Sayonara Cinema

MR. VAMPIRE (1985) A Taoist Priest has been called upon to inspect the reburial of a businessman..s grandfather. The Priest realizes that the corpse has become a vampire, and begins his preparations to put the soul to rest. But the body awakens before he can finish his magic spells, and it escapes to spread terror in the town. In a courageous act, the priest takes control of several other corpses to use as a small militia to stop the vampire. Meanwhile, one of the Priest..s assistants has fallen under the romantic spell of a ghost and must be saved before he forever becomes her slave, while the other has become infected by a vampire bite and must be kept under constant supervision to reverse the transformation.

This is the film solely responsible for igniting the hopping vampire craze that swept across Hong Kong cinema in the late 80..s and early 90..s. It also created the typecast role for Lam Ching-Ying, who would go on to forever be remembered as the One Eye-Browed Priest. This is a Hong Kong horror in the purest sense, and successfully pulls off the blend of scares and laughs required. The film goes into incredible detail portraying the rites of a Taoist Priest, and fight scenes are incredibly fun as the hopping vampires get out of control. Many sequels and rip-offs followed, but few came close to capturing the initial impact of their originator.

This is one of my all time favorite Hong Kong films. It is an absolute blast and highly recommended for those sick of long-haired-ghost-girls, and those interested in Eastern mythology and folklore.