Original Post: 11 May 2010
Edited with excerpts from www.greencine.com
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| Chinese Vampires, Complete with background heart beat sounds as they jump around in the middle of the night in some deserted house in some deserted Chinese village |
When we were kids, living in Fairways, there was such a feeling of excitement in the air whenever the wind blows, if its late at night, and by late I mean 10pm as a kid, we would be spooked, as we waited for the vampire shows to come on at 10.30pm, as we watched the movie as a family together with father, on his rosewood furniture, being freaked out even to go to the toilet...
Thinking about it, was so much fun, how I long for doing something again for the first time, looking forward to something, or just being excited and plain silly and being a kid all over again : )
Mr Vampire Trailer:
Mr Vampire Series
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| Mr Vampire 1985 |
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| Mr Vampire II |
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| Mr Vampire III |
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| Mr Vampire Saga IV |
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| One of my all time favourites... 五鬼... something |
Chinese Vampires Facts! (excerpts from http://www.greencine.com/)
Rule 1: Vampires Hop. Stiffened by death, the undead are not known for their agility. Instead, they hop, arms outstretched. Obviously, hopping monsters are not all that threatening, which is probably the main reason Hung used them for comic effect.
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| Ricky Hui burns incense to placate the dead in Mr. Vampire. |
Indeed, Chinese vampires (sometimes called gyonshi or jiang shi by fans) are not what most people consider vampiric. They generally don't suck blood; instead, they stab their victims with long blue/black fingernails. They don't transform into bats or fear garlic. They don't have bug-eating assistants or chase after long-lost loves. They are often blind and use their nose to find their victims, who can be treated with sticky rice and snake wine. They aren't killed by crosses or stakes, but by a combination of magic and kung fu. And no monster is truly dead until it explodes.
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Gyonshi at rest.
The paper that looks like a post-it note is a spell that immobilizes them. |
Rule 4: The Taoist priest is the star. Lam Ching Ying, a gifted actor, thrilling fighter and opera student (watch 1981's The Prodigal Son for a full sampling of Lam's abilities) had a roles in Sammo's earlier horror comedies, but in Mr. Vampire, he finally assumed the role of the Taoist priest, a role that controlled the next twelve years of his life (he died, at the age of 45, of liver cancer in 1997).
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| Lam Ching Ying in the costume, and eyebrow, that would define the last twelve years of his life. |
In nearly every film, Lam's priest is a combination of magician and stern kung fu master. Grumpy, but hiding a tender heart, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the spells and rituals that became increasingly complex throughout the development of the vampire comedy. He's also recognizable by his bizarre eyebrows (or, more commonly, unibrow). Lam would go on to star or appear in at least 15 vampire comedies before his death, and his priest is often cited as a highlight of every single film.
Rule 5: The Priest will have two bumbling assistants. One will be especially bumbling and ineffectual, the other will be somewhat irresponsible but have kung fu skills when the need arises.
Really, a Taoist priest's life would be so simple without his students. He captures an evil vampire and their silly games free it again. He starts a ritual and they've bought the wrong kind of rice. He tells them not to fall prey to beautiful women (see Rule 2) and they go off and get possessed. Almost invariably it is the assistants' mistakes that free the villainous vampire and set the plot in motion.
But the second, less ineffectual assistant is always there with an impressive kick or stunt when the time is right. Mr. Vampire follows the example of Spooky Encounters by interweaving impressive fight choreography with the vampires and comedy, another reason the physically gifted Lam Ching Ying was so popular in the priest role.
List of DVDs Collection:
- Exorcist Master [Lin Zhen Ying] (Qu Mo Dao Zhang)
- Hocus Pocus [Lin Zhen Ying] (Ren Xia Gui)
- Magic Cop [Lin Zhen Ying] (Qu Mo Jing Cha)
- Mortuary Blues [Sandra Ng] (Shi Jia Zhong Di)
- -> (Missing) Mr Vampire [Lin Zhen Ying]
- Mr Vampire 2 (Jiang Si Jia Zhu)
- -> (Missing) Mr Vampire 3 [Lin Zhen Ying]
- Mr Vampire 4 [Lin Zhen Ying]
- Spiritual Trinity [Lin Zhen Ying] (Ren Gui Shen)
- Spooky Encounters [Samo Hung] (Gui Da Gui)
- Tai Chi in the Body [Lin Zhen Ying] (Tai Ji Zong Shi)
- The Chinese Ghostbuster [Lin Zhen Ying] (Zhong Dao Jia 'Dong')
- The Dead & the Deadly [Samo Hung]
- The Trail ('Zhui Gui Qi Xiong')
- -> (Missing) Vampire Vs Vampire [Lin Zhen Ying] (Er Mei Dao Ren)
Hope this post brings back some fond childhood memories : )
Request:
If you happen to come across this post and your a fan as well, i am still looking around for an old school horror movie called 'Ghost Pull Leg' (Chinese translation) which was the movie that made me have a phobia of swimming for years ^^.
Please contact me if you have it!
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