Written by Roy Szeto Wai-Cheuk and Tsui Hark, starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Jacky Cheung, Joey Wong, Lau Shun, Lau Siu-Ming and Nina Li Chi. Directed by Ching Siu-Tung, produced by Tsui Hark, with action by Ching Siu-Tung, Yuen Bun, Ma Yuk-Sing and Cheung Yiu-Sing. A Film Workshop/Golden Princess Amusement Co. Ltd production.
Chinese poster
Not the smoothest complexion I’ve ever seen
Set a hundred years after the events of the first movie, the tree demon is on the loose again, controlling some beautiful ghosts. The hero this time is a Buddhist monk nicely played by Tony Leung, and Joey Wong is once again the ghostly love interest.
A smiling monk (Leung) and his master
The ghostly heroine (Wong) and the tree demon
German DVD cover
The original A CHINESE GHOST STORY from 1987 was a horror-martial-arts-ghost-comedy-romance that masterfully merged all its elements very well. This sequel, on the other hand, is far more weighted towards romantic slapstick comedy and is less focused on the sword fights and monsters. This is a shame as the tree demon’s giant killer tongue returns in this movie, but is not used as much as it could have been.
Japanese poster
We do get some brief monstrous moments, though, when a temple building comes to life and the giant stone head of a mountain demon is briefly seen.
A mountain demon’s stony face roars
A temple ‘comes to life’ and grows ‘limbs’
There’s some novel stuff to look out for too, like the master monk stretching his earlobes to cover his eyes when he’s caught by the tree demon: this ‘ear technique’ is quite weird looking!
The Buddhist master extends his earlobes so that they can cover his eyes!
There’s also a ghost girl who can extend her fingernails super-long, but this movie, ultimately, though it boasts some winning performances, simply lacks the heart, the verve and the visual flair of the far better original.
Directed by Teddy Robin Kwan, written by Philip Cheng, Gerald Liu & Yuen-Leung Poon, starring Samuel Hui, Ti Lung, Teddy Robin Kwan, Joey Wong and Bruce Baron.
Ti Lung, Samuel Hui and Joey WongFighting on top of a plane!
Also known as THE LEGEND OF WISELY, the film’s hero, Wisely (Hui), helps a very short mate steal a sacred pearl from some monks in Nepal, which involves lots of acrobatic fighting. Wisely, who is an adventurer-photographer-science-fiction writer, then becomes involved with an underworld boss and his sister.
Poster
A space vessel, with a dragon-shaped head, takes to the sky
The middle portion of this Hong Kong movie is, unfortunately, rather uninteresting, though things get livelier once the action returns to Nepal…
That ain’t really a pearl, kid…
Here we get a monk-burning, humanoid alien, who wants the ‘pearl’ back because it is, in fact, a solar piloting computer for his spaceship. Finally, the stellar vessel bursts out of the side of a mountain, in the (basic) shape of a dragon, and flies the nasty alien home.
The nasty extraterrestrial dude (Bruce Baron) sets monks aflameImmolated monks fall to their doomThat big spike of ice is gonna break, dudes…
The film boasts some decent sets and includes novel action moments, such as a fight atop an aircraft that’s ready to take off, but the mishmash of genre elements, including kung fu, car chases, exotic location-hopping, science-fiction & adventure, doesn’t really come off and, even though a lot of effort was put into the production, the story just runs out of steam, but effects designer Yiu Yau Hung’s fleetingly seen dragon ship is rather nice to look at.
The ‘dragon’ ship flies out of the clouds
Here are some posters for the movie…
Thai poster
A niiiiiiice UK poster
A novel Hong Kong poster
German poster
Some VHS, DVD and Blu-ray covers…
Japanese VHS sleeve
I’m sure there isn’t a Star Destroyer in this film…
A giant tongue sprouts a toothy mouth and tentacles!
A tax collector (Leslie Cheung) travels to a rural town and ends up taking shelter in a creepy, deserted temple in the forest. Here he encounters a beautiful young woman (Joey Wong) and falls in love with her. A Taoist priest (Wu Ma), however, informs our hero that this woman is a ghost… and it is soon revealed that she is under the control of an evil Tree Demon.
Poster
Shrivel-faced zombie!
Directed with kinetic panache by Ching Siu-Tung, this film is a horror-romance-martial-arts-comedy-actioner that is crammed with atmosphere, emotion, gravity defying swordplay and some goofball physical comedy.
Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong
Its mix of Asian story elements (beautiful flying ghosts, a Taoist priest-swordsman, etc) and western filming techniques (Sam Raimi-esque roving cameras and some gooey FX) make this Hong Kong production an enormously entertaining watch, with Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma all perfect in the leading roles.
Wu Ma performs a very acrobatic Taoist rap!
Joey Wong is a standout playing the sexy-yet-vulnerable ghost, flying about the stylishly-lit locations in her flowing silk robes. There is a wonderful moment where she gives Leslie Cheung’s character (who is having to hide from her evil ‘sisters’ underwater) a slow motion kiss that is also providing him with much-needed air. (This is my all-time favourite screen kiss!)
The mysterious ghost-girl
And, of course, we shouldn’t forget the shrivelled stop-motion corpses in the temple. These undead dudes shuffle around the building in the early part of the film, trying to get hold of the hero, but thanks to a series of comedic, lucky mishaps he remains completely unaware that the zombies are there, eventually killing them with sunlight without ever noticing them!
Stop-motion corpses in the attic!Another shot of the stop-motion zombiesFull-scale zombie head used for close-ups
The ancient tree spirit villain is a great antagonist, appearing as a cross-dressing dame or a gigantic human tongue. At one point the tip of the huge tongue splits, becomes a toothed maw with a face at the back of the jaws, with tentacles sprouting everywhere!
The tree demon!
Giant tongue erupts through the floor!
80s Hong Kong madness!
Produced by the legendary Tsui Hark, the film’s plot is loosely based on a tale from writer Pu Songling’s short story collection STRANGE STORIES FROM A CHINESE STUDIO. That ghost yarn was originally adapted for the screen in 1960 as the Shaw Brothers film THE ENCHANTING SHADOW, a movie that was an influence on Hark when he made his own version of the tale in 1987.
I was really impressed with A CHINESE GHOST STORY when I first saw it in the cinema back in 1987. With its effortless merging of genres, a haunting score and a finale featuring the heroes battling it out in the netherworld to save the heroine, the movie turned me into an avid, obsessed Hong Kong movie fan!
Wu Ma is especially good as the sword-fighting monk
Japanese poster
Awesome stuff!
Netherworld finale!
(If you hunt this down to watch, make sure you see the perfectly-formed ’87 version and not the remake)
One more look at the undead corpses in the attic!
Episode 79 of MOVIESTRUCK…
MOVIESTRUCK is a New York-based podcast about movies and the people who watch them – and this episode features me, along with Eastern Heroes magazine publisher Ricky Baker, talking to host Sophia Ricciardi about the utterly amazing A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987). You can listen to it HERE!
Devoted to every kind of movie and TV monster, from King Kong to Godzilla, from the Blob to Alien. Plus monsters from other media too, including books and comics.
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