This would probably amuse a young adolescent male, what with the rampaging oil covered monster interrupting fairly explicit sexual goings and other non consensual abuses. Just about of interest too as an example of the myths and legends out of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, where some of this is filmed. For the general viewer, this is problematic, not due to any lack of cinematic skills, the Shaw brothers tend to know their audience and be able to cater for it but their is a distinct lack of focus. The oily maniac is pretty well done as far as the effects department go and whether it is the life size monster or the mere puddle that can slide under doors all is fairly satisfactory (especially helped by Jaws like rip off music to accompany each rampage) but there is no consistency as to his actions and those around him. Whilst all the girls who have their tops torn off are lovely the support acting is generally poor and with so much running about without anyone (us included) knowing why, those eyelids begin to drop. Fun in places and fantastic having a 1976 Hong Kong exploitation movie look so good but here even 84 minutes seems a long time.

THE OILY MANIAC isn't a film you hear much about, really. In fact I'd never heard of it and certainly had read nothing about it when I sat down to watch it, so I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, this is a cheesy B-movie about a rampaging monster-man who looks a little like Swamp Thing, but it's a solid effort for the genre. This film was made by the Shaw Brothers studio so automatically the production values are superior and the technicalities are spot on. The Shaw Brothers always knew how to make even the most rubbishy film look fantastic and they do so here.

Another benefit is that the studio employ professional, well-known actors to lend gravitas to their roles. Danny Lee (later in John Woo's THE KILLER) is a thoroughly sympathetic anti-hero and he puts across his character's emotions very well. To be fair, it's a meaty role for any actor – Lee plays a crippled guy who's absolutely brimming with pent-up rage – but Lee is the perfect choice for the role. There are plenty of familiar actors filling out the cast, including Lily Li as a potential love interest.

There seems to be two parts to this movie. The first part is your typical monster action flick, as Lee transforms into the oily man and wreaks havoc on various bad guys. There are some extended fight scenes, most notably at the climax, where the bad guys chop off various bits of the maniac's body, only to see them grow back again! All done very well with the right balance of drama, horror, and outright comedy. Watching the oily maniac run down the street, smash a bad guy's head in or do something else outrageous is great fun, but I especially enjoyed the way Lee transforms into the creature – by literally bathing in oil! There's a really funny scene where he runs into some road works and jumps into a barrel of the bubbling stuff while the workmen look on, amazed.

Obviously, the special effects aren't up to scratch, but that's part of the charm. The rubber suited monster is a laugh riot and the bits where he turns into puddles of oil are hilariously awful with some second rate animation. The second part of the film is your typical sleaze flick with loads of topless nudity from the female cast and some protracted rape scenes. There's also an interlude at a plastic surgeon's where the female doctor performs operations on a hooker to make her look like a virgin again! It's all very bizarre and unwieldy and that's exactly the reason I liked it – I can't think of another film quite like this off the top of my head. Director Ho Meng Hua made a string of equally obscure and lurid monstrosities like THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN and BLACK MAGIC and his films are worth anybody's time.

I watched this bad boy last night and I simply loved it!

If you are looking for usual Shaw Brothers' martial arts extravaganza you better to skip this one. There's only couple fighting scenes and they ain't nothing special. Oil Monster likes more to stomp, pound and strangle peoples to death than bust some kick-ass kung fu moves.

But if you are B-movie fanatic like me and you like flicks with monsters in the bad costumes, you will love this movie too! Story is based on the old Chinese folk tale.. Crippled man learns magic spell from his uncle who is sentenced to be executed The spell turns him into a Oil Monster and it's payback time! Monster starts to kill bad guys like there's no tomorrow..excellent!

'You gui zi a.k.a Oily Maniac' ain't horror, I would categorize it as a cheesy superhero tragedy. Yeah, that's right..

Monster itself is like when Superman meets Mr. Hyde and Swamp Thing. This Chinese Toxic Avenger is really cheap looking in bad costume with shining yellow eyes and heart stuck to the chest. Special effects are hilariously poor, especially when Oil Monster turns pool of oil and starts to move around.

'Oily Maniac' has lots of nudity and lots of sexual violence. Every Female character shows their boobs, except Lily Li. Don't show this film to your feminist girlfriend because there's plenty of rape scenes that she couldn't handle.

This movie could be more entertaining with more gore. There's couple of smashed skulls, but nothing more. This might be filmed at same time with Black Magic (by same director Meng Hua Ho), as many of the locations looks pretty similar. The plot is entertaining and acting isn't bad, actually pretty decent. Danny Lee shines in this as usually.

In overall, if you want to see piece of Chinese b-movie cult cinema you need to check this one out.

I also recommend Meng Hua Ho's King Kong -rip off 'The Mighty Peking Man'.

I give 'You Gui Zi' a.k.a 'The Oily Maniac' 7 1/2 oil-stained corpses out of 10