Exorcist Master
    
Director:  Wu Ma
Year:  1992
Rating: 5.5
Lam Ching-ying returns again as a Taoist priest to save the world from the evils of vampires; but not his usual Hopping Vampires (Jiangshi) but instead the type from the West. For those not versed in Hopping Vampires, they are reanimated corpses usually clothed in attire from Qing period that move by hopping and come out at night looking for blood. There are various ways to combat them, but not any of the West's traditional ways such as a crucifix or a stake through the heart will work. The most common way is to stick a yellow Tao talisman on their forehead which puts them under control. There are shepherds that will lead a line of them back to their final resting places with the talisman firmly in place. These go back to Chinese myths but became a popular feature in Hong Kong films with the release of Mr. Vampire in 1985 after which they became a film craze for a while. Mr. Vampire starred Lam Ching-ying, who Sammo Hung took out of obscurity from his team of martial artists and stuntmen. Lam had loads of small parts in films going back to the Shaw Brothers and the Bruce Lee films - but playing the Taoist priest in numerous films made him a much loved actor in Hong Kong and his early death in 1997 was a time of great mourning in the city.




These HK vampire films tend to be a mix of martial arts, the supernatural, horror and comedy and this one has all that but might lean into comedy too much for the taste of many. One aspect of many of these films is that the Master has under him a less than competent disciple who is constantly causing trouble. That is certainly the case here with two of them - Star and his sister Moon. They are kind of the comic relief but Lam gets stuck with his share as well - at one point dressing up as a woman with her bound feet. The first half is particularly slow with only one good set piece in which the two disciples think they are conning  a man out of money but bring back a revengeful ghost by mistake. But in the second half it gets going and is quite fun. The thing you have to pay attention to is that for all the pratfalls and silliness, the physical skills of Lam and Ngai Sing who plays Star are quite amazing.




The film which takes place in the olden days begins with a Christian priest asking for God's help and for his trouble has a giant crucifix fall off of the church roof and go through him. A few years later a group of Christians arrive to re-open the church - with Wu Ma being the head priest (and also the director of the film). The local Taoist priest warns them that the church is evil but they don't listen. Sure enough the perforated priest from before is now a vampire and he goes to work - even claiming a group of phony Hopping Vampires/drug traffickers as his victims and converts. Lam with his two bumbling disciples has a lot on his hands - but in the end the power of Taoism and Christianity combine their powers to fight the vampire which can now switch back and forth between being a Hopping Vampire and a Western vampire depending on what is being used against him. Certainly not one of the better films in this genre but it has its moments. And Lam is always great to watch.