Surprisingly, the film more than lives up
to its title. That is all you really need to know. It is a jack-in-the-box
of wonderful weirdness that never stops. Perhaps giving it 8 stars is rather
absurd and silly but I just appreciate a film where anything and everything
gets thrown into the pot in a way that could only have been made in Hong
Kong. Once upon a time. I can't see this being made today. But it was a period
in HK films in which they were being very inventive - the New Wave, Tsui
Hark, Cinema City and the Seven Fortune films (Jackie, Sammo and Yuen Biao)
taking martial arts to a different place. This is so much fun - ridiculous
for sure but how can you not love a film that has massive amounts of kung-fu
mixed in with ghosts, vampires, wizards, pulling the hearts out of copulating
couples, killer zombies, spells that make people invulnerable by spitting
blood into their face, sexy girls throwing their panties at the Wizard and
more kung-fu. And it is as non-stop madness as a film is legally allowed
to be by section 5 paragraph 4 of the penal code. I wish I had a better copy
- mine was murky and dubbed. You are never sure if it is bad dubbing when
a fellow who has been almost beaten to death by three adversaries says to
their question "Is he dead?" - "three against one. Of course I am dead" and
dies.
This is another revenge your father film but with a twist. It is the seventh
month of the lunar holiday and all the ghosts are given a get out of Hell
card to be redeemed any time. They come on out to eat all the treats that
people have so kindly left out for them. But Chun Sing (Billy Chong) also
receives a visit from his father. His dead father. Who asks him to revenge
his death by killing his murderer many years before. Why he waited so long
is hard to say - perhaps time is confusing when you are dead - but
Chun just tells mom (Ou-Yang Sha-fei - Shaw actress) hey I have to go kill
the man that killed dad. His ghost just made a request. Ok son but be careful.
Good motherly advice.
He gets to the man's home which is protected by a large number of men plus
a wizard. This is Kam played by another Shaw once upon a time star, Lo Lieh,
and the wizard is played by Addy Sung, who is quickly becoming a favorite
and was also in the Billy Chong vehicle, Crystal Fist. Chun doesn't mess
around - he walks right in with a swagger and declares that he is here to
kill Kam. Ha, ha, ha. And proceeds to beat every one up till the Wizard and
his spells steps in. So how to fight a wizard. Wake up the dead and pay them
to attack him. The Wizard counters with a gweilo vampire. Chun counters with
garlic. A draw but he is helped in the fight by a government official (Alan
Chui - who in the 1980s and 90s became a regular villain in triad films).
It just gets better. A few terrific scenes take place in a graveyard with
bones reaching out of their unmarked graves, some fabulous martial arts,
the scene with the dead, the zombie, the Wizard and Chun goes on for a long
while and keeps throwing curve balls, Chong's fight against Lo Lieh is a
treat. Obviously not a film for most - but it tickled me pink.