10-20-2025, 11:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-20-2025, 11:29 PM by Drunk Monk.)
Revisited this on Criterion, which has the original Lam Ching-ying tetralogy. He milked the Kung Fu horror genre for all he could, completely embracing the fallible Daoist exorcist role in so many films.
It’s still good. Each time I watch this, I find myself lol-ing at something different. It’s just so all over the place. Previously I didn’t notice Yuen Wah played the lead jiangshi. He was in full make up all the way through so unrecognizable. I also forgot about the snake bile cutting scene - that animal was definitely harmed along with the chicken blood provider.
And somehow I forgot about the gorilla scene. That’s so random.
Mr. Vampire II (1986)
Never saw this one before. It starts with a sketchy professor and his two goofy henchmen raiding a tomb and finding three jiangshi - a man, woman. & child. They plan to sell them but are discovered by Lam the exorcist and his assistants, including Yuen Biao, Moon Lee, & Billy Lau, the last two returning from the first film. But these are thematic sequels, all under Lau’s direction. The first film was set in the 1900s. This film is modern times.
There’s a side story about the kid jiangshi who gets discovered by some kids who think he’s a young snake head (illegal immigrant) they take him out to play and the playground scene is meant to be cute & campy.
There’s also another snake gall scene where one hench has a cobra crawl up his pants and when the other hench gets it (after punching him the crotch). Then again, there’s a gall bladder extraction, then the hench who got it, pops the bladder in his mouth and swallows it for real, claiming it’s therapeutic. He later pulls a live frog out of his mouth, also because it’s an herbal curative. There’s a crazy drawn out scene where Yuen is fighting with the mom & pop jiangshi and knocks over a huge bottle of retardant which causes everyone to fight in slow motion for a long drawn out fight scene that’s kinda funny but it goes on too long.
Not D00M recommended.
It’s still good. Each time I watch this, I find myself lol-ing at something different. It’s just so all over the place. Previously I didn’t notice Yuen Wah played the lead jiangshi. He was in full make up all the way through so unrecognizable. I also forgot about the snake bile cutting scene - that animal was definitely harmed along with the chicken blood provider.
And somehow I forgot about the gorilla scene. That’s so random.
Mr. Vampire II (1986)
Never saw this one before. It starts with a sketchy professor and his two goofy henchmen raiding a tomb and finding three jiangshi - a man, woman. & child. They plan to sell them but are discovered by Lam the exorcist and his assistants, including Yuen Biao, Moon Lee, & Billy Lau, the last two returning from the first film. But these are thematic sequels, all under Lau’s direction. The first film was set in the 1900s. This film is modern times.
There’s a side story about the kid jiangshi who gets discovered by some kids who think he’s a young snake head (illegal immigrant) they take him out to play and the playground scene is meant to be cute & campy.
There’s also another snake gall scene where one hench has a cobra crawl up his pants and when the other hench gets it (after punching him the crotch). Then again, there’s a gall bladder extraction, then the hench who got it, pops the bladder in his mouth and swallows it for real, claiming it’s therapeutic. He later pulls a live frog out of his mouth, also because it’s an herbal curative. There’s a crazy drawn out scene where Yuen is fighting with the mom & pop jiangshi and knocks over a huge bottle of retardant which causes everyone to fight in slow motion for a long drawn out fight scene that’s kinda funny but it goes on too long.
Not D00M recommended.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse