THE BLACK MAGIC WITH BUDDHA
A lost Hong Kong horror oddity. Rediscovered. Restored in 4K. Back on the big screen.
Welcome to the official website of The Black Magic with Buddha, Lo Lieh’s extraordinary 1983 journey into black magic, possession, religious mythology, grotesque practical effects and supernatural horror.
A Hong Kong production filmed largely in Thailand with local cast and crew, the film occupies a singular place in the wild landscape of early-1980s Asian genre cinema. Directed and produced by Lo Lieh — internationally celebrated for King Boxer / Five Fingers of Death — and starring Chen Kuan-tai, Candice Yu On-On, Sinjai Hongthai and Lo Lieh himself, the film pushes Hong Kong occult horror into increasingly bizarre and spectacular territory.
For decades, however, The Black Magic with Buddha virtually disappeared from circulation, surviving primarily through ageing video copies and incomplete knowledge of its different versions.
REDISCOVERED & RESTORED IN 4K
Karmax-910 and Frédéric Ambroisine are proud to present the rediscovery and 4K restoration of The Black Magic with Buddha.
What began as a search for the best surviving film elements became a genuine work of cinematic archaeology. Research revealed that The Black Magic with Buddha had circulated in two historically distinct versions: a Mandarin Cut and a longer, wilder Cantonese Cut, with differences extending far beyond their soundtracks.
Surviving original negative elements were located and scanned in 4K. The Mandarin version could be recovered largely from those elements, but approximately two and a half minutes of picture from the Cantonese Cut were missing. The surviving soundtrack proved that the material had once existed — but the images themselves had to be found.
After an international search led by Frédéric Ambroisine, the missing footage was finally identified in a surviving Taiwanese 35mm print belonging to film historian and collector Toby Russell. Scanned in 4K, this unique material made it possible to reconstruct the complete approximately 95-minute Cantonese version alongside the distinct Mandarin Cut.
More than forty years after the film’s original release, The Black Magic with Buddha can once again be discovered as a film rather than a memory of old video editions.
TWO VERSIONS. ONE EXTRAORDINARY FILM.
The restoration preserves the Mandarin and Cantonese cuts as two independent historical versions.
The Mandarin Cut, approximately 93 minutes, presents a comparatively restrained and mysterious variation of the film. The approximately 95-minute Cantonese Cut is more excessive: more humour, more explicit supernatural interaction, more graphic body horror and a substantially expanded climax.
Neither replaces the other. Together, they reveal how a fiercely independent Hong Kong genre production could be reshaped for different languages, territories and audiences in the early 1980s.
FROM THAILAND TO THE WORLD
Thailand lies at the heart of The Black Magic with Buddha. Much of the film was shot there with local production support, locations, performers and crew, while its story and imagery draw upon a striking mixture of Chinese and Southeast Asian beliefs, sacred figures and occult traditions.
The restored film began its international rediscovery in 2025, with screenings in Paris, Bangkok and Nashville. Its return to Bangkok was particularly symbolic: more than four decades after production, the film was finally returning to the country where much of it had been made.
In October 2026, the restored Mandarin Cut continues its festival journey at the SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.
This is only the beginning of a new international life for The Black Magic with Buddha.
RESTORATION • FESTIVALS • WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION
This official website documents the film, its production history, the rediscovery of its alternate versions, the 4K restoration and its return to international screens.
Karmax-910 holds the film’s worldwide rights, with opportunities for further theatrical, festival, home-video, television, VOD and special-event exploitation, subject to existing territorial agreements.
DISCOVER THE RESTORATION
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FESTIVALS
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WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION
FROM ONE REDISCOVERY TO ANOTHER
The Black Magic with Buddha also marks the beginning of a wider collaboration between Karmax-910 and Frédéric Ambroisine devoted to bringing overlooked Asian films back into international circulation.
That collaboration is now continuing on a considerably larger scale with the Whapung Restoration Project: an ambitious programme devoted to the preservation, restoration and international rediscovery of thirteen Korean films produced between 1979 and 1985 by Whapung Industrial Co., Ltd., the company founded by Korean filmmaker Chung Chang-wha.
Like The Black Magic with Buddha, many of these films have been extremely difficult to see internationally for decades. Their restoration opens another chapter in the recovery of a neglected part of Asian cinema history.
More about the Whapung Restoration Project will be unveiled soon.
THE BLACK MAGIC IS BACK.
Rediscovered after decades. Restored from surviving film elements. Returning to screens around the world.
For screenings, licensing, distribution, press or professional enquiries: CONTACT US