Sunday, May 22, 2011

Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980, HK)

Starring: Sammo Hung, Wong Ha (Ha Huang), Dick Wei, Lan Ching-ying, Wu Ma, Yuen Biao. Directed by: Sammo Hung.

This movie is one of the most innovative kung fu movies of all time, and one that set the stage for the highly popular "supernatural/zombie kung fu movie" genre of the 1980s and early 1990s in HK, which was essentially a nice mix of horror movie, kung fu movie, and Chinese ghost stories.

In "Encounter of the Spooky Kind", Sammo plays Bold Cheung, a man living in a Chinese village during the 1900s. He works as a rickshaw driver for Master Tam (Wong) who, unbeknownst to Cheung, is sleeping with his wife.

One day Cheung catches his friends peeping through his front door at his wife and Tam making a little time together and naturally goes ballistic. Master Tam flees before Cheung finds out who has been sleeping with his wife and hires the evil priest Chin Hoi to kill him using a little sorcery and voodoo.

Can Bold Cheung survive Chin Hoi's onslaught of black magic spells and hopping zombies? Also, does he get a little help along the way?

This movie is a kung fu classic you won't want to miss, and certainly one of Sammo Hung's greatest movie roles! The supporting cast also play their parts very well in this movie. There are plenty of laughs and kung fu action to go around for everyone. Also, this movie is worth a watch because it gives some fascinating insights (albeit fictional) into Chinese mysticism and black magic.

If you haven't seen this movie, find it and watch it now! Definitely a kung fu movie you've gotta see!

Also known as: 鬼打鬼/Gwai ckui gwai (original Cantonese title-HK), Gui da gui (original Mandarin title-HK), Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind/Spooky Encounters/Ghost Against Ghost (unknown English titles), Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Australian TV title), L'exorciste chinois (France), Encuentros en el más allá (Spain)

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