10-15-2025, 10:38 PM
Alice Cooper put me in the Halloween zone last night so I revisited this classic, arguably the launchpad for the Kung Fu Horror Comedy genre. It’s Sammo being weirdly groundbreaking with his absurd sense of storytelling. He’s a poor chauffeur who’s being cuckolded by his wife with his boss. The boss gets anxious and hires a warlock to kill Sammo by animating jiangshi (hopping vampires) and the hilarity ensues.
I forgot most of the details of this film except for the final fight. Sammo’s Kung Fu bouts with jiangshi are clever and cute - so absurd that the difficulty of some of the long shot sequences is overshadowed. There’s a jiangshi that mimics Sammo, and Sammo tries to get it to hit itself on the forehead with a brick, and I confess that the following slapstick result made me lol. I also forgot the cruelty - the chicken beheading (real), the puppy (offscreen), and the ultimate fate of Sammo’s promiscuous wife (so NPC). The fire stunts were impressive because it was the 80s so real fire and little protection (don't think fire retardant gel had made it to Hong Kong back then).
This is a pivotal film but not the best example of the genre - a must see for cinemasinophioes like me, but not particularly D00M recommended.
I forgot most of the details of this film except for the final fight. Sammo’s Kung Fu bouts with jiangshi are clever and cute - so absurd that the difficulty of some of the long shot sequences is overshadowed. There’s a jiangshi that mimics Sammo, and Sammo tries to get it to hit itself on the forehead with a brick, and I confess that the following slapstick result made me lol. I also forgot the cruelty - the chicken beheading (real), the puppy (offscreen), and the ultimate fate of Sammo’s promiscuous wife (so NPC). The fire stunts were impressive because it was the 80s so real fire and little protection (don't think fire retardant gel had made it to Hong Kong back then).
This is a pivotal film but not the best example of the genre - a must see for cinemasinophioes like me, but not particularly D00M recommended.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse