A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)

Am I Missing Something?

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

I did see this movie on German TV, which aired a lot of HK movies, including the part II of this movie. I went to get this movie on VHS and later on on DVD. It is still as impressive as back then. First I must say the effects look cheesy compared to what is possible today, but then again this movie is 25 years old now and on a tight budget compared to Hollywood. As mentioned by some one else, yes there is a cheap beard sticked to Wu Ma (the taoist monk). Yet this is a more of comedy reference to the older HK movies (this movie is a remake of a Shaw Brothers movie from the 60's named The Enchanting Shadow).This is one of the best Wuxia movies out there, tons of swordplay and magic. Thrown in is a tale of romance, some horror, taoism and Buddhism, comedy and the main character Ning Choi-san (played by Cheung) sings a song too. The story tells of a young tax-collector who can't get his job done. Thrown in the violent reality of rural China, he seeks a free sleeping place. He is told of an old temple but what he does not know is that it is haunted. When he arrives a sword fight is taking place between an old taoist monk and a younger swordsman that wants to prove himself. The monk tells Ning Choi-san to go somewhere else to sleep. Ning Choi-san decides to stay at the temple and he meets up with a young woman (Nip Siu-sin) while the younger swordsman, who lost the sword fight, meets up with a demon after being tempted by Nip Siu-sin. Ning Choi-san falls in love with Nip Siu-sin but he finds out she is not alive anymore, but a ghost. Nip Siu-sin and her sister died and now are slaves of a demon that is using the Nip Siu-sin to lure men so they can be devoured by the demon. Ning Choi-san wants to free her and asks the monk for his help.He is were a lot of people fail to read between the lines and see this movie as something told in western tales a 1000 times before. Thing is western tales always have a happy ending. Guy battles demons, rescues girl, girl is no longer a ghost and they live happily ever after. Not here. This is HK cinema.The main character is facing a dilemma. He can be with Siu-sin at night and live out their romance, during the day she needs to return to her urn. Or he can save her soul and she will reincarnate (yes this is about Buddhism) but they will never meet again. Will he choose for love or her freedom?But before the can think about what to do he first needs to rescue Siu- sin from the Dark Lord. The monk decides to help him and they go on to battle the demons that stand in their way.For the fans, there is a 2011 version now. It was re-released (digitaly remastered) after Leslie Cheung died. Also there is a 2011 remake but it seems nowhere as good as this one (I did not see it yet).

This is the story about a tax collector, Ling, who was a little down on his luck. He was caught in the rain and scared off by bandits and as such lost all of his records. So he was caught in a town and could not get the revenue because he did not have the records. As such he was broke and had no place to spend the night so he was sent up to the monastery.This monastery was haunted though. Not only did a ghost haunt the monastery, but a whole heap of ghoulish creatures did as well. The ghouls were quickly disposed of by accident, but the ghost posed a different problem. She was being controlled by a tree demon to bring her men every night. The demon is also forcing her to marry another demon prince, who she does not particularly want to marry.I enjoyed this movie for two reasons: the romance and the fantasy. The one thing I enjoy about Hong Kong horror films is that they are far more fantastic that their western counterparts. This film is set in medieval times and there is lots of monsters and magic around. The eastern fantasy is focused more on spirits and the undead rather than monsters like dragons. There are also Taoist monks who are both warriors and wizards.Wizards in Hong Kong movies are far better than their western counterparts. The spells are much more organised and not composed of fancy wavings of the western ones. As such they suspend my disbelief much more. The magic is far more pronounce, with explosions and flashy effects flying everywhere. A demons die very well: usually in a huge explosion.There is also a romantic element here. Sui Sin, the ghost, is compelled to lure men to their deaths, but these men generally are very lustful and treat women like objects. As such they land up with what they deserve. Ling is a medieval SNAG: he respects Sui Sin and as such Sui Sin respects him and seeks to protect him. As he does not want to force himself upon her, she finds herself attracted to him, and as such is able to plead to help her. It is such relationships that I find enjoyable. It is one that there is a deep love, but one that cannot happen because one is dead. Even so, Ling puts his life in danger, which is a big step for his cowardly character, to prevent her from marrying the demon prince.Just a thought on Chinese ghosts. They seem solid, unlike western ghosts that are non-corporeal. As such it is very easy to mistake them for the living, which Ling does. Anyway, enough of writing this as I want to go and watch the second movie.

this is a great movie. i like it where ning climbs down to get his ink, and the skeletons chase him, but luckily he dodged them, opened the window, and didn't even notice them. xiao qian is very pretty too. & when he stuck the needle up ma Wu's butt, its hysterical. and when he is saying love is the greatest thing on earth while standing between two swords is great too. then also the part where he eats his buns while watching thew guy kill many people. then you see him chanting poems as he ran to escape the wolves. the love scenes are romantic, xiao qian and ning look cute together. add the comic timing, the giant tongue, and u have horror, romance, comedy, all at once. not to mention superb special effects for the 90s.

This is the best Chinese movie I have ever seen, and, in my opinion, a lot better than Hero or Chrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The movie is a unique combination of several genres: It's a beautiful love story, action movie, comedy and horror at the same time. And the most amazing thing is that it really succeeds in all of this!This movie definitely makes it to my top 5, and should be enjoyable to every movie lover. The action sequences do have the traditional unrealistic jumping and even flying, but the way it's shot differs from the style of Hero a lot and the flying always looks great and usually even makes sense (ghosts can fly)See this movie, you won't regret it. 10/10