriends a woman forced into prostitution and one of the murderers' righteous son to fight the second group of killers. Along the way, the woman and the righteous son (he also has a traditional Chinese name -- Roland) try to save Joey's soul from the devil. The finale sees Joey take on the traitors while they all skate around on a river! This absolutely must be seen to be believed. It's every bit as wild as the stilt fight in Ninja in the Dragon's Den, though not quite as exciting since there is a lot of wire work. But I mean, people are skating all over the damn place, flying, and doing kungfu while shooting magic rays.

All sorts of weird magic and voodoo abounds, as well as loads and loads of great kungfu. Chiang Sheng, long the babyface of all the Venoms, loves casting himself in the evil roles in these later films. This is one of those films that you really have to see to believe. All kinds of strangeness gets tossed at you. I absolutely loved it, although I'm still trying to figure out what the drawbacks are to being a minion of the King of Hell.