Constantly mistreated by her cruel husband, the frail Chan Sau-ying awaits certain death from tuberculosis. The new servant girl, Yi-wah takes pity on her mistress' plight and the pair proceed to drown him one evening. They dump his body in a near-by pond but Sau-ying believes that the man's bloated corpse has risen from the bog to seek vengeance.
Direction
Kuei Chih-Hung's feverish camerawork turns drowning into ecstatic ritual
Practical Effects
Grotesque corpse effects that look genuinely pulled from a bog
Production
Claustrophobic set design where walls literally seem to sweat dread
Director
Kuei Chih-Hung
Tanny Tien-Ni
Chan Sau Ying / Chan Sau Fong
Wang Yong
Yeung Chun Yu
Chen Szu-Chia
Leung Kei Wah
Shum Lo
Old Man Fishing at Pond
Lee Sau-Kei
Doctor
Hon Kwok-Choi
Ah Choi
Chan Lap-Ban
Medium
Lau Yat-Fan
Monk
Wong Ching-Ho
Taoist Priest
Yau Chui-Ling
Ah Chan
Lee Kim-Chung
Old Man's Grandson
Cheung Hei
Taoist Priest at Funeral
To Wing-Leung
Morgue Keeper
Mama Hung
Morgue Keeper's Wife
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kuei Chih-Hung made this during Shaw Brothers' desperate pivot to horror after kung fu's decline, blending Cantonese folklore with Euro-gothic visual language.
The 'hex' of the title refers to a specific Chinese black magic practice (gu) where female practitioners were historically accused—a deliberate irony given the film's male villainy.
HK
