The Nocturnal Demon opens in sick serial killer mode, with a psychotic taxi driver attacking a hooker with a craft knife, slashing her throat and then urinating on the blade - and all over his victim's body!! What a start!
Soon after, we get some impressive martial arts fighting as roller-skating cutie Wawa (the lovely Moon Lee) saves some cops from a gang of armed jewel thieves (led by Yuen Wah, who always makes for a great villainous adversary).
The film is going great guns at this point, but it's not long before that blight of many a Hong Kong movie rears its ugly head: abysmal comedy. And that's the main problem with The Nocturnal Demon: whenever the film gets going, the action is quickly nipped in the bud, replaced by more gurning idiots and slapstick nonsense, making it a very frustrating experience.
The plot sees Tin (Alfred Cheung), Wawa's cousin, being pursued by the police, who mistakenly think that he is a murderer due to his uncanny resemblance to the crazy killer cabbie. Wawa and her blind grandfather (Kau Lam) try and help Tin to prove his innocence, which leads to all sorts of lunacy, none of which is very funny.
Every now and then, director Ricky Lau picks up the pace with some more fighting, but it's soon back to the silliness, which comprises the bulk of the running time. Moon Lee is the best thing about the film, providing both beauty and brawn, and the ending, in which she wears knee-high PVC boots during a fight with the killer, is just about worth the wait. Just about.
