3/5 Promising film but.......
  by Revenant Magazine (A zombie infested world)
This has all you might expect from a mystical Hong Kong kung fu movie: hopping vampires, big name stars who have the skills to pull off all the spectacular moves you'd expect in a film like this, humour (both earthy and slapstick), good CGI, well done makeup and special effects, romance, weirdness and yes the much hyped exploding zombie midget (granted I have seen far better exploding zombies but I don't think many people have seen an exploding zombie midget so perhaps I don't have anything to compare it with). The film builds, with effective changes of pace, towards an impressive grand finale and then ends.

Abruptly.

And then while you are looking to see if there is a secret button on your DVD remote labelled "play me the rest of the goddamn movie!!!" the credits roll.

And to add insult to injury alongside the credits we get silent snippets of the rest of the movie!!

And that all looks better than anything we have yet seen!!!!!!

So what is going on? Well the helpful folks at the US distributors (Tai Seng) have explained it to me. Apparently the producer's plan is to release the film in two parts in the same way Kill Bill was. However, it just doesn't really work as a standalone film (the first part is good but not that good) and just stopping the film half way through with no warning or explanation is quite frankly bizarre and ruins the whole thing.

So what do we recommend? Its tricky as this film does feel like it was shaping up to be a great movie but the ending is so frustrating I worry that it might have spoiled the whole thing for me. So with hindsight I'd much rather have waited for the second half and then watched them both in one (presumably three hour) sitting and probably had a great time but if I'd read a review here advising this would I have taken its advice? I can't say but thats what I'd recommend you do and even if you don't follow the advice at least forewarned is forearmed. ;)

Marks out of 5? Impossible to say really - we'll really only know when the second one comes out. I've given it a 3 because it has lots of promise but......

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Emperor - Revenant Magazine co-founder/editor

2/5 Evil Shaolin vs. Dead Taoist
  by Bartok Kinski (Prague)
I recommend tossing this one. While the movie had all the kung-fu Shaolin bald monks, outlandish Vampires, zombie spirits, and horror schlock, it just couldn't seem to get exciting. Not once did it ever. It's either an incomprehensible DVD or an irritating, inappropriately titled Taoist kung-fu movie.

This movie has no plot, no character development, and really no sense of direction or focus at all. It is a D-Movie plain and simple.

It's like they just stopped shooting the ending.

It was certainly disappointing.

2/5 It was OK.
  by Frank Dagostino (Long Island, NY)
Well, this was definitely a kids' movie. It starts out great, and within the first 10 minutes there's a "Lost Boys Chinese food" homage and an attack by dozens of undead that is fought off with Kung Fu and magic.

After that, there's a love story, a bunch of arguing between two brothers, and a lot of silly humor. There's nothing scary here and the director cuts too quickly in the fight scenes. My 10-year-old son loved the movie, but it didn't hold my interest at all. I much preferred Ong Bak and Shaolin Soccer to this.

Also, the ending is jarring and kills any momentum the movie had. The sequel might make this better, but it doesn't hold up on its own.


5/5 Demon World
  by Lu Feng
Like many of the other reviewers I wondered what the deal was with the ending of this movie. It was an abrupt ending leaving me feeling rather shafted. So I got online to figure it out. This movie is actually called "Demon World". You can get the full version, however unless you speak or can read Chinese it probably won't be of much help to you (seeing as it doesn't even have English subs). This movie is awesome!!! I love it!!! I am annoyed that this isn't the full movie, but on the bright side it gives me something to look forward to. I understand they are milking this film for all it is worth and I will buy the sequel. I wish the Chinese version had English subtitles!!! Oh well, I can wait. All in all this movie is really good and for any Gorden Liu fan it is a must!!!

3/5 Give Gordon Liu more credit than that!
  by wanderingtaoist (Kansas City, MO United States)
Don't get me wrong, Kill Bill is the ****, but come on! Gordon Liu is the Master Killer (one of the best kungfu movies ever made) he's the Drunken Master, he's the Shaolin that challenged an entire ninja clan. To boil his filmography down to "The Star of Kill Bill" is just painful.

Anyway, with that out the way, there are just plain better (i.e. older) movies in the genre. There are better stupid movies in the genre (Twins Effect) for example though that's not saying much. I agree with most here, the movie is just ok, the ending is wack (it's not even a well done cliffhanger) but OMG what a tremendous waste of talent in Gordon Liu. Hong Kong has made better films in this genre with less advanced special effects because the movies took themselves seriously in an unbelievable fantasy world by focusing on the characters and their relationships. Heroic Trio, or The Bride with White Hair for example. There was just a time in the 80s and 90s when Hong Kong turned out classic after classic and this could have been one. (But I still give props to Hero, Crouching Tiger and House of Flying Daggers)

Sure Liu's face is fuller, and he's not cut up like he used to be, but he's still got the skills. Ah well, it's still one for the collection because Gordon Liu holds the film together, IMHO, and I'm a Gordon Liu fan for life.

Hopefully Part 2 will redeem it.