Starring: Lo Lieh, Chen Kuan Tai, Candice Yu On On, Elaine Kam Yin Ling, Chow Seung Wan, Man Yiu Wah
Director:Lo Lieh
Synopsis:
Ben (Chen Kuan-Tai) wants wealth and brings home a brain devil in a box, to be used in his black magic rituals. Along with a bottle of holy water, he knows he can stop the devil if needed. Unfortunately for him but fortunately for us, that bottle of holy water breaks. Let's get it on!

Stiff acting aside, obvious focus for director Lo Lieh is genre content but for the largest amount of time, there's no distinction as such. Oh, there's an amusing sound cue that gets repeated 150 times to accompany any "creepy" moment and the brain devil sights are quite wonderful but to rely on a sole gimmick seems a little modest. Enter Lo Lieh himself in front of the camera and The Black Magic With Buddha begins to take flight.

Playing an quirky, old exorcist, Lo amps the weirdness to very satisfying levels through plot devices such as him allowing a golden buddha to possess him, with some disastrous results concerning gravity and the whole premise of the brain devil finally gets taken up to full throttle level once our final battle begin. It's very welcome, showing a continuation of Lo's fine handling of quirky humour as also seen in Clan Of The White Lotus. From the extensive cannon of horror films from this year and era, The Black Magic With Buddha will probably remain hidden for some time but if you like what you hear, like what the uneven genre offers up, it's a sure bet. Chinese With English Subtitles. Fair Quality Print