Hopping Mad: The Mr. Vampire Sequels
Directed by Ricky Lau/Ching-Ying Lam.
Starring Lam Ching-Ying, Siu-Ho Chin, Billy Lau, Fat Chung, Moon Lee, Fung Woo, Richard Ng, and Fong Lui.
SYNOPSIS:
A box set featuring four sequels to the Chinese martial arts horror/comedy classic Mr. Vampire.
It has taken nearly three years but the wizards at Eureka have finally put out a box set featuring ‘some’ of the sequels to 1985s hugely influential martial arts/horror comedy mash up Mr. Vampire to sit snugly upon your shelf in perfect harmony. ‘Some’, because Mr. Vampire, like Italian masterpieces Demons and Zombie Flesh Eaters, has so many sequels, spin-offs, rip-offs and homages – most of them unofficial – that a comprehensive box set containing them all would be impossible (but welcome nonetheless).
However, this set contains three official sequels – 1986s Mr. Vampire II, Mr. Vampire III from 1987 and Mr. Vampire Saga IV from 1989, all directed by Ricky Lau – and actor Lam Ching-Ying’s thematically-similar but unrelated Vampire vs. Vampire from 1989, the set strangely omitting Ricky Lau’s Mr. Vampire 1992, the only sequel that is actually a ‘proper’ follow-on from the original movie.
So what do we have in this set? It would be churlish to say that we get more of the same hopping vampire silliness that Mr. Vampire excelled in but the short-hand answer is that these movies are exactly that, but given that Mr. Vampire managed to balance the action, horror and comedy in a way that kept it entertaining throughout, do these movies up the ante or do they follow the traditional rule of diminishing returns? A bit of both, if truth be told.
Mr. Vampire II is set firmly in modern times, unlike the period setting of the original, and sees a team of archaeologists discover the preserved bodies of a vampire family, consisting of mum, dad and little vampire junior. Naturally, the paper spells keeping them quiet are removed and hilarity ensues as the chief professor and his two idiot students try to keep control. This, however, is only sub-plot one as there is another thread about the child vampire escaping and befriending the children of a man who lives nearby, the two plot threads coming together at the end when series star Lam Ching-Ying as Master Lam (he was Master Gau in the previous movie) does his supernatural kung-fu thing.
Upping the comedy and toning down the horror, Mr. Vampire II is the most light-hearted movie in this set; in fact, you could say it is almost family friendly as there is very little in the way of gore, violence or anything even slightly dark or twisted. However, don’t let that put you off because, despite the goofy tone, Mr. Vampire II really is quite a hoot – after all, how could it not be? It has hopping vampires, and it actually manages to stay quite funny throughout. You can bet that Hollywood wouldn’t make a slapstick comedy featuring a ten-minute slow-motion chase but Ricky Lau did, and it wasn’t annoying after the first few minutes.
Lam Ching-Ying returns in Mr. Vampire III, only this time he plays Uncle Nine, a Taoist priest, who takes on the hopping vampires with Uncle Ming (Richard Ng), also a Taoist priest but one who isn’t as devout or successful in his supernatural skills as Nine. Ming has two ghostly companions who follow him round but he is forced to dispense with them after Nine convinces him that he must be rid of them as they will give him nothing but trouble, but on their own the ghosts become the victims of Devil Lady, a witch who leads a gang of bandits who have supernatural powers, which brings the two priests together as the evil witch comes to town to free two of her slaves from prison. Can Uncle Ming step up and be as powerful as Uncle Nine to help his spirit friends?
Well, you’ll just have to watch but Mr. Vampire III is a vast improvement over the previous movie, bringing back the horror and the action as well as keeping up the laughs and bringing back the period setting. Lam Ching-Ying is confirmed as the hero of the series by this point, his monobrowed priest character now an icon, and Richard Ng is wonderful as the inept Uncle Ming, being extremely likeable despite making some very dumb decisions. The tone of this one is a lot more bizarre than the previous movie, and the addition of the Devil Lady to the ever-growing roster of villains for Lam Ching-Ying to face off against was a masterstroke as she is extremely creepy, although her minions are ghosts rather than vampires. It might be half-a-beat behind the original in terms of consistency, but fans of that movie certainly won’t be disappointed with this fun and weird sequel.
Which leads us into Mr. Vampire Saga IV, and this is where the wheels drop off a bit as the first half of the movie is a kung-fu comedy about a Taoist priest and a Buddhist priest who live next door to each other and don’t get on. Their respective students who live with them do but the vibe is very much that of a 1970s sitcom as the two warring priests play pranks on each other for the first 50 minutes. Naturally, this is all a setup for when they have to eventually team up, and they do, which leads to a final act that picks up the pace and throws everything it can into the mix, going a little bit Evil Dead II with the slapstick humour, but it all feels a bit too-little-too-late as the pacing is way off, the comedy not very funny and the movie is sorely lacking Lam Ching-Ying, who sat this one out. It has moments but the odd tone just doesn’t hit.
And then there is Vampire vs. Vampire, which brought Lam Ching-Ying back as the lead actor and director. In this one, Ying’s One-Eyebrow Priest and his two students discovers that the water supply in the nearby village has been contaminated by bats, leading to an excavation that unearths the corpse of a European vampire. Of course, blood is spilled on the corpse and the old Count is soon going on the rampage, although he is not the only supernatural being causing trouble as there is also a countess, various ghosts and a child vampire who likes to misbehave, all giving our hero the runaround.
Trying to tap into the same vibe as Mr. Vampire III with its Scooby-Doo-ish collection of ghouls, Vampire vs. Vampire is a bit of a mess, trying to do a lot with so very little and none of it meshing in a satisfactory way. Lam Ching-Ying is fantastic as usual but the plot is too meandering and the humour just does not work at all, even with the introduction of a very rotund nun character, which makes it feel a bit Carry On… but without the charm. However, the action is very good, and the final act when One-Eyebrow Priest goes up against the Count is great fun, with Lam Ching-Ying busting out some moves that Jackie Chan would be proud of, and the abrupt ending seems is very odd but also extremely amusing.
All of which makes this box set a whole heap of fun if jiangshi (hopping corpse) movies are your thing, even the lesser ones. Mr. Vampire III is the obvious standout, blending the horror, action and comedy in a similar fashion to the original, but the other movies all have their merits, and even the less impressive Mr. Vampire Saga IV is still worth a watch and certainly a lot better than some of the non-franchise knock-offs that the original Mr. Vampire inspired. Extras come in form of two short featurettes on the hopping vampires and their influence – which also includes a genuine Taoist priest giving an explanation as to why hoping vampires became a movie monster in the first place – and if you want some genuine comedy then the English dub for Mr. Vampire II is definitely worth selecting. Initial prints also come with a O-Card slipcase featuring gloriously garish new artwork and a collector’s booklet containing writings on the movies and the jiangshi phenomenon by James Oliver.
If you purchased Eureka’s excellent release of Mr. Vampire then you owe it to yourself to pick up this set for even more ghostly jiangshi shenanigans, and so you can double-bill the original with Mr. Vampire III for a truly spectacular evening of weirdness. These movies won’t appeal to everyone – because Chinese kung-fu vampire comedies aren’t exactly the pinnacle of mainstream appeal – but Eureka’s dedication to bringing these HD restorations to the public should be supported, and if you do fancy trying something different then the Mr. Vampire movies are a wonderful place to start. Now, about that Mr. Vampire 1992 Blu-ray…
Flickering Myth Rating – Mr. Vampire II – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Flickering Myth Rating – Mr. Vampire III – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Flickering Myth Rating – Mr. Vampire Saga IV – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Flickering Myth Rating – Vampire vs. Vampire – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
