A few weeks back, I posted a story about an orang minyak terrorizing the Malaysian countryside. The orang minyak (literally "oily man") is a supernatural being that takes the form of a naked man covered in black oil or grease. It sneaks into people's homes at night to sexually assault women, especially virgins. Some of the reported encounters with the orang minyak have clear similarities with the old hag experience.
The name also seems to apply to thieves and rapists who cover themselves in black oil or grease before committing their crimes. The oil was to help them blend into the night, and to enable them to slip from the clutches of would-be captors. This practice apparently continues to this day. It's anyone's guess as to whether the legends inspired the mundane criminals or vice-versa.
One of the earliest films about the orang minyak, The Curse of the Oily Man, conflates the two definitions a bit, as it's about a human rapist whose assaults are part of black magic ritual to endow him with supernatural powers. In a more recent movie, 2007's The Oily Man, the orang minyak appears to be entirely otherworldly, a demon or spirit set loose on our world. The Oily Man has a DVD release, and the earlier film is available in its entirety on YouTube, but sadly neither feature English-language options.
So no luck with the Malay films, but a short while after posting the story, I was perusing a list of Celestial Pictures' releases of classic Shaw Brothers films. One of the titles that stood out for me was Oily Maniac. Could this be a Hong Kong version of the orang minyak legend? Well, yes, it could.
Oily Maniac is the story of Sheng, a handicapped legal assistant kicked around by life. While visiting an old family friend who is about to be executed (for killing a gangster in self-defense), Sheng learns that his late father was an accomplished shaman who bequeathed a spell of justice and power to his son... tattooed on his best friend's back. Sheng casts the spell, and is transformed into
Oily Maniac is part of a wave of Southeast Asian-inspired horror films that followed the success of Black Magic, a tale of jungle voodoo and black magic released by Shaw Brothers in 1975. The studio was already fairly familiar with the story of the orang minyak - check out this still from the opening credits of The Curse of the Oily Man:
That sure looks like a Shaw Brothers logo to me!
Despite its origins, Oily Maniac is less a horror film than a really warped superhero movie. It's also pretty sleazy, with lots of gratuitous nudity and a slanderous view of the Malaysian legal system. Ho Meng Hua, who directed both this and Black Magic, would go on to make The Mighty Peking Man, and if you've seen that film you should have a pretty good idea of the quality of Oily Maniac. It's a hoot.
You can download Oily Maniac in avi format via the Rapidshare links below. The film uses an external subtitle file, so you will need to have VobSub or a similar program installed on your computer. (Most DVD players that handle avi files should already have the capability to handle external subtitles.) A final note - this is not my rip or my upload. But I don't think the uploader will mind the extra Rapidshare points.
Oily Maniac pt 1
Oily Maniac pt 2
Oily Maniac pt 3
Oily Maniac pt 4
Oily Maniac pt 5
Oily Maniac pt 6
Oily Maniac pt 7
Oily Maniac pt 8
Oily Maniac pt 2
Oily Maniac pt 3
Oily Maniac pt 4
Oily Maniac pt 5
Oily Maniac pt 6
Oily Maniac pt 7
Oily Maniac pt 8
It's like a Swamp Thing made of poo.
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