The Oily Maniac

The Shaw Bros are best known for their martial arts output, from time to time they also dabbled in other genres. Since a couple of years their horror films are gaining cult notoriety, though I can't say they're on the same level as the more infamous Shaw productions. The Oily Maniac is probably the most famous one of the bunch, so it was time to give this one a whirl.

Sheng Yung is a young lawyer who wants to make a difference. His boss treats him like shit though, it also doesn't help Yung's a cripple. Desperate to help the people around him, Yung uses a spell that turns him into a fierce monster, as long as there is some oil around. As this oily creature, he finally has the strength to play vigilante, but it doesn't take long before others are onto him.

The whole appeal of the film hinges on the appearance of the oily monster, sadly it looks like a rubbery reject suit from a Toho Kaiju shoot. His special powers are pretty drab too, the action scenes are dull and there's absolutely nothing horrific about the film. At least there's tons of cheese, just not enough to turn this into an enjoyable feature. Not really worthy of its status.