Aka - Bloodthirsty Dead
Aka - Flying Corpse
This Sun Chung Shaw Brothers kung-fu-horror-supernatural period film doesn't
seem to get much respect from many but I thought it was a hoot. Perhaps from
our present day perspective it may seem like old hat but these types of films
were about to take off in Hong Kong with Sammo Hung being the main driver
directing or producing Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980) followed by The
Dead and the Deadly (1982), the Mr. Vampire films and a ton of imitators.
Martial arts ghost films were hot. This fits very neatly into this category
with its mix of martial arts, the supernatural, comedy and the chaotic crazy
action ghost scenes at the end. Sun Chung could clearly handle all aspects
having made horror, exploitation and martial arts films over his career.
This one should get better play. The ending is a doozy though maybe it takes
too long to get there though there is plenty of martial arts action, betrayal,
conspiracies, sex and torture before then.
When the cat is away the mouse will play. Sergeant Du (Jason Pai-piao) has
been away from his home for a few weeks with his police duties and his wife
(Choh Seung-wan) has been playing house with the wealthy merchant Zeng (Lo
Lieh). They decide though that they want to make it permanent and the only
way to do that is to murder Du. First they set up a trap for him as he is
coming home with a few attackers but after he kills two of them they run
off. Du's supervisor Chief Yang (Ku Feng) doesn't seem all that interested
in investigating. Along side this is the comic relief in the form of three
grave robbers - or at least as funny as grave robbers can be. The scenes
of them digging up corpses to steal any valuables in the coffin are well
done and deliciously ghoulish.
So Plan B goes into effect. Frame Du, torture the hell out of him and then
poison him. Before he dies though he tells his sister (Yau Chui-ling) to
dress his body in red when he is buried. I am not entirely clear why. Usually
the dead are clothed in white and people seemed shocked that he would have
red about him. Is Red for Revenge? But into the ground he goes but not for
long. Our three stooges bless Du, apologize to him and then dig him up. A
surprise is waiting for them. His body partly decayed, his brain expanding
into puss, he stands up and jumps out of the grave giving off a green aura
and he goes flying off looking for revenge against the people who conspired
to kill him.
And it gets very fun, demented and bloody. The Taoist priest (Chan Shen)
is brought in of course with all their tricks and spells but he has a few
himself. Keep a quick eye out for appearances by Mama Hung (mother of Du's
friend), Yuen Wah as one of the henchmen and Yuen Bun as one of the policemen.
