MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: SAGA OF THE PHOENIX (1989) 88 Films Blu-ray Review + Screenshots

Sunday, January 4, 2026

SAGA OF THE PHOENIX (1989) 88 Films Blu-ray Review + Screenshots

SAGA OF THE PHOENIX (1989)

Deluxe Collector's Edition Blu-ray

Label: 88 Films

Region Code: A,B

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 94 Minutes 8 Seconds

Audio: Cantonese LPCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Ngai Choi Lam

Cast: Gloria Yip, Yuen Biao, Hiroshi Abe, Loletta Lee, Shek-Yin Lau, Shintarô Katsu

Directed by Ngai Choi Lam (The Cat), Saga of the Phoenix is a sequel to Peacock King (1988), a co-production between Hong Kong's Golden Harvest and Japan's Fuji TV, adapted from the Makoto Ogino's manga comic. It pretty much picks-up right after the first film with Ashura, the Hell Virgin (Gloria Yip, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky) being brought before the High Abbess (Yuko Natori) and Abbott Ji Ku (Shintarô Katsu, Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman). It is determined that for using her magical powers on Earth that she will be imprisoned inside a giant statue of Buddha to prevent her immense power from falling into the hands of evil demons. She pleads for an opportunity to remain in the Earth realm and a sympathetic Abbott Ji Ku allows her to return to earth for seven days before she is condemned to the darkness, under the protection of her faithful guardian monks Peacock (Yuen Biao, The Prodigal Sun) and Lucky Fruit (Hiroshi Abe, Godzilla 2000), with the caveat that if she turns towards darkness or triggers Armageddon, that she will be killed by very cute warrior nuns Moon, Star, Sun Abbesses, played by Yukari Tachibana, Mariko Arai and Lam Gong Wai Ji, who have been sent to the earth realm to monitor the situation.

Arriving on Earth Ashura is reunited with her pint-sized imp Tricky Ghost, a creature that looks like the bastard purple offspring of a Gremlin and the Energizer Bunny, and when the creature is inadvertently intercepted by humans Chin (Loletta Lee) and her inventor brother Tan (Shek-Yin Lau, The Cat) they become involved in the supernatural shenanigans, involving the evil demoness Hell’s Concubine (Ngai Suet, Ghost Ballroom) who sends her goblin warriors to the Earth realm to steal Ashura's powers for her own apocalyptic purposes. Ngai Suet as the demoness is a perfect image of icy sexiness, with her sharp beauty and long green fingernails, very cool.

Ngai Choi Lam always brings the goofy insanity with his fantasy-horror flicks, stuff like The Cat, The Seventh Curse and of course the delightfully gore-drizzled action film Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, but this entry seems more kid-friendly than anything I've seen previously, the inclusion of the Mac & Me styled imp Tricky Ghost brings with it slapstick humor which takes up a surprisingly amount of screentime, achieved with puppetry and stop-motion animation it looks pretty cool, but it really saps the darker elements of the story. We see the mischievous imp interacting with a crowd of mean kids, farting gas clouds, and a couple of scene's wherein in inventor Tan turns out to be a pretty sadistic individual, subjecting the imp to tortures inside a washing machine and an oven, in the name of science, of course.

If you can get past the kiddie friendly weirdness of the Tricky Ghost stuff there is some dazzling high-flying martial arts choreography, and cool effects to take in especially when it comes to the icy demoness Hell's Concubine who early on battles Lucky Fruit with a terrific lightshow of magical powers, sadly, turning entrapping him in a block of ice for the most of the film. The amped-up finale features the demoness transforming into a cool-looking winged demon warrior that looks likes a nightmare version of a Power Rangers baddie, it's very creepy looking. All in all a fun romp, a bit more kiddie-friendly than I anticipated, but still a fun fantasy martial arts flick with some cool optical effects.

Audio/Video: 88 Films present Saga of the Phoenix (1989) on Blu-ray in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, sourced from a new 2K scan and restoration of the original camera negative, it looks terrific, the source is in great shape, grain is present throughout, and the colors look terrific, the scenes of magic have gorgeous color when the magic colored light show starts, the icy scenes of blue-tinted Hell are impressive, and black levels are rock solid. Audio comes by way of remastered Cantonese 2.0 dual-mono PCM with newly translated English subtitles, the track sounds fine, dialogue, effects and the sounds supernatural warfare all fare well, free of hiss or distortions.

Extras include a new Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and F.J. Desanto, which does terrific work laying out the film in the context of other supernatural fantasy films of the era, the HK/Japan co-production elements, the the locations, noting cast and crew, and plenty more, plus we get a 22-min Saga of Golden Harvest: The International Connection - Interview with Albert Lee, who discusses his time at Golden Harvest, getting into how films were financed and marked, plus 12-min of Alternate Japanese Footage, a 5-min Image Galley, and the 4-min Original Trailer.

88 Films packaging presentation for this is top-notch. We get a Limited Edition Rigid Slip Box with stunning new artwork by R.P. 'Kung Fu Bob' Obrien with spot-gloss highlights, inside of which is a full-height clear keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring R.P. 'Kung Fu Bob' Obrien artwork and the original HK artwork. Also tucked away inside is a 2-sided Limited Edition Premium Art Card featuring both artwork, plus a Limited Edition 40-Page Perfect Bound Book with new writing on the film. We get From Panel to Screen - The Saga of Hong Kong's Fascination with Japanese Manga... by Andrew Heskins, plus The Japanese Connection - Positioning Saga of the Phoenix in a Brief History og the Cultural and Cinematic Exchanges of Hong Kong and Japan by David West, as well as cast and crew information. Also included is a Slipcover with the same terrific artwork that slides over the entre Rigid Slip Box.