Free hugs?
Seeding of a Ghost is a 1983 horror film made by Shaw Brothers, starring ex-Venoms actor Philip Kwok and Norman Chu.
Chow Tung (Philip) is a taxi driver a rather boring life, safe for having a beautiful wife, Irene, back at home. However, Irene is an unfaithful wife who had an affair with local playboy Anthony (Norman), and when Chow tries confronting Anthony over this affair, he ends up being brutally beaten up by Anthony, crippled, and publicly humiliated, while Anthony happily rubs into Chow's face after injuring him, happily gloating how he's entitled to have any woman he wants.
Remembering there's a witch doctor who owes him a favor some time ago, Chow decide to pay him a visit, hoping for the doctor to inflict a Curse on Anthony and his cronies for screwing up his life. The witch doctor's only available spell, unfortunately, turns out to be an aborted fetus from an unborn child, whose thirst for vengeance turned it into a powerful, netherworld demon. With Chow willing to do literally anything to get back at Anthony, he managed to convince the doctor to have the demon unleashed.
All hell breaks loose, BIG TIME, in this classic Shaw Brothers horror-gorefest masterpiece.
See also The Boxer's Omen, another similar film from the Shaws.
Seeding of a Ghost contains examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: The sole weak spot of the fetus' final form is it's shriveled, exposed head, which is hidden in the mouth of it's crocodile-like adult body. It takes a barbell being shoved upright into its mouth to have the head exposed long enough to be killed.
- Asshole Victim:
- Chow's unfaithful wife, Irene, who cheats on her husband and completely disrespects him because he's a mere taxi driver. When she dies by the fetus nobody would mourn her.
- It's hard to feel sad when Anthony gets skewered by the demon, since he's a womanizer who spends most of the film behaving like a dick.
- Batter Up!: When Chow Tung tries confronting Anthony over the affair the latter has on the former's wife, their arguement quickly turns into a fight that culminates in Anthony whacking Chow Tung's shin repeatedly with an aluminum baseball bat. For the second half of his screentime Chow Tung is shown walking with a limp.
- Black Magic: This is the source of the demon fetus' powers, after Chow Tung consults a voodoo priest for assistance to get back at the men who screwed over his life.
- Body Horror: Anthony's underling Peter, after getting the fetus possessing his body and having it burst out... of his back. There's even a graphic scene of his twisted spine and backbone coming out of his bare back, complete with plenty of blood.
- Boom, Headshot!: The Demon Fetus' final form is executed with a shotgun blast to it's sole weakness, it's exposed head.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Anthony is pretty much the catalyst of what caused the major conflicts of the film, since his affairs with Chow's wife and him crippling Chow for no reason other than being a dick is the reason why Chow would get the witch doctor to summon a demon fetus in the first place. The movie seemingly ends with Anthony fleeing the Demon's rampage after everything he had done, but five minutes away from the credits a tentacle fatally stabs through Anthony's back.
- Combat Tentacles: The Demon Fetus' final form has several of these, which are razor sharp and can smash through solid objects with ease. One of these ends up skewering Anthony to death.
- Dem Bones: The Demon Fetus' secondary form is a red, flying skeleton. This is the form that shows up in most posters, DVD covers and promotional materials of the movie, including the image above.
- Demonic Possession: This is the preferred method of the Demon Fetus to make it's victims suffer, including hallucinations and copious amount of Body Horror.
- Fan Disservice: Yes, there are plenty of naked bodies abound, when they're being inflicted by untold amounts of Body Horror thanks to the demon fetus.
- Genre Shift: The first half of the film is mostly a drama about how Chow Tung, a humble man whose wife cheats on him with Anthony, a rich playboy, and when Chow finds out about it, his attempts to confront Anthony leads to Chow being badly humiliated and beaten up. But then Chow remembers there's a voodoo witch doctor who owes him a favor, and decide to have the witch doctor help him get back at Anthony, and then all hell breaks loose.
- Gorn: All over the damn place, especially in the second act of the film when the Demon Fetus goes berserk and into an unstoppable killing spree.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The Demon Fetus' when it manifests a physical form for itself using the bodies of its victims.
- Hate Sink: Audiences can't hate Chow for convincing the witch doctor to summon the demon for him, since he's a jilted husband and a regularly bullied man whose wife cheats on him. They can't hate the demon fetus either, because it doesn't have a clear entity and is merely summoned to perform it's master's bidding. So the biggest sink goes to Anthony, a womanizer and playboy who convinced Irene to treat her husband like trash, openly gloats about how he's entitled to have any woman he wants, and actually beats Chow to a cripple after Chow confronts him over the affair, rubbing into Chow's face about how superior he is. Oh, and for extra scumbag points, Anthony is a married man himself, and his wife is oblivious about her husband having an affair.
- Hollywood Voodoo: Or Hong Kong voodoo. But the point still stands.
- Hope Spot: Twenty minutes before the credits, the Taoist priest Anthony consults decide to have a counter-ritual to offset the demon fetus' rampage. The ritual ends up causing the demon fetus to suddenly turn on it's summoner, killing Chow and the witch doctor, and seemingly putting an end to it's rampage. But it gains a second, much more powerful One-Winged Angel form.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Combined with Barrier-Busting Blow, Anthony tries hiding behind a door to escape the Demon Fetus' rampage at the end of the film, only for the Demon's pointed tentacle to stab through the door and Anthony's chest.
- Injured Limb Episode: Chow Tung in the second half of the film after getting crippled by Anthony via baseball bat.
- Magical Eye: A really disturbing example when the demon fetus takes over the bodies of it's victims, their eyes will turn red and green. Example here
. - Mood Whiplash: The first half of the film is a fairly tame drama with zero supernatural elements, no blood or gore, and is honestly quite your run-of-the-mill Hong Kong drama. But then the supernatural stuff comes in, followed by copious amounts of Body Horror and graphic deaths, and it keeps getting worse.
- The Namesake: The film's title comes from a scene when the demon fetus gains sentience and impregnates itself into Irene. Seen here.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: The Demon Fetus' One-Winged Angel form when it finally gains a physical body resembles a skinless crocodilian monster.
- Our Demons Are Different: The Demon Fetus begins in the form of, well, a fetus, but can manifest itself physically into the human world by assimilating victims. It gains it's first physical form by impregnating Irene, and keeps getting stronger from that point onwards.
- Palate Propping: The Demon Fetus' final form, resembling a giant skinless crocodile is about to chomp down on a woman, but Dr. Wong managed to stop it's rampage by shoving a dumbbell vertically into its mouth.
- Plot-Inciting Infidelity: The affair between Chow's wife, Irene and her lover, Anthony, is what kicks off the plot of the film.
- Poltergeist: Another one of the fetus' many powers. When revealing itself to Anthony, the fetus cause a stove cooking milk to explode, and cups of liquid to suddenly overflow until the kitchen is flooding. Cupboards began shaking and vibrating by themselves, stuff flies around everywhere, and when Anthony tries to hide in the nearby toilet, the toilet bowl regurgitates sewage and liquid feces up to the ceiling.
- Shout-Out: There's quite a few references to Hollywood horror films which are gaining popularity at the time this movie was made.
- The demon fetus gaining it's One-Winged Angel form via bursting through the chest is a clear homage to the Alien movies.
- The final form of the demon having numerous tentacles which allows it to ensnare its victims to assimilate into it's body, is a reference to The Thing (1982).
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Anthony's aunt walks in on him eating coconut pulp... which suddenly turns into human brains. She ends up getting sick and throws up her porridge breakfast onscreen.
- Witch Doctor: Chow's ally, a witch doctor who owes him a past favor, that he convinced to help him summon a demonic fetus to get back at the man his wife had an affair with.
