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Starring
:
Anthony
Chan
Wu
Ma
Chin
Kar Lok
Rachel
Lee
Yuen
Wah
Chung
Fa
Wong
Yuk Waan
Action
:
Hung
Ga Ban
Producer
:
Sammo
Hung
Chan
Pooi Wa
Director
:
Ricky
Lau
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MR.
VAMPIRE 4 (1988)
A.K.A.
- Mister Vampire Saga IV
Reviewed
by Tony Ryan
After
'Mr.
Vampire 3' saw a return to form for the series, it was a
surprise to see the next instalment arrive without the
charismatic Lam Ching Ying. Instead, we have Anthony Chan as
the grumpy Taoist Priest (reprising his cameo role from the
original), with Wu Ma as his feuding Monk neighbour!
Initially,
the first half of the film is predominantly focussed on
developing the rivalry between Ma and Chan's characters and
introducing us to their sidekicks: the lovely Rachel Lee and
the acrobatic Chin Kar Lok. Much of this character development
is done through some pretty effective comedic set pieces that
occasionally had me laughing out loud, which is pretty rare
for such unsubtle humour! At around the halfway mark, the
story changes somewhat and sees the arrival of a royal
transport carrying a gold coffin, and predictably, its
contents escape and much carnage ensues.
The
Mr. Vampire series is not known for being action packed, but
this certainly contains its fair share of bone-crunching
moments. Chin Kar Lok steals the show with some excellent
acrobatics, falls and kicks leaving Wu Ma and Anthony Chan to
show off the typical Taoist techniques seen in all similar
genre flicks. It was nice to see a few of Sammo Hung's stunt
troupe such as Yuen Wah and Chung Fa get some meatier roles,
although Wah is not used for his fighting skills. Instead, he
camps it up to the extreme providing another memorable
character to add to his diverse list.
Overall,
this is possibly the second best of the true Mr Vampire films
and is a worthy purchase for all HK Horror fans. As expected,
it is still lacking when compared to the overall polish of the
original, and it would have been nice to have Lam Ching Ying
on board. Nevertheless, this is still good fun, and provides
everything one could ask for from a film of this genre.
Rating:
 
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