''Satan Returns'' is a 1996 Hong Kong

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

directed by Lam Wai-lun and starring

Donnie Yen Donnie Yen Chi-tan (; born 27 July 1963) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and action director. Yen is one of Hong Kong's top action stars. Yen is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts (MMA) into the mainstream Asian cinema by cho ...

Chingmy Yau Chingmy Yau Suk-zing (born 16 May 1968) is a retired Hong Kong actress. Background She entered the Hong Kong film industry after competing secondary school in the 1987 Miss Hong Kong Beauty Pageant. She was one of the leading actresses in the ...

Kingdom Yuen Kingdom Yuen King-dan (苑瓊丹; born 11 September 1963) is a Hong Kong actress with a long history working with TVB. Life and career Kingdom was born in Hong Kong, her father was an ivory carver. She started her acting career with HK ATV during ...

Francis Ng Francis Ng Chun-yu (; born 21 December 1961) is a Hong Kong actor and director. He is known for his roles in the TVB series '' Triumph in the Skies'' and in films such as '' Young and Dangerous'', '' Once Upon a Time in Triad Society'', '' ...

and

Dayo Wong Dayo Wong Tze-wah (born 5 September 1960) is a Hong Kong comedian, actor and singer. Known as a pioneer of stand-up comedy in Hong Kong, he is known for his stadium shows integrating political satire and social commentary. He has performed a ...

. The film was released in the United States as ''Shaolin vs. The Devil's Omen''.

Plot

Ching, an officer in the

Royal Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the t ...

, has been experiencing the same nightmare where she sees a woman with her heart taken out and dies while being inverted on a cross. Later, during a hostage situation, Ching, who has never fired a gun before, manages to shoot the armed thug dead and rescue the hostage. When she moves closer to where the thug was taking cover earlier, she sees the horrible image that has been appearing in her nightmare: the dead body of a woman hanging on an

inverted cross The Cross of Saint Peter or Petrine Cross is an inverted Latin cross traditionally used as a Christian symbol, but in recent times also used as an anti-Christian and Satanic symbol. In Christianity, it is associated with the martyrdom of Pet ...

. Ching's colleagues, Nam and Ka-ming, are put in charge of investigating this case. All the evidence from the crime scene – from symbols in the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book o ...

written in blood on the woman's body to the inverted cross – suggests that the case is related to a Satanic cult. Nam and Ka-ming get Ching to help them with the case because she is knowledgeable about religious symbols. Judas, Satan's messenger, is wandering around Hong Kong in search of his master's daughter, who is believed to be born on 6 June 1969. He is also responsible for committing the recent series of brutal murders. The police have sent three undercover policewomen as bait to lure Judas out, but their plan fails and one of the policewomen, Leon, is killed. While in a state of confusion, Ching has frequent visions of her long-lost father, who had abandoned her when she was still a child. Judas also contacts her and tells her that she is Satan's daughter, and that he will come to find her. Nam and Ka-ming are assigned to protect Ching, but they are still no match for Judas, who possesses supernatural powers. In the early hours of 6 June 1996, Judas manages to break out of custody despite having been arrested earlier by the police. He kidnaps Ching and brings her to the rooftop of a high building, where he intends to carry out a ritual by taking out her heart. If she survives the process, then she is indeed Satan's daughter. Nam and Ka-ming come to save Ching and fight with Judas. Eventually, Nam manages to kill Judas by using a

nail gun A nail gun, nailgun or nailer is a form of hammer used to drive nails into wood or other materials. It is usually driven by compressed air ( pneumatic), electromagnetism, highly flammable gases such as butane or propane, or, for powder-actuat ...

to impale him on the cross and setting him on fire, the burned cross which is inverted and fell from the building into the priest’s

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across t ...

as it got burned. Just as the clock strikes at 6 am, Ching tests out whether she is really Satan's daughter by taking out her heart. She survives and shows her heart to Ka-ming, who screams. The movie ends. While the flammed van set on fire at the end uses as background video, it says Revelation 20:7:8 before the ending credits

Cast

as Nam *

as Ching *

as Rose *

as Judas *

as Ka-ming *

Lam Sheung Yee Spencer Lam Sheung Yee (; 14 December 1934 – 23 April 2009) was a football defender, coach and announcer, as well as an actor. Spencer was a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong with an economics major. He was once a second ...

as Priest *Lam Kwok-kit as Lulu's colleague *Ivy Leung as Leon *

Lee Lik-chi Lee Lik-chi (李力持) (born 10 May 1961) is a Hong Kong-based actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Stephen Chow before disassociating each other due to frequent clashes. He is also an active contribu ...

as Peter *

Wayne Lai Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung (; born 4 May 1964) is a Hong Kong actor. He became one of Hong Kong's most successful television actors after starring in TVB hit drama series '' Rosy Business''. Lai won three TVB Anniversary Awards for Best Actor, mak ...

(cameo) *Cheung Lau as Lulu *Mandy Chan as Wife-beating policeman *Mak Wai-cheung as Suspect in restaurant *Tsim Siu-ling as Suspect in restaurant *Hon Ping as Policeman *Wong Shiu-keung *Bill Lui as Suspect in policeman

Reception

Critical

Love HK Film
' gave the film a negative review and writes "''Satan Returns'' is plagued by the wacky, nonsensical Hong Kong ways which just don't work in pictures like these."

Box office

The film grossed HK$6,704,385 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 17 May to 7 June 1996 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

References

External links

* *
Satan Returns
' at

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, is a bilingual (French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The webs ...

*{{IMDb title, 0173167 1996 films 1996 horror films 1996 action thriller films 1996 crime thriller films 1996 martial arts films 1990s psychological thriller films Hong Kong action horror films Hong Kong action thriller films Hong Kong crime thriller films Hong Kong martial arts films Hong Kong supernatural horror films Supernatural action films 1990s supernatural thriller films 1990s action horror films Crime horror films Police detective films Gun fu films Hong Kong ghost films Hong Kong serial killer films Vampires in film Films about Satanism 1990s Cantonese-language films Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong Religious horror films 1990s Hong Kong films