Badasses, Boobs and Body Counts
Home
About/Contact Me
Badasses
Boobs
Body Counts
Everything Else
BBandBC Podcast
The Plot: Mr. Vampire begins by introducing us to businessman Mr. Yam. Mr. Yam hires a Taoist Priest to bless the grave of his father. When the priest and his two dim-witted assistants visit the grave, they find that the corpse had been buried incorrectly leaving the cadaver a target for vampires. In order to keep this from happening, they take the corpse to his warehouse and seal it in a blessed coffin for a future burial.
At the warehouse where the corpse is safe, one of the assistants incorrectly blesses the body and it ends up coming to life hopping away (as most Chinese vampires do). Shortly after this, Mr. Yam’s vampire father comes after him for blood. Meanwhile, the police chief (the nephew of Mr. Yam) incarcerates the priest keeping him near the fresh corpse of Mr. Yam. As Mr. Yam succumbs to the vampire curse returning from the dead, a fight ensues and Mr. Yam is destroyed by fire.
Elsewhere, one of the priest’s assistants is keeping guard over Mr. Yams daughter. He is however attacked by Mr. Yam, the vampire. This attack leads to the assistant slowing turning into a vampire himself. The solution however, according to the priest, is sticky rice. However, we learn that the rice vendor cheated the priest by putting only a small amount of sticky rice in the order (sticky rice keeps the vampires from entering the house when spread on the ground), therefore, Mr. Yam has the run of the place. Last but not least, the priest’s other assistant is being haunted by a beautiful lady ghost.
The Takeaway: Mr. Vampire is a wonderful film, but as wonderful as it is, I had a tough time writing the above plot (without giving the film away). The film is entertaining on many different levels and contains several layers of subtext. It was very successful at the Hong Kong box office and spawned I believe five sequels (that I’m aware of). So what makes it so entertaining? There’s a nice mixture of martial arts, slapstick comedy, horror and adventure. The story, as insane as it gets, is fairly easy to follow despite the many twists and turns that it takes. The films direction, cinematography and set pieces are near perfect and the sets used somewhat reminded me of earlier 70s American International Pictures productions, which of course is a good thing.
Film Facts: Mr. Vampire was directed by Ricky Lau, shot by Peter Ngor and edited by Peter Cheung. The film was distributed by Golden Harvest and was released in November of 1985. As a cinematographer, Peter Ngor has shot films such as Stroke of Death (1979), Return to the 36th Chamber (1980) and Full Contact (1992). Editor Peter Cheung worked on films such as Bruce Lee, the Legend (1977), Police Story (1985), The Legend of Drunken Master (1994) and Rumble in the Bronx (1995).
Ching-Ying Lam as Master Gau had an amazing career in HK cinema. He appeared in films such as Fists of Fury (1971), The Chinese Connection (1972), Slaughter in San Francisco (1974) and The Incredible Kung Fu Master (1979) to name just a few of the 100+ credits on his IMDB resume. Anthony Chan as the Taoist Priest also appeared in many film productions as an actor. You can see him in films such as Heart of a Dragon (1985), Mr. Vampire Saga (1988) and Twin Dragons (1992).
Thoughts In My Head: - I like the idea of hopping vampires - Please call me “Master” from this point on, thanks - These coffins are the size of large Redwoods - There’s just something wrong about wanting to marry your cousin - Hmm, are controlling vampires that easy, sticks a paper spell to the forehead - These vampires are tenacious - Danny does not look good in women’s make-up - Sticky rice is not only edible, it helps keep the zombie vampires out - See, zombie vampires do die from fire
Favorite Badass or Badass Moment: The one eyebrowed Taoist Priest Favorite Boobs or Boobs in a Scene: Sorry kids, no boobs in this one Favorite Death Scene: None as both deaths are somewhat, well, boring
Boob Count: 0 pair Body Count: 2
IMDB Rating: 7.4 / 10 My Rating: 8.0 / 10
Final Thoughts: I am by no means an expert when it comes to films coming out of Honk Kong. I do however know what I like and I like, no wait… love, Mr. Vampire for its quirky style and mix of martial arts, horror and slapstick comedy. As a side note, and since the film has elements of action, comedy and horror, I’m putting it into the everything else category.
Brian October 18, 2012 @ 9:26 am Sounds like a good watch, Master. Reply Mike October 18, 2012 @ 9:35 am A must see as it really did spawn a lot of similar films from HK. Thanks for the comment Brian! Reply Brian October 18, 2012 @ 10:08 am The only problem with Chinese vampires is they’re hungry for blood again an hour later.
Sounds like a good watch, Master.
Mike October 18, 2012 @ 9:35 am A must see as it really did spawn a lot of similar films from HK. Thanks for the comment Brian! Reply Brian October 18, 2012 @ 10:08 am The only problem with Chinese vampires is they’re hungry for blood again an hour later.
A must see as it really did spawn a lot of similar films from HK. Thanks for the comment Brian!
Brian October 18, 2012 @ 10:08 am The only problem with Chinese vampires is they’re hungry for blood again an hour later.
The only problem with Chinese vampires is they’re hungry for blood again an hour later.
James October 19, 2012 @ 9:06 am So if it’s Western vampires we put rock salt on the door, if it’s Oriental vampires we use sticky rice? Just made protecting the house slightly more complicated… Thank you for the advice master :p Reply Mike October 19, 2012 @ 9:45 am C’mon, James. You KNOW THIS! LOL! Reply
So if it’s Western vampires we put rock salt on the door, if it’s Oriental vampires we use sticky rice? Just made protecting the house slightly more complicated…
Thank you for the advice master :p
Mike October 19, 2012 @ 9:45 am C’mon, James. You KNOW THIS! LOL! Reply
C’mon, James. You KNOW THIS! LOL!
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )
You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )
You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )
Connecting to %s
Notify me of follow-up comments via email.
Notify me of new posts via email.
NEW REVIEW >> Black Sabbath (1963) wp.me/p2bXgm-G6 12 hours ago
RT @ Trizdog : Zito driving in a run @ Jeff_Daniels doesn't look good. 12 hours ago
RBI for #9 in the order! 12 hours ago
RT @ maven1974 : Check this out if you wish to hear me talk about some of the most random stuff (and horror, too) with @ DrunkonVHS http:// ... 12 hours ago
RT @ maven1974 : Check out this show because...you know...it's me. Well, in the second half. Thanks, @ DrunkonVHS . Love ya! ;) http:/ ... 12 hours ago
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Join 387 other followers
Black Sabbath (1963)
Mr. Vampire (1985)
BBandBC Podcast EP07 – The Bride of Frankenstein Girl
Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
Psycho II (1983)
BBandBC Podcast EP06 – Nine Cats for the Inferno
My Heroes: Karloff, Lugosi and Chaney
BBandBC Podcast EP05 – Street Kombat
Fly Me (1973)
Louisiana Hussy (1959)
100 Years of Horror
After Movie Diner
Aloha Mister Hand
Andy Sidaris Dot Com
Back on Line Back on Duty
Beardy Freak
Blood Sucking Geek
Cinema Schminema
Cinematic Shocks
Devour the Podcast
EL GORE
Evil Episodes
Exploding Helicopter
Grindstone Grindhouse
Hard Ticket to Home Video
Head in a Vice
Isaac' s Picture Conclusions
Parlor of Horror
Promote Horror
Schlock Treatment
Strictly Splatter.com
The B-Horror Blog
The Last Dragon
The Projection Booth
The Timothy Carey Experience
Tim's Film Reviews
Trash Film Guru
Vic's Movie Den
Wafu FM
Wide Weird World Of Cult Films
Written in Blood
Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.