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Starring
:
Lam
Ching Ying
Chin
Siu Ho
Ricky
Hui
Moon
Lee
Action
:
Lam
Ching Ying
Yuen
Wah
Producer
:
Sammo
Hung
Director
:
Ricky
Lau
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MR.
VAMPIRE (1985)
A.K.A.
- Mister Vampire
Reviewed
by Tony Ryan
From
the early days of film and 'Nosferatu', walking corpses
and creatures
of the night have graced cinema screens worldwide in
various forms, from the Hammer Horror productions in Britain
to the big budget blockbusters of modern day Hollywood.
Nowhere seems to have explored the myth of Vampires and Ghosts
in the same way as the Hong Kong industry, and their creative
versions of such fables have provided numerous classic movies.
The King of them all, it would seem, and the one which has
caused the greatest stir, would be 'Mr. Vampire'. Unlike the
Christopher Lee incarnations which most of us are familiar
with, Hong Kong’s walking dead are not suave or debonair, in
fact, they don’t even walk at all. They hop! However, this
does not appear to stop them catching any normal person racing
away at high speed!
For
fans of the Jade Screen, 'Mr Vampire' needs little
introduction. Lam Ching Ying's character "Kou" is
synonymous with horror comedy, and rightly so. Many sequels
and spin-offs have since been created, but none can match the
ingenuity, cinematography, and sheer class of this original.
Lam is always a joy to watch as he exudes the quiet kind of
charisma missing in the HK films today, and here provides a
quiet, forceful hero whose only mission in life is to fend off
the undead. Aided
along the way by a goofy Ricky Hui and the ever-watchable Chin
Siu Ho, the result is a masterpiece of Hong Kong filmmaking
from an era when their films were unbeatable.
As
with any film, gripes are to be found, and this is no
exception. Those who grew up on Sammo Hung or Jackie Chan may
be disappointed with the lack of real fight action, especially
when one knows the abilities of both Ching Ying and Siu Ho.
But that would be to miss the point of the film. Action is
evident here, but hopping vampires are not wing chun sifus so
require a different kind of battling, and this is where the
creativity and ingenuity of HK is evident, as sticky rice,
calligraphied sheets of paper and the famous sword of coins
are the weapons of choice. No garlic or Christian emblems
here!
In
all, this is the definitive comedy horror, which coupled with
Sammo Hung's own 'Encounter
Of The Spooky Kind' provide the two greatest examples of
the genre, and therefore should not be missed.
A
point of interest to note; following the success of this film,
a Western remake was in the pipeline to star Yuen Wah
alongside Tanya Roberts and Jack Scalia. Unfortunately (or
not!) this never happened as Roberts' primadonna attitude
and Wah's non-existent English halted production. Bey Logan
originally quoted Ching Ying as being brought into the
American production but has since said it was actually Yuen
Wah. It is not known why Lam himself did not travel West to
play the part but thankfully for us he continued to star in
what would undoubtedly have proven to be superior productions
in the East anyway. For more info on the excellent Lam Ching
Ying, check out the articles section of this web-site.
Rating:
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