The Oily Maniac -
Shen (Danny Lee), who lives in sunny Malaysia and works for a corrupt lawyer, sees injustice on a daily basis. Unfortunately, polio left him partially disabled, so he can't do much about it. This changes when the father of his longtime friend Lin (Ping Chen) is sentenced to death while killing a henchman in self-defense during a violent takeover of his coconut farm. Before he's executed, he grants Shen the magical ability to turn into the titular monster, who's everything Shen is not: powerful, nearly indestructible, and with the ability to transform into an oil slick that can slide under doors, completely mobile. With powers like these, can he make injustice a thing of the past? That's for you to find out in this Shaw Brothers horror flick that's fun and strange if not a little pulpy and sleazy.
Fans of part human, part monster heroes like Swamp Thing, the Hulk and the Toxic Avenger are bound to enjoy this since the Oily Maniac is very much in the same vein. With his glowing yellow eyes, a costume resembling Bigfoot after climbing out of a tar pit and that roar, his appearance is as gross as it is awe-inspiring. The same could be said of the "transition" scenes, not to mention funny, especially when Shen sprays diesel all over himself at a gas station. As for the fight scenes, they're always fun, never overstay their welcome, and best of all, each one lets the maniac show off a different tool of his trade. It helps that the movie builds his targets up to be as loathsome as possible, my favorite being Shen's cartoonishly crooked boss.
Few things make us lose hope than when the justice system fails, but what would happen if we were powerful enough to put an end to this? Since it happens so often, could we keep going without being ground to dust? The movie asks this question in a way that's scary, weird and fun; in short, all the vibes I prefer in ones like it. That doesn't mean I like everything about it, though. Its HBO-like, "we can whether or not we should" approach to nudity never sat right with me, and Danny Lee isn't bad as Shen, but he's not nearly as charismatic or interesting as leads in most of the other typical Shaw Brothers movies I've seen. Also, the "special effect" when the maniac turns into an oil slick hasn't aged well. I still had a good time and recommend it; again, especially to part human, part monster hero lovers. Oh, and since it's based on a Malaysian legend - the orang minyak, to be specific - I got to learn something new about another culture in the process.
My guy (or gal): Hsiao (Lily Li), the law office's secretary and the movie'
s much-needed voice of reason.
Oh, and if this movie and
Yes, Madam are of any indication, never trust a man in a movie from Hong Kong who looks like this: