Vinegar Syndrome released a double feature of two extreme movies: Devil Fetus and Her Vengeance. I watched “Devil Fetus” first. Released in 1983 and running 92 minutes it’s a disgusting, but low-budget fantasy/horror film. A woman has an antique vase that contains a demon which has sex with her. The movie does not waste time. Ten minutes in, there is a gross-out effect where a man has worms wriggling out of a wound in his face. There is a silly death caused by a cat shortly after. At the funeral, a devil fetus explodes from the woman’s body. It’s not clear if it was real or a hallucination as only an old priest sees it. After the ceremony, the priest tries to explain what is happening, but the explanation does not make any sense to me.
Seemingly resolved, the film cuts to a kendo tournament. The gross out continues with worms in a cake. It turns out the demon is still around and possesses a dog. The possessed canine is killed with a sword. Hilariously, it is argued that the dog became dangerous because someone fed it chili. It becomes clear that the demon can jump from body to body. It can also possess cars (?). The director casually throws in a little eating raw organs. The confrontation between the old priest and the demon is a bizarre fight that has flying puppets, fire, lasers, explosions, and teleportation. As the demon rampages, a man is killed by a room illustrated by a terrible crushed body effect. The final battle has some cheap effects and no consistent logic. The final minute of the movie left me scratching my head.
Devil Fetus has a lot of special features including a commentary track with Travis Woods, film writer. There are multiple alternate scenes from a censored version. There is a 12- minute interview with Hsu Meng-Kuang, who played the main possessed person. There is a lengthy promotional image gallery showing off a lot of the marketing for this film and of course, there is the original trailer.
Moving on to the second film, “Her Vengeance” debuted in 1988 and runs a tight 82 minutes. This movie is a straightforward revenge film and much less weird than its double feature companion. The opening sequence shows five men out on the town, and they are immediately unlikable. After going to a show in a casino, they are confronted by a hostess (Ying) about their disruptive behavior. They wait for her to leave and then beat and rape her in a cemetery. It’s an unpleasant scene intended to justify all of the punishment that comes later. Ying gets a new job at a small bar run by a wheelchair bound martial artist. By pure happenstance, she sees one of her assailants as she’s going into work. Formulating a quick plan, she flirts with him to get him alone. She kills him, kicking off a murderous quest to kill the rest of them. The gang that attacked her turn out to be experienced criminals who have successfully robbed an armored car.
Ying attempts a second assassination but only disfigures her target. She shifts to another gang member who films porn with extremely drunk girls. The camera catches a glimpse of her and now the villains know who is attacking them. This leads to the people around her suffering and a deadly climax where her and the bar owner booby trap his place of business, luring the surviving gang inside. The action is graphic, and the bad guys are true scumbags with no redeeming qualities.
“Her Vengeance” also has plenty of special features. The shortest ones are an alternate ending and the original trailer. There is a seven-minute video essay “her vengeance in four cuts”. It reveals there are 4 different versions of the film (2 category 3 cuts and 2 censored cuts) and an eleven-minute featurette on category three rape revenge films as a sub-genre.
The two-disc set has reversible cover artwork and an essay booklet with a lengthy piece, but it only covers the story around “Her Vengeance”, ignoring “Devil Fetus”. The films are color-graded and restored with studio supplied masters. The picture quality is very good and, in some scenes, spectacular. Overall, the movies are tough to watch, but in different ways. “Devil Fetus” tries to gross out the audience but also supplies enough wild scenes and bizarre choices that it is still a very entertaining movie. “Her Vengeance” is a rough watch for the rape scene, but the graphic nature of the movie cuts the other way when the villains are getting what they deserve. In conclusion, the films are not for the faint of heart but do provide a lot of entertainment.
