Geung si sin Sang (Mr. Vampire) (1985)

HONG KONG --- horror

Dir: Ricky Lau

Yet another Chinese horror comedy. I know, I know. This one is actually pretty good though. The reason being, it gets a lot more into the Chinese rituals and checks and balances of those rituals. So first let's get a little schooled into what just what's in store in this film, specifically the issue with "hopping vampires". They are technically called gyonshi or jiang shi. These vampires, however, are not quite what we expect from our western vampires. They are quite considerably different, and are more like the "George Romero" zombie than the Bram Stoker blood-suckers who follow a strict list of rules. Having said that, they do have some rules that apply of course. They usually stab their victims with very long fingernails, they're blind and can only find victims through the sense of smell, and are defeated with black magic and a healthy serving of good old kung fu. As I mentioned once before about vampire films, each film can have certain rules that exist only in the universe of the film you're watching.

So, with that said, this film follows a unibrowed mortician/ Taoist priest named Master Kau (played by Lam Ching Ying, who appears in the gyonshi sub genre multiple times throughout his career) and his bumbling assistants named Man Choi (played by veteran comedic relief Ricky Hui) and Chou (played by martial artists Chin Siu-ho, and yet another vet of this sub genre). Master Kau is hired to overlook and perform a reburial ceremony for the father of a wealthy businessman named Mr. Yam. He and Man Choi meet up with Yam and his niece Ting Ting for tea. Yam, on the advice of a so-called fortune teller, believes his father is to be buried vertically. When they dig him up, they realize he may have to be cremated so as to no longer leave his soul in unrest. His body, also begins to look somewhat revitalized and after twenty years, this is clearly a bad omen to Master Kau. So he orders his assistants to place incense around the graves of the cemetary, possibly to keep them at rest, that is until Chou hears the voice of woman of the dead; a ghost.

Back at the mortuary, Master Kau orders them to spiritually tie up the coffin as he performs a ritual to on some twine and they mark the coffin to keep the body dormant. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as the body begins to break out of the coffin. So Mr. Yam's own grandfather kills him later that night. Unfortunately, Yam's relative, a Barney Fife-esque local police officer blames Master Kau when he notices (thanks to Kau himself trying to alert him of a hopping vampire) his long finger nails and the puncture wounds in his Uncle Yam. Kau is arrested and as he sends Man Choi and Chou out to get ingredients for his ritual potions to stop not only the vampire on the loose, but Mr. Yam himself. Chou delivers the goods to the jail house to Master Kau as the have to battle Mr. Yam. No sooner than defeating him, Man Choi must defend Ting Ting from her grandfather and in the porcess is infected by the corpse until Kau and Chou come to the rescue. Kau wisely realizes the town is in danger and sends Chou to get more sticky rice; a prime ingredient to fighting off hopping vampires.

However, Chou, runs into an enchanting female ghost in the next village. Chou is bewitched by her beauty and literally under her spell, he narrowly escapes her grasp. Just as soon as he returns, Kau can see he has been "haunted" by a ghost. Under her spell, Master Kau bounds Chou to a chair to keep the ghost from snatching him away. In probably the best scene of the film, Master Kau battles against the love-hungry ghost and the blood-thirsty Man Choi at the same time. A testament to the genre itself and to the actors martial arts choreography. Soon they must eventually deal with a horde of hopping vampires and one that comes out of nowhere that gives the trio their greatest challenge.

"Mr. Vampire" isn't a horror film that sets out to scare its audience. While producer Sammo Hung spent most of the early 80's attempting to make a successful horror comedy to appease Hong Kong audiences, it wasn't until "Mr. Vampire" came on the scene where he had a hit. The film is definitely a classic in the Hong Kong horror (specifically the hopping vampire subgenre) comedy genre, spawning many sequels. As where "Spooky Encounters" laid the foundation, "Mr. Vampire" is the cornerstone which eventually took over the entire sub genre of films for many years to follow. My personal issues with the film is the niece character, Ting Ting, is reduced to a girl servant halfway through the film and all but disappears. It would have been interesting to see her fight for the affections of Chou against the female ghost. Anyways, as I mentioned in my review for "Spooky Encounters", Western filmmakers were not blind to these films, particularly with the cult classic John Carpenter film "Big Trouble in Little China" which features many tropes from this sub genre of film. Sam Raimi also borrowed alot for his "Evil Dead" films. The legacy of films like "Mr. Vampire" continues on into today, even with so many sequels and spinoffs of this very film alone.

Gui da gui (Encounters of the Spooky Kind) (1980)
HONG KONG --- horror

Dir: Sammo Hung Kam-Bo

It's always somewhat of a gamble to mix horror with comedy and have it turn out successful. Both genres of film are very obtrusive. What may scare or get a laugh from one person, could change completely to the next person. So it has always been kinda difficult to walk that tightrope. Hong Kong films have never had a problem throwing their audiences on an emotional roller coaster. One minute they could be in a suspenseful battle scene, the next they could make you laugh.

"Encounters of the Spooky Kind" (aka Spooky Encounters) is a slight foray into the horror genre, while mixing martial arts with a dash of comedy. Legendary comedic kung-fu star and director Sammo Hung plays his familiar lovable sap, this time named Cheung, or as the townsfolk call him 'Courageous Cheung'. He was so named because of his bravery; but he is soon put to the test. In the opening of the film, we get a dubious introduction to Cheung. In a dream sequence, he's being tormented by two ghosts. He wakes up falling out of bed and to the consistent insults of his wife. Cheung goes out a local restaurant with some friends who want to test his bravery. One of them dares him to go through a variation of the bloody mary urban legend, and a meal is on the line.

Cheung goes to a his friends house at midnight with an apple he's supposed to peel completely in front of a mirror. If he succeeds, he'll have good luck and if he fails he'll be cursed. Things don't turn out right, cause his friends set him up for a prank with one of them dressed as a the ghostly woman that's supposed to appear in the mirror. One of Cheung's friends does indeed see the ghost though, and high tails it out of there. His other friend, the one who put him up to it agree's to get Cheung's next meal, that is until the lady in the mirror pulls him in. Alone now, Cheung is confronted by the ghost and stands to meet the same fate, but narrowly escapes with his life as the house crumbles to the ground.

Cheung retains his rep, but soon has much bigger issues to deal with. He appears to be a chauffeur for a wealthy politician named. Master Tam who only comes to Cheung's village for an extra-marital affair. Cheung has lunch with some friends while getting the hint about infidelity from the local merchant, yet must contend with suspicions of his wife. By chance, he comes across two peeping toms at his window staring at a couple in his house. We see that it is Master Tam with Cheung's wife, who flees the scene of the crime before Cheung busts in on them.

Like the biblical King David, Master Tam goes to sinister lengths to cover up his infidelity. With the advice of an assistant, he plots to kill Cheung, but instead of simple murder, they go the supernatural of using black magic against him. They pay a greedy local taoist sorcerer to do the job, but his younger brother Tsui (played by legendary kung fu star Fat Chung), disapproves of his older brothers intentions, and decides to help the unbeknownst victim; Cheung.

Cheung is set-up again to test his bravery, this time by someone working with the sorcerer. A man follows Cheung and wagers him some money if he sleep overnight in a temple. Tsui is onto them, and goes to Cheung's assistance about what to do to survive the night. After surviving a harrowing battle with a jiang shi or hopping vampire (performed by Hung and Chan contemporary Biao Yuen in heavy makeup) Cheung is met with another wager to sleep in the temple. Tsui of course assists with some weaponry to combat his older brother's magic. Night two proves more difficult as Cheung gets into a physical confrontation against the undead.

He does, however survive again, so Master Tam devises a plan to frame him for the murder of his wife. He's jailed and escapes becoming a fugitive to find out who killed his wife. When he teams with Tsui again, they discover he's been framed by Master Tam and is behind the corrupt sorcerer's intention to kill him. It soon leads them both into an all-out battle of supernatural warfare.

"Encounters of the Spooky Kind" features some pretty decent special effects, and the martial arts expertise of Sammo Hung. The film uses a score that lifts bits of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining", but that's hardly even an issue once you get into it. Hung definitely holds the balance of kung-fu and comedy pretty tight, but if you're looking for scary horror, you won't find much here. Keep a lookout for "Kung-fu Hustle"s Sui-Lung Leung as one of the peeping tom's.

Jiang Tou (Black Magic) (1975)
HONG KONG --- horror

Dir: Ho Meng-Hua

All societies on the earth have pretty much dabbled in some form of the dark arts or another. Whether it be the infamous voodoo of the caribbean islands or the wiccan practices of Eastern Europe, being in league with the devil has no borders. In this such case, we turn our attention to the shores of Hong Kong.

Known primarily for the nigh endless droves of chop-socky forays such as "The 36 Chambers of Shaolin" and "The Five Deadly Venoms", the Shaw Bros. studio decided to expand out of the martial arts genre. Jiang Tou "Black Magic" is one of these efforts. A rich sexy widower, named Luo Yin who owns her late-husbands construction business, has designs on a young engineer named Xu Nuo. Xu Nuo has a fiance, while Luo Yin makes her intentions known to him, only to be denied a relationship.

Meanwhile, Luo Yin also has a suitor, in Mr. Liang Jiaje (played by Five Fingers of Death star Lo Lieh). A man struck with puppy love so bad, he goes to all ends to get the woman of his dreams, unfortunately his motives are ruled not of love but of lust, and worse off greed. He goes to the shady sorcerer-for-hire, San Kan-Mi, where he is told to gather some materials for the spell to work, for sinister love potion. After gaining the items, Liang returns to Luo Yin later on, and the potion mixed in a drink works for a night, but that is all. Realizing, she has been used, Yin coerces an answer out of Jiaje, and plots to use this black magic magician for her own purposes, such as gaining the love of Xu Nuo.

While Xu Nuo and his fiance plan marriage all the while, Liang gets his just desserts 'Tales From the Crypt' style and Luo Yin pays San Kan-Mi to put a powerful spell on her hearts desire. It all leads to a climatic confrontation between a benign wizard named Master Furong and San Kan-Mi. The film features, throughout some seemingly step-by-step instructions for the process of San Kan-Mi's potions and spells. Complete with gratuitous nudity, graphic violence and gore, Jiang Tou (Black Magic) is one of the better genre pieces from the Shaw Bros. studio.

Wa Pei (Painted Skin) (2008)
HONG KONG/CHINA --- horror

Dir: Gordon Chan

Well, to celebrate Chinese New Year, I thought I'd review a recent viewing of a Chinese film. Now before Japan was making the dark-haired woman ghost stories and spooky films involving technology, Asia in general always had animal spirit tales. Apparently the tradition goes back to the silent film era. The tale of this particular film, Wa Pei derives from a classic 18th century Chinese novel by Pu Songling, titled "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio".


Wa Pei (Painted Skin) is one of these films at it's best. The story involves an army general named Wang Sheng who rescues a beautiful young woman from a bandit campsite. They have no idea that Xiao Wei (played by Xun Zhou) is in actuality a demonic Fox Spirit posing as a human. In Chinese belief, they are always believed to take form of a beautiful human. Once Wang Sheng takes her under his care, his wife Pei Rong (played by Wei Zhao) soon suspects something amiss about the beguiling young woman, and follows her own inquiries such as consorting the help of a taoist priest, who mysteriously ends up dead the following day. All of her subjects and soldiers have taking a liking to Xiao Wei, which leads Pei Rong to be convinced she is what she believes.

It isn't until prodigal ex-general Pang Yong (played by Donnie Yen) falls on his Brother's doorstep, that help arrives. Once awake he's off once again, but stops at an eatery where he runs into a tomboy who ups him on food and drink and so joins him for a meal. The plot thickens as a mysterious assassin, who in actuality is an assistant demon Lizard Spirit, working with Xiao Wei, has been ripping out the hearts of people around town. Pei Rong meets secretly with Pang Yong, desperately seeking his help in finding out if Xiao Wei is indeed a demon in disguise. He commits to her plan, and assist the help of the young stranger, Xia-Bing (played by newcomer Betty Sun) he's just been eating with.

Xia-Bing reveals herself to be of perfect assistance, as she's from a long line of Demon Busters, and has a history with this particular demon and the tools to destroy her. The following is more dramatic than anything, as the film reveals its love triangle tendencies. Xiao Wei wishes to become Wang Sheng's concubine, and begs of Pei Rong for this to happen. In the meantime, Pang Yong and Xia-Bing try to track down the Lizard Spirit and find proof of Xiao Wei's true demoniac nature.

For me, Wa Pei (Painted Skin), harkens back to such 90's fare as "The Bride with White Hair", "Green Snake", and the classic "A Chinese Ghost Story". Director Gordon Chan (of Fist of Legend fame), blends action, romance, and horror perfectly in this film. It's important to note that this story has been brought to screen before by director King Hu in 1993 and starred Joey Wong and action master Sammo Hung. I have to admit, the one thing I quite like about this one is the score, which at times sounds like "Nightmare on Elm Street" and then like Ennio Morricone's "Once Upon A Time in The West". This is going to be a classic for any Chinese horror movie fan.