Hong Kong, 1994
35mm film, colour
A Hong Kong horror film directed by Cha Chuen Yee (Cha Fu Yi).
Credits
Crew
Director: Cha Chuen Yee (Cha Fu Yi)
Cast
Anthony Wong (Sheng Ming)
Simon Yam (Fung Shui)
Lee Yuen Wah
Alternative Titles
Awakening
Press
1996
Video Watchdog no.33 (1996) pp.9-10
HK stars Simon Yam and Anthony Wong have been mainstays of Hong Kong exploitation cinema for the past several years, so one might naturally assume their pairing in Awakening to be an outrageous culmination of their previous onscreen efforts. Instead, this meandering tale of supernatural revenge falls far short from delivering the explosive combination of outlandish antics and gruesome mayhem for which the two are famous. In other words, this is one terrible movie. After a strong start, Awakening quickly becomes a boring, incomprehensible mess, offering little substance in terms of story or gore. Whenever HK horror films lose themselves in their own convoluted storylines, their directors usually have enough common sense to distract the audience with some sort of outrageous display, but Chu Cheun-yee does no such thing. The results will no doubt send many viewers scrambling for their fast-forward buttons. – from a review (Video Tapevine by ES [Erik Sulev]
References
Periodicals
- Video Watchdog no.33 (1996) pp.9-10 – review (Video Tapevine by ES [Erik Sulev])
Books
- Asian Cult Cinema by Thomas Weisser pp.19-20 – credits, review
- The Hong Kong Filmography, 1977-1997: A Complete Reference to 1,100 Films Produced by British Hong Kong Studios by John Charles p.19
- Horror and Science Fiction Films IV by Donald C. Willis p.28
