This weirdo Hong Kong offering is a strange amalgamation of the traditional kung fu movie, the outrageous Chinese horror yarn and the typical 'edgy' dark thriller, so popular in the '90s in the advent of SE7EN and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. The latter two movies are directly referenced in this mix-up of a movie, which throws in a little bit of all genres to keep things entertaining – the only thing missing is typical Cat III style sex and nudity. Instead, we get a bizarre, barely-makes-sense kind of plot involving an evil cult (or man) named Judas, who's convinced that a female police officer is the daughter of Satan. Lots of chases down rain-washed alleyways and kung-fu action ensue, along with some light gun battles and an over-the-top finale which is worth the wait.Chingamy Yau is the attractive girl who just might be the daughter of Satan, and tends to get caught up in lots of weird visions and sees herself with horns in the mirror. Stealing his scenes is one Donnie Yen as the ultra-cool bespectacled police officer, an extremely violent man who shows off his martial arts skills in a handful of decent fights. Altogether the pacing of this film is slow and it tends to be a case of style over substance, with not much in the way of drama or action unfolding despite the relative excitement that the plot promises. It actually tends to be a low budget kind of movie, with the only big-style action at the end, complete with chainsaws, crucifixions and explosions. It's worth the wait. Something else worth waiting for are the hilariously incorrect English subtitles, which turn many mundane moments into comedy situations.

"Satan Returns" was actually a better movie and a better experience than I had anticipated it to be, as Hong Kong cinema are not really famous for their supernatural thrillers. Much less a supernatural thriller with Donnie Yen on the cast list.The story is about a satanic zealot named Judas (played by Francis Ng) who is killing women in his search to find Satan's daughter. And hot on his trail are the police with Mo Tin Nam (played by Donnie Yen) and Ka-Ming (played by Chi Wah Wong) leading the investigation. And Judas's next target is Chan Shou-Ching (played by Chingmy Yau).I will say that it was nice to see a story like this from the Hong Kong cinema vault, and they actually pulled it off well enough, despite the story being sort of religious rubbish. But still, it is only entertainment, and in that aspect it worked out well enough. Sadly, though, then the movie wasn't particularly thrilling or fascinating, it was downright predictable.The movie had some really good names to the cast list. And it was nice to see Chingmy Yau stand out from that semi-erotic shadow of "Naked Killer" that she have been casting for a long, long time. It was sort of odd actually to see Donnie Yen in a movie of this type, as it is not normally what he makes. And the movie was really carried by Francis Ng's performance, and he really outclassed Donnie Yen acting-wise by miles.If you are fed up with the typical action movies that comes from Hong Kong and enjoy supernatural thrillers, then "Satan Returns" might be right what you are looking for. Just bear in mind that the movie is predictable and sort of fails be build up much excitement and thrills.And as for the title of the movie, "Satan Returns", what was up with that? Where did he return from? Vacationing? But more importantly, he didn't return to make an appearance in this movie.

Hyped as China's "answer" to Fincher's SEVEN; there's a scene where The Law run down a rain-soaked alley, a killer making use of a Biblical Motive and - well, that's about where the "connection" ends. Occult Scholar (??) seeks series of women with 6/6/69 birthdates in order to remove their hearts - any victim who survives the surgery, proves herself to be The Devil's Daughter. Usual HK buffet: martial arts (snore...), slapstick, noxious women, and, when all else fails, throw in some genital humour. It must be said, that zombie cops cut apart via chainsaw & a nailgun crucifixion are a tad more exciting than Paltrow's head in a box. Plus, a bonus "shock" ending. Basically, a feature length indictment of Chinese Law Enforcement. As one subtitled villain quips "Damn It! Go Eat S***!" Translation: rent a Cat III title instead.

Satan Returns ("starring the babe from Naked Killer!" screams the tag-line) is very clearly modelled on Se7en: the dark, jumpy look-and-feel is faithfully reproduced. At one point, a character suggests that the killer has "seen Se7en". But the similarity ends there. Satan Returns is a film that could only ever be produced in Hong Kong: it is a demonic thriller featuring kung-fu, gunfights, sex, zombies, and the kitchen sink. It's all very entertaining (although ludicrous) stuff. At times, it even manages to be scary. See it to believe it.