Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Boxer's Omen Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Shawscope Volume Two.

The good news is if you have a martial arts fan you've been worried about finding an appropriate holiday present for, your prayers have been answered (for the second year in a row in fact), by the thoughtful folks at Arrow Video, who are returning to the evidently bottomless well that gave lovers of a certain Hong Kong studio one of 2021's most impressive releases, Shawscope Volume One. The bad news is, if you're a martial arts fan intrigued by this new release, you're going to have to put the rest of your life on hold to make it through not just a glut of Shaw Brothers films, but an immense assortment of supplemental material. As with the first volume of Shawscope, there's probably no doubt that some films will appeal to some viewers more than others, but the sheer variety of films in this set, along with an authoritative set of bonus features, will almost certainly make this a marquee item for genre aficionados.

One might be tempted to respond to The Boxer's Omen with a portentous "This is your Shaw Brothers movie. . .on drugs". This is a fascinating film which in some ways might have been just as "at home" in Severin's huge All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror set as it would be in a Shaw Brothers collection, and in fact The Boxer's Omen may not seem like a "real" Shaw Brothers film to some, at least when compared to what might charitably be called a certain Xerox copy aspect to some of the studio's martial arts output over the course of so many years. The Boxer's Omen is actually a sequel to a film called Bewitched (note that the link points to a UK release), which in fact is not about Samantha and Darren, but a case of possession with deadly consequences, which in some ways at least the plot of this follow up also exploits.

In his "film notes" included in Arrow's insert booklet, Simon Abrams kind of cheekily states that The Boxer's Omen is "basically Evil Dead 2 to Bewitched's The Evil Dead 4K," though there are most definitely tonal differences between these two sets of films, with Boxer's Omen not really featuring any of the off kilter humor that the Raimi films do. Abrams mentions how both Bewitched and Boxer's Omen deal with one of the staples of the "folk horror" films aggregated by Severin, namely outsiders (in this case tourists) getting swept up in local folklore and traditions which then kind of suck them down supernatural rabbit holes.

There's actually a more traditional "Shaw Brothers" aspect to the film in an underlying context surrounding a quest for vengeance on the part of focal character Chan Hung (Philip Ko Hei), but what sets Boxer's Omen apart from many of this subgenre is the completely gonzo places the story goes after elements of witchcraft and a curse enter the fray. The presentational aspects of the film become more and more psychedelic as Chan Hung has to battle any number of nemeses, not necessarily limited to the human variety. This is an unabashedly weird, often dreamlike, film that may not immediately connect with audiences in the same way that some of the more "basic" historical martial arts opuses from the Shaw Brothers may be able to, but I found it absolutely fascinating because of its weirdness, not in spite of it.

The Boxer's Omen Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Boxer's Omen is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps all the films together on its page devoted to the restorations, as follows:

All fourteen films in this boxset are presented in their original aspect ratios (2.35:1 for all films except 1.85:1 for The Boxer's Omen and The Bare-Footed Kid) with their original Mandarin, English, and Cantonese (where applicable) monoaural soundtracks. Every effort has been made to present these films in their original and complete versions using the best materials available.

Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples of the 36th Chamber, My Young Auntie, Martial Arts of Shaolin and The Bare-Footed Kid were remastered by Celestial Pictures in 2003-2007, as part of an initiative to digitally restore the entire Shaw Brothers library. The High Definition masters of these restorations, which included the original Mandarin, Cantonese and English mono soundtracks, were supplied to Arrow Films by Celestial Pictures.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin was restored by Celestial Pictures and L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2020. Additional grading was completed at R3Store Studios, London in 2021.

Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Five Superfighters, Invincible Shaolin, The Kid with the Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians, Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen have all been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2021 and 2022, 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. The films were graded at R3Store Studios, London. 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 Matthew Jarman/Bad Princess Productions.

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

Excerpts from vintage 35mm feature print elements for Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples of the 36th Chamber and My Young Auntie and vintage 35mm trailer prints for Disciples of the 36th Chamber, Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen were scanned and graded in 2K resolution at American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and R3Store Studios.

Additional print materials were made available from American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), Harry Guerro, Scott Napier, King-Wei Chu and Howard Zinman.

This is a rather interesting looking presentation both from its inherent stylistic quirks, which are legion, but also due to the fact that some of the special effects and lighting and/or grading choices can make this a somewhat unusual viewing experience within the general Shaw Brothers canon. Things aren't especially mind blowing in the early going of this presentation, though the palette is still nicely suffused if somewhat more tamped down than it later becomes once things go full gonzo psychedelic. The film relies on a number of really interesting hues, including a number of tones in the saffron yellow to orange territory, but also more lurid colors like some bright, almost sickly, greens, purples and pinks. Perhaps surprisingly, then, detail levels tend to remain generally very good even with some extremely hallucinogenic framings and effects. What look like old school stop motion effects can show slightly variant levels of detail and especially grain resolution, but otherwise grain resolves nicely throughout.

The Boxer's Omen Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Boxer's Omen is the rare film in this set that does not offer a English language option, with only Mandarin and Cantonese tracks delivered in DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. There's a bit of a tradeoff no matter which dialect is chosen, since to my ears the Mandarin track sounded brighter and clearer, but it also had much brasher highs. The Cantonese track delivers much of the same energy but the harshness of the higher frequencies, especially in both scoring and sound effects, may make this the "easier" listening experience. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Boxer's Omen Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen together on one disc. However, after selecting Choose Film on the Main Menu, the Special Features then also change to reflect that choice. This film features the following supplements:

• Commentary by Travis Crawford


• Tony Rayns on Kuei Chih-hung (HD; 21:02) features another fun analysis by Rayns, who provides a lot of biographical background on the film's director while also discussing some of the subtext of this film.


• Extended Scene (HD*; 1:57) is a brief shot featured in what's described as a "rare VHS edition from Taiwan". It should be noted that this supplement's timing includes text information at the beginning and end.


• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer 1 (HD; 2:47)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer 2 (HD*; 3:06)

• Image Gallery (HD)

The Boxer's Omen Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It will be fun to see if either 88 Films' new(ish) US branch or perhaps even Arrow itself will release Bewitched for the domestic market, but Boxer's Omen doesn't really depend on knowledge of that first film to deliver its own often hallucinogenic "message". This is a completely peculiar film from any number of angles (fans of Phantasm are going to have a "WTF" reaction to the soundtrack, which also borrows from the likes of Jerry Goldsmith), and while it may not offer the same sort of constant in your face action as some of the other films in this set, it has its own distinctive energy. Technical merits are generally solid and both the commentary and Rayns featurette in particular are very interesting. Recommended.