A Chinese wuxia horror comedy directed by Ching Sui-tung, starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Jacky Cheung.
An innocent man is imprisoned because of mistaken identity, but his cellmate helps him to escape. Upon reaching freedom, he accidentally steals the horse of a Taoist magician. The 2 meet later at an abandoned temple that turns out to be haunted by a demon. Political rebels also show up and are trying to free the father of 2 sisters, 1 of which looks like the main character's lost love, Sui Sin. The main character, romantic interest, comic relief, rebels and demon all clash at the temple.
This was much slower than the first film in the series. The plot was also far more complex. An hour and 37 minutes is too short for something this cool, but there's still #3 left to watch. Even though there were too many characters with intertwining plot motives, I was actually able to keep track of them relatively well. I can't say much for translated dialogue, but there was a joke about the main character wanting to write on the hands of the sisters and them thinking he wanted to have sex with both of them. The sets were very similar to the first in the series. There was lots of darkness with colored lighting, mostly blue. The decrepit, old temple looked like it was actually old and falling apart instead of being designed to fall apart. Camera-work was very similar to #1 as well, but with much slower editing pace. The demon is not a spoiler. He happens pretty soon and was created quite well. His claws and fangs were obviously the most important part. We also had flying people and weapons and a stone stairway that split apart. There were also magic fire and freeze spells. The audio was easier this time because they slowed it down to a pace that I could read subtitles at. Style was similar to #1 of course. This has a 7/10 on IMDB, 3/5 on AllMovie and 64% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. 65% average is still a failing grade, which I disagree with. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I liked this and see it as a valuable part of the series. I rate it adequate and can't wait to watch #3.
A Chinese wuxia directed by Michael Mak, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Michelle Yeoh, Jimmy Lin, Joey Wong and Donnie Yen.
An old eunuch disguised as another old eunuch tries to destroy a gang of assassins. Some of this gang live together and there are romantic relationship problems.
The hour 22 duration felt like it took forever. The pacing was really choppy, with slow scenes right next to fast ones. The plot was nearly incoherent and the characters were difficult to differentiate. Most of the dialogue and acting were misleading because everyone was either lying or being snarky to one another. What I could see of the sets and costumes looked good. Unfortunately, the copy that I got was pixelated like a motherfucker. I'm talking big, square blocks here. 432 x 224 resolution and 211MB file size may be to blame. Given that information, looking for good camera-work was not top priority while I was watching this. The special effects were as over the top as I expected. There was flying people and items, magic, fire and a building collapse. The audio was not exactly good, but I did like the soundtrack. It was probably the best part. The sound effects were like an old kung fu flick: extremely annoying. Stylistically, this fit the early '90s wuxia mold. It has a 6.1 on IMDB. I rate it tolerable.
A Chinese wuxia directed by Ching Siu-Tung, starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma.
A young debt collector can't afford to stay at an inn, so he spends the night in a "creepy looking old temple". There he meets men fighting with swords and a beautiful woman playing music. It turns out that the woman is a ghost and the swordsman and debt collector try to save her from "the old dame", a tree demoness who forces the ghost woman to lure men to their deaths.
This is the fastest paced film I have ever seen. It makes Kung Fury seem calm and contemplative by comparison. The hour and a half went by very quickly. The plot was clearly communicated and held my attention with ghosts, demons and the undead. Some call this the Chinese Evil Dead. I didn't really have time to get to know the characters because they were always rushing around and speaking like auctioneers. Dialogue was very thick, lots of words per second and acting mirrored this quality. I really liked the old temple set and the town looked authentically ancient China. The camera-work actually did remind me of Evil Dead. There were lots of close ups, creative angles and high contrast imagery. I watched a version dubbed into English, but the soundtrack was awesome. I could tell that it was mostly created using a cheap keyboard and inferior piano skill, but that's what made it so cool. The style was overflowing. Think Bride with White Hair combined with Evil Dead. This won 12/23 awards that it was nominated for, has a 7.6/10 on IMDB and 67% tomatometer and 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Average grade is a 70% C-. I beg to differ. I thought it was full of style, had an interesting plot and did not struggle to hold my attention. The only problem that I found was that it moved way too fast. More like A Chinese Amphetamine Story. I rate this good.
