Look, when a movie has two martial artists named Joey (Tien-Chi Cheng) and Gary (Lu Feng), well, that’s all I need. Except that this movie is really as wild as it can get, a low-budget film from Chang Cheh who decides that if he can’t get enough money to make a movie, he’s going to make the film version of some drug that hasn’t been invented yet.

Joey and Gary’s parents — Master Gan (Chang Peng) and Supervisor Zuo (Wong Tak-Sang) — are killed by poison and palace intrigue. When Joey runs, he somehow ends up in Hell, where Satan Chris (Lee Kin-Sang) offers him the ability to come back upstairs and have the powers of nine demons, as long as the demons are given blood to drink and Joey knows that someday soon, he will also become a demon.

These demons are eight children who dance around, and their mother (Wong Gwan), who starts so much of the blood raving. They live as skulls that Joey carries, but he can call on their power whenever he needs it. You know how the martial world works; however, even when Joey gets revenge, the battles don’t stop, and he starts to become the monster he’s always destined to be.

Three of the Venoms — Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng and Ricky Cheng — are in this, but the reason to watch this is that it’s non-stop fog, neon lights, in-camera magic tricks and the kind of outfits that Chang Cheh likes to see men in: glam rock, but somehow more feminine, with heavy makeup. Also: there’s an ice skating fight and a Buddhist master saves the day with some spells.

I know of no other movie where the fights are called Joey and Gary. It really is something.

The Visual Vengeance release of The Nine Demons has a new 2K transfer from original film elements supervised by film archivist Toby Russell, commentary with martial arts film historians Justin Decloux and Dylan Cheung, video essays on The Discovery of James Wu Kuo-Ren and The Late Period Chang Che, an interview with actor Yu Tai-Ping, an episode of the Unsung Horrors podcast, a complete old school dirty VHS version, an image gallery, a trailer, a folded mini-poster featuring original theatrical art, a reversible sleeve featuring original alternate art, “Stick Your Own” VHS sticker set, Enter: The Venom Mob liner notes booklet by C.J. Lines, a limited edition O-card featuring art by Uncle Frank, trailers and more! Get it from MVD and Diabolik DVD.