The Yam family has had a recent streak of bad fortune, so Taoist priest Kau is asked perform the reburial of one of the family's older members. At the funeral, Kau notice that the corpse has blue fingernails and has turned into a vampire. He takes the coffin and the corpse back home, and with the help from his two assistants, he tries to fix the problem, but somehow the vampire manages to escape. Not only is there a vampire on the loose, but one of Kau's assistants is infected and starts to turn into a vampire as well. And at the same time his other assistant has a female ghost chasing after him.
Mr. Vampire is a super entertaining HK cult film, that has a good mix between slapstick comedy and horror. It's way more fun that it is scary, but it has all these horror elements that makes it a horror movie as well. There are some scenes, especially one that's a little bit creepy, but other than that, it's humour mixed with martial arts action all the way.
A really good thing here is that the vampires are not your usual western gothic vain types of vampires, but actual Chinese vampires that are somewhat different and more interesting to watch. The opening sequence will tell you all about that. There are so many things going on in the movie, you could see it as some type of side-stories, but at the same time they blend into the overall story perfectly. There's the story about the actual vampire that escapes, and he's the one contributing with some of the more real horror that the movie has to offer. At the same time one of Kau's assistants is infected and they have to help him out before he turns.
Another story is about the other assistant who encounters a female ghost whom he falls for, something that Kau does not approve of. This story is a little bit similar to A Chinese Ghost Story, but only for the fact that a guy falls for a female ghost. This assistant who falls for the ghost is the smartest of the two. The other assistant is a little bit dumb, and adds a lot of comical happenings to the movie itself.
 
Some HK flicks has a tendency to overdo it when it comes to how to deliver comedy, and even though it might be funny, sometimes it might feel like too much. Mr. Vampire works all the way when it comes to that, as it delivers the comedy perfectly between all the other things that are going on. So even if the humour might feel a little bit childish at times, there are so many scenes where the humour works to a hundred percent.
The fact that it mixes martial arts and horror with slapstick makes you get a little of everything. The movie has some really cool fighting sequences, but that sometimes manages to be really funny as well. Sometimes it switches over completely to being full-on scary, but shortly after a scene that delivers excellent slapstick comes along and everything turns fun again.
There's for instance one scene early on in the movie where Kau is supposed to have English Tea with the man who asks him to perform the reburial. He has no idea what English Tea really is and how to behave, so he takes the dumber one of his assistants with him, so the assistant can embarrass himself without Kau embarrass himself first. When they arrive at the place they are served coffee with a cup of milk on the side, and they have no idea on how one's supposed to drink it. It's great fun and the movie has so many of these things to offer, plus all the great martial arts action scenes and more.
Mr. Vampire is a great HK slapstick horror comedy, and if you haven't seen it but intend to do so, don't expect a horror movie, just expect a HK comedy that has some horror feel to it. First and most this is a comedy, so if you're not ready for it, it may not work. It is truly an original movie that has influenced a lot of movies after its release, and if you haven't seen it yet, you should look it up. Highly recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Mr. Stiff Corpse, Geung si sin sang
MOVIE YEAR: 1985
DIRECTOR: Ricky Lau
WRITING CREDITS: Ricky Lau, Chuek-Hon Szeto
GENRE: Horror, Comedy, Action, Martial Arts
CAST: Ching-Ying Lam, Siu-hou Chin, Ricky Hui
COUNTRY: Hong Kong
RUNTIME: 96 min
RATING: 9/10
Mr. Vampire Website/IMDB Click here
Mr. Vampire Trailer Click here
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