HEX is an intriguing and influential horror film from the Shaw Brothers studio. It was directed by Kuei Chih-Hung, of THE BOXER'S OMEN infamy, and it does feel quite low key and non-exploitational for the first half, especially given the director's pedigree. The story begins as a straightforward copy of the famous French horror film LES DIABOLIQUES before branching out in some very unusual directions.

The first 20 minutes or so of the film is quite slow and repetitive, but once it gets going there's no stopping it. The film lacks the star power of other Shaw Brothers productions but Chih-Hung is the real power here and his direction is stylish and efficient, with lots of creepy interludes. The story is a lot better than expected by genre standards with many twists and turns that you won't see coming. As a horror film, it's not quite as graphic or disgusting as other Hong Kong movies, but there are still plenty of memorable scares involving mouldering corpses and bodily disintegration.

Things gradually get more and more outre, building to an infamous, eye-popping climax which takes female nudity to a new kind of exploitational level. It's not a particularly funny film, but there are still some comic highlights that nicely offset the humour, with Yue Tau Wan's hilarious cameo being a real highlight. In the end, HEX is just as well made as any film of Shaw's, exuding a level of quality that films from other studios just can't achieve. Many sequels and rip-offs followed, including HEX AFTER HEX and HEX VS. WITCHCRAFT.

Shaw Brothers horror Hex, from director Chih-Hung Kuei, is a film of two halves: the first part is Les Diaboliques, Cantonese style, and the second half is crazy Asian ghost story with totally bonkers special effects, full frontal female nudity (more about that later),and a twist ending that I still haven't been able to fathom out.

In a plot that has has been done many times since Henri-Georges Clouzot's aforementioned classic French thriller, Ni Tien plays chronically ill Chan Sau Ying (Ni Tien),whose husband Yeung Chun Yu (Jung Wang) conspires with his mistress Leung Kei Wah (Szu-Chia Chen) to scare his wife to death. They do this by faking Chun Yu's death and having him return from his watery grave as a goop-oozing living corpse. This does the trick, Chan Sau Ying promptly carking it, but in a supernatural twist to the tale, the woman's ghost materialises to take revenge on the deceitful couple.

It all starts off very atmospheric, with Chih-Hung Kuei utilising his spooky mansion setting to great effect, with particularly good use of the neighbouring mist-shrouded pond, which adds to the overall creepiness. Subtle spookiness goes out of the window, however, once Chan Sau Ying is dead, and her spirit comes a-haunting. The wackiness kicks off with some crazy comedy courtesy of the workmen hired to dispose of Chan Sau Ying's furniture, with the obligatory cross-eyed character and a guy who pees himself when he realises he has spoken to a ghost. The spook then puts the frighteners on Leung Kei Wah, tries to kill Chun Yu with a meat cleaver, and scares off a monk brought in to exorcise the house (he sees the dead woman's severed head, and chops off the ghost's arm, only to have it crawl after him).

The even more bonkers final act features that full-on nudity I spoke of earlier: during a ritual to cast out the spirit, a woman appears buck naked (her skin covered with painted words) and performs a prolonged, acrobatic dance routine that, if it were better lit, would leave nothing to the imagination. After the gyrating, the old lady conducting the exorcism spits dog blood over the dancer's tits - not sure why, but it made me laugh. Then Leung Kei Wah (now bald for some reason) gets naked as well, and has words scrawled all over her body, before getting her ears pulled off by Chan Sau Ying (I'm not making this up - honest).

The film closes with that twist I mentioned: something to do with a letter, and possibly the corpse of a peddlar who Chun Yu murdered in his madness. I've looked all over for an explanation that makes sense, but I'm still none the wiser.

7.5/10, rounded down to 7, although there's a chance I might round it up if I ever figure out the ending.

I saw this for the first time recently. Got enticed aft reading few glowing reviews. This is so different from ur regular Shaw Bros films.

The film stars off similar to Les Diaboliques. It has unnecessary comedic scenes, but I did enjoyed the hide n seek chase sequence. The film does get a lil spooky, thanks to the nice cinematography. The lighting is done very well, the narrow lanes, big wooden house, dark alleys with bright light n above all a misty, greenish swamp. The film also has decent twists n turns but the unnecessary comedic scenes n the seven mins naked dance makes it a tiring experience. Somehow I found Szu-Chia Chen attractive inspite of her different nose.