Kung Fu Zombie (1982, HK)

Starring: Billy Chong, Chan Lau, Kwan Young Moon, Cheng Kang-Yeh, Wang Yu. Directed by: Hua Yi-Jung

"Kung Fu Zombie" is one of the most noteworthy flicks to come out of the "supernatural kung fu" craze of the 1980s/early 1990s in Hong Kong. While it lacks the big budget of Sammo Hung's classic "Encounter of the Spooky Kind" or Ricky Lau's "Mr. Vampire", it more than makes up for it in the relentless humor that will have you rolling on the floor laughing throughout all the movie and of course, through the awesome kung fu scenes.

In "Kung Fu Zombie", Billy Chong plays Pang, a young man who has foiled the attempts of a local criminal's attempts at a robbery. This criminal attempts to get his payback on Pang by hiring a priest to raise a group of zombies to kill him after challenging him to a fight at a local cemetery. However, the plan goes horribly wrong and the criminal is killed instead!

The criminal's ghost tries desperately to find a new body and come back to life...and wreaks havoc with the bumbling priest while looking!

Meanwhile, Pang has problems with his own starting with his dad. When a family with a vendetta comes to town looking for dear old Dad, Pang's problems only get worse.

"Kung Fu Zombie" is a hilarious "geung si movie" (meaning "stiff corpse movie", or a zombie movie in Cantonese) that only gets better every time you watch it. If you're lucky enough to find a copy, watch it ASAP!

Also known as: Woo lung tin see chiu chik gwai (original Cantonese title-HK), Wu long tian shi zhao ji gui (original Mandarin title-HK), Wu long tian shi zgui da gui (Mandarin poster title-HK)

Supernatural Kung Fu Movie Articles

Three weeks ago, an excellent article was written by Jacob Walker for the Den of Geek website and a week ago, a follow-up article was written by Ryan Lambie for the same website about the movie that sparked the whole genre in the '80s: "Encounter of the Spooky Kind".

Both of these articles make for some very interesting reading and I thought I'd share those with you for your reading pleasure:

Celebrating the world of supernatural kung fu
Looking back at Encounters Of The Spooky Kind


Enjoy!

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)