Hong Kong Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Mr Vampire (1985) by Ricky Lau

Produced by Sammo Hung, 's debut film was an immediate box office hit that led to the formation of a huge franchise including four sequels, a plethora of remakes, a theatrical play, a video game and even a board game. The film was also very successful in Taiwan and Japan and established many of the genre's distinct characteristics.

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Master Kou is a Taoist priest who specializes in ghost busting. He has two disciples, Man Choi and Chau Sang. When asked to rebury a rich man, Yam, he eventually discovers that he is a vampire and, subsequently, Man Choi is infected by the vampire virus. Furthermore, Chau Sang is haunted by a female ghost who “forces” him to pleasure her sexually. Master Kou must exorcise the ghost while facing the vampires.

Chinese vampire legends have nothing to do with their Eastern counterparts, and this film clearly demonstrates that fact, demoting them to entities that function more like zombies than, let's say, Lestat, hoping around and attacking anyone on sight, recognizing their enemies by their breaths. Ricky Lau makes the most of the concept, by creating a movie that thrives on genre elements and elaborate action, but also manages to include a number of sociopolitical comments. In that fashion, the movie also deals with the clash of westernization with traditionalism, with Master Kou and his students mirroring the latter and Yam and his granddaughter, the former. The incompetence of the police and the cunning ways of the merchants also get their share of critique. These comments may be presented through comedy, but are actually quite pointy.

The mixture of genres is also quite evident, with Ricky lau creating a splendid amalgam that includes comedy, horror, martial arts, exploitation, romance and even musical, in a style that works exceptionally well for the narrative. Another central element is the kind of mocking irony, which seems to make fun  every cinematic “trope” of the aforementioned genres, in essence being the main source of the almost blasphemous comedy that permeates the movie.

The main element of “” however, is action, and it is here where the film truly thrives, with another great combination, that of cartoonish elements with occasionally brutal exploitation, with the make-up and the elaborate wirework working exceptionally well in that regard. Peter Cheung's editing starts the movie in a relatively slow pace, but as soon as the action begins, the rhythm becomes frantic, an approach that benefits both the action and the overall aesthetics of the production. Peter Ngor's cinematography captures the whole of the absurdness elaborately, although without any artistic exaltation.

Ricky Hui as Man Choi and as Chou give hilarious performances, with the first one acting like a cartoon and the second like a caricature for most of the time. The one who steals the show, though, is as Master Kau, whose strict, cunning, heroic, perpetually indignant demeanor is a true treat to the viewer, in one of the best performances in the genre.

“Mr Vampire” is a genre classic, whose amalgam of mainstream elements will satisfy any viewer who wants to have fun.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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