In 1989, a Chinese-Japanese co-production filmed this timeless story, with state of the art set designs and special effects. The film stars Jackie Chan associate Yuen (EASTERN CONDORS) Biao in a lead role, and he even directed some action scenes as well. PEACOCK KING is based very loosely on the Japanese manga KUJAKU-OH, about a Buddhist priest born with the power of Mahamayuri (magical know-how). The original manga was an epic tale of occultism, and its too bad the story elements did not make it into the film; it would have made for a much better picture. Instead what we get is a Chinese B-movie version of GHOSTBUSTERS with some magic, kung fu, and monsters added to the mix (not that the mix is a bad one, it just does not live up to the original premise). Universe Laser and Video presents PEACOCK KING on DVD, with Tai Seng responsible for importing it into the North American market.

The film is directed by Nam Nai Choi who also helmed the Chow Yun Fat supernatural thriller THE SEVENTH CURSE the previous year. Mr. Choi is well versed at mixing Chinese traditional elements (such as melodrama and kung fu) with fantasy and horror themes, which make him a natural selection for this film. Besides Yuen Biao as the title character, Gloria (SAVIOR OF THE SOUL) Yip portrays Ashura, the daughter of the evil HellKing. Japanese actor Hiroshi (PARASITE EVE) Mikami plays young psychic Shinto priest, Lucky Fruit. Ken (VIRUS) Ogata is Lucky Fruit’s master.

The movie starts of off with a bang. During an archeological dig at the south pole, a beautiful but evil witch called Raga (Pauline Wong), summons a young girl named Ashura (Yip) from an excavation pit (which happens to be a gateway to hell). Raga and the Ashura are attacked by the excavation crew, and Raga forces the Ashura to use her demonic powers against the humans. So Ashura’s eyes light up and shoot mammoth fireballs at the excavation trucks, which causes a chain reaction of exploding gas tanks. This girl Ashura is known in legends as the HellVirgin,and is actually the human daughter of the HellKing (basically Satan).

According to legend, the appearance of the HellVirgin allows for restless spirits to appear on Earth, and signals the beginning of the HellKing’s return. So the balance of harmony on Earth is upset and ghosts begins to appear in various forms. In the mountains of Tibet, an old Buddhist monk named Master Ku Fong senses the arrival of the HellVirgin and fears the worst. He assigns his protégé, Peacock (Biao) to locate and destroy the HellVirgin in the hope it will restore the balance of nature back to normal. The old monk first tells Peacock to travel to Tokyo, where one of the gates of hell resides.

Similarly, around the globe in Japan, a wise samurai master named Ji Ku (Ken Ogata) senses the arrival of the HellVirgin, and dispatches his disciple named Lucky Fruit. Not only is Lucky Fruit a master of martial arts, he also possesses psychic abilities (no one dares to make fun of his name). He locates one of the gates of hell in downtown Tokyo, underneath a department store. At the store, supernatural phenomenon has been occurring, and Lucky Fruit goes there to use his psychic abilities to exorcise the place. Once there he meets Miss Okada, who helps manage the store. During the exorcism, ghosts begin to appear and wreak havoc with the building including killing customers.

Raga the witch is behind some of the strange goings on. As Lucky Fruit and Miss Okada are overwhelmed by the unearthly forces, Peacock appears and uses his own magical ability (and martial arts skills) to drive away the ghosts. So fate has thrown these three together to battle against the rebirth of the HellKing.

At an amusement park, they locate Ashura and discover she is in actuality an innocent young girl. However, she is under the spell of the witch Raga, who forces her to use her otherworldly powers for evil. Meanwhile, the HellKing’s horde realize that the team of Peacock, Lucky Fruit, and Miss Okada are getting close to halting the rebirth of the HellKing. and plan on stopping them by laying a trap. So the human troops loyal to the HellKing track down the wisemen Master Ku Fong and Ji Ku, to use them as bait in a trap to stop the unlikely heroes.

The final act has our heroes jumping through hoops and battling the HellKing’s minions. Peacock and Lucky Fruit use their magical powers to fight the supernatural forces, and use their martial arts skills to fight HellKing’s human acolytes. But before you know it, the prophecy comes true and the HellKing’s castle rises up from underneath the earth. Peacock, Lucky Fruit, and their entourage must brave the depths of the HellKing's domain, to fight for the soul of Ashura, and the future of the human race.

The film is terribly inconsistent. There are moments of brilliance in the film. But then there are these transitory scenes which ruin the momentum. For instance, there is a lot of cheap fish-out-of-water humor, like when Miss Okada takes the Buddhist priest Peacock and Shinto priest Lucky Fruit to a disco nightclub. This scene allows the opportunity to throw in some dated disco-pop music, while the patrons of the club laugh at the priests. Which may be funny for a second, but then Peacock and Miss Okada start to dance, and the scene goes on too long and hurts the fast paced narrative. There are other scenes in the movie where this sappy, terrible pop music really hurts the film. Had they had set the time period of this movie in ancient China, the film would have rocked! But the 1989 pop elements really ruins the credibility of PEACOCK KING.

There is an abundance of special effects including opticals, composition, and even stop motion animation. The results are mixed at best. Some effects look convincing, while others look totally cheesy. In one well done scene, the witch Raga transforms into a stunning SPFX monster. The transformations scenes are reminiscent of John Carpenter’s THE THING. The set design including HellKings domain is also well done.

There is some humor in the film, but it is either forced or in-jokes (lots of Jackie Chan references). But the cast and the direction definitely make the most of the material. But as mentioned, the script is highly flawed and goes into too many directions. The scenes linger on in the wrong places, and speed by when you hope the characters stay in one place. The beginning act is pretty good, the ending is good for the most part, but that middle section has some definite problems that even a good director like Nam Nai Choi could not resolve.

SIGHT

The widescreen 1:85.1 cinematography is a little disappointing. Usually Universe Laser’s widescreen DVD transfers rate in area of a 4.0 or higher. But like the movie, the image quality is inconsistent. In some scenes it look pretty good, and others it doesn’t look so hot. When the image is good, the transfer has decent detail, vivid color, and deep blacks. But then the detail level becomes soft, the colors muted, and the blacks look gray/brown. The special effects scenes suffer because of these inconsistencies. There is also a lot of grain for a 10 year old movie. I also noticed some pixelization and ringing in the transfer. You have been warned. The English subs appear beneath the letterboxed image and are easy to read.

SOUND

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is not the best I’ve heard, but considering the age of the film it is well rendered. The mix is somewhat active and particularly lively during the ghost attack scenes. Frequency response is good, though the bass is somewhat low (at least in comparison to Hollywood blockbuster DVD soundtracks). The Cantonese and Mandarin dialogue sounds natural and is limited to the center channel. The rear speakers provide mostly ambiance and reverb for the front soundstage. Unfortunately, all the sappy pop music is also in 5.1 and quickly becomes even more annoying because of it. But overall, the  soundtrack is the most consistent thing about this DVD.

FEATURES

The trailer for PEACOCK KING clocks in at 2:02. It is letterboxed at 1:85:1 and is in stereo surround. Also included are trailers for other films featuring Yuen Biao including ICEMAN COMETH (3:20, 1.85.1, stereo) RIGHTING WRONGS (3:00, 1.85.1, stereo), and SAGA OF THE PHEONIX (3:09, 1.85.1, stereo).

CONCLUSION

A big budget film which blends too many elements into one film. The movie combines high action, sophomoric humor, religion, the occult, and philosophical undercurrents. There are moments when there is no action at all, but when the action comes, the film utilizes some decent stunt work. Yet the film is flawed by its attempt to attract the mainstream (especially the bad Chinese pop music). The video quality is not up usual Tai Seng standards. I’ve seen older films which look better than this (such as 1986's EASTERN CONDORS)

THE PEACOCK KING is available at DVDEmpire

                                               Rating (out of 5):