Hex Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Hex Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 18, 2025

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Shawscope Volume Four collection from Arrow Video.

Things seem to have calmed down a little from the gauntlet I experienced toward the end of 2024 where it seemed I was getting a Shaw Brothers title (or several) in my review queue virtually daily. Arrow has been curating its immense Shawscope collections for a few years now, and they're helping to alleviate any perceived deficit in high definition presentations of the venerable studio's output with this fourth volume which aggregates sixteen more films from the Shaw Brothers canon (some of them previously released in other territories, though Arrow advertises new 2025 restorations for all of the films in the set). Arrow has packaged all of these volumes consistently, and this latest volume shares the same basic dimensions as its shelf mates (if you even have shelf space for such large boxes), and it also includes the wealth of bonus material that the previous releases from Arrow have offered.

For "rabid completists" who may want to peruse the immense prior volumes in this series from Arrow, please click on the following links:

Shawscope Volume One Blu-ray review

Shawscope Volume Two Blu-ray review

Shawscope Volume Three Blu-ray review

One of the things that is more or less obvious with this fourth volume of Shaw Brothers outings from Arrow Video is that the studio had moved on, or at least tried to move on, from its stock in trade as audiences started to decline and the looming influence of television became even more threatening, especially as the 1970s gave way to the 1980s. As James Mudge's commentary on this disc's "companion" piece Bewitched overtly mentions, the Shaw Brothers had an outmoded production ethos and it was frequently playing "catch up" to global trends during this general time period. As the studio started to move inexorably toward small screen fare, even their big screen efforts often had a low budget made for television ambience and both Hex and Bewitched might be pigeonholed that way for a variety of reasons, though each has some engaging content.

What's interesting about the studio's shift into horror and gore generally with regard to this specific outing might be the pretty clear imprimatur of Henri Georges Clouzot and Diabolique, as even Ian Jane's film notes in the insert booklet address. That said (and perhaps especially salient for those "up to speed" on the twists and turns the Clouzot film offers), Hex takes some unexpected detours itself, even if the broad outlines of the earlier film can at least be made out in some of the plot mechanics here.

Still, this is arguably a much more gonzo effort than the French classic, with some arguably odd sudden shifts toward comedy, and by the time there's almost a dance (?) infused exorcism scene capping what has already been a pretty wild ride, Hex emerges a distinctive if inconsistent film. The success of this film gave birth to a quasi-franchise, though the connections between this film and the other similarly named Hex outings in this set are tentative at best and maybe limited solely to that word.

Hex Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hex is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Arrow's almost overwhelming insert booklet lumps all the films together on its informational page about the transfers, as follows:

All sixteen films in this boxset are presented in their original aspect ratios (all 2.35:1 except for Bewitched, Hex After Hex and Seeding of a Ghost in 1.85:1) with their original Mandarin and/or Cantonese and/or English monaural soundtracks. Every effort has been made to present these films in their original and complete versions using the best materials available.

All sixteen films have been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2025, in collaboration with L'Immagine Ritrovata, Hong Kong Film Archive and Celestial Pictures. The original 35mm negatives for these films were scanned at L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. Super Inframan, Oily Maniac, Battle Wizard, Black Magic, Black Magic Part 2, Hex, Hex Vs. Witchcraft, Hex After Hex and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star were graded at R3store Studios, London. Bewitched, Bat Without Wings, Bloody Parrot, The Fake Ghost Catchers, Demon of the Lute, Seeding of a Ghost and Portrait in Crystal were restored at Dragon DI, Wales. These restorations have used the entire film negative without resorting to the practice of "frame-cutting" resulting in the loss of film frames at each negative splice point.

The mono mixes were remastered from the original sound negatives at L'Immagine Ritrovata. Additional sound remastering was completed by Þorsteinn Gíslason. The audio synch will often seem loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue and sound effects were recorded entirely during post-production, as per the production standards of the period.

All film materials supplied for these restorations were made available from the Hong Kong Film Archive via Celestial Pictures.

The American cut of Super Inframan, titled Infra-Man, is remastered using a composite of the newly restored Hong Kong version and selected excerpts from a 35mm US exhibition print. This print also featured a rare quadrophonic sound mix ("Stereo-Infra-Sound") that is featured here, for the first time on home video. The print, as well as 16mm TV spots and a 7" record with two radio spots, was scanned by Film-Tech Cinema Systems in Richardson, Texas. Special thanks to Lee Demarbre for granting us access to the 35mm print, and to Jarrod Varney for supplying the TV and radio spots.

The original camera negative for Bewitched is conformed to a censored version missing select scenes in the first two reels. When the film was originally remastered in high-definition by Celestial Pictures in 2007, these additional scenes were scanned from a lower-quality element as the negatives for them could not be located. When preparing for this new restoration, this element could not be located anymore either, so the scenes have been incorporated from the earlier HD master instead.

The original trailers were restored by Arrow Films from the original 35mm materials held at the Hong Kong Film Archive. Special thanks to King-Wei Chu and Denis-Carl Robidaux for donating and scanning additional trailers for Bat Without Wings and Bloody Parrot.

While this has a number of the kind of quaint anamorphic oddities that are mentioned in several other reviews of films in this set, some of the bizarrely skewed imagery seems to be by actual design this time courtesy of blandishments like fisheye lenses, which give the story an appropriately off kilter feel. Several extreme framings can distort faces and bodies in particular, with parts of the frame being in focus and other parts looking relatively blurry. Aside and apart from these stylistic choices, this transfer offers generally nicely secure fine detail levels on the costumes and sets in particular. The palette is nicely suffused for the most part, and some of the spooky lighting choices help to elevate the mood. Grain can get pretty splotchy and yellow during some opticals, but otherwise is nicely resolved.

Hex Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hex features LPCM Mono tracks in either Cantonese or Mandarin. The two tracks sound quite similar, but I'd rate the Mandarin as slightly louder and maybe a bit more brash on the high end, though you can clearly hear hiss on the Cantonese track at times that isn't quite as prevalent or at least noticeable on the Mandarin track. The film uses some very evocative music and sound effects. A few of the more hyperbolic cues come close to distorting in the Mandarin track. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Hex Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements associated with this film.

Hex Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hex should make for an appealing double feature (and/or triple feature with Deathtrap) for those either already acquainted with Diabolique, and certainly for those who haven't yet experienced that spooky Clouzot affair (pun intended). Technical merits are generally solid, though this film does not have any supplementary content, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.