A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) ****

A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) is a wildly imaginative, whacked-out romantic horror comedy fantasy, with elements of wuxia, directed by Siu-Tung Ching of Duel To The Death (1983) (review) fame. A tender love story, a goofy slapstick riot, a delirious fright fest, and a badass action extravaganza all rolled into one, this flick goes to hell and back (literally)!

The movie moves at a breakneck pace and features frenetic editing (which isn't an anomaly in pictures of this ilk), which is usually off-putting to me, but here it works in its favor. I will admit, it was difficult to keep up at times, ACGS is very nonsensical, and I was a tad worried that the film would run out of steam, but quite the opposite happened and it got even better in the second half. There is just a lot going on in this motion picture and most of it is of the awesome variety (including one insanely long and dangerous tongue).

ACGS desperately deserves a U.S. and/or U.K. Blu-ray (it was just released on the format in Germany this year, so fingers crossed) to let the visuals really shine (plus it needs better subtitles than the version that was watched tonight). I definitely want to check out the sequels.

Recommended for fans of Encounter Of The Spooky Kind (1980),  The Evil Dead (1981) (review), and Mr. Vampire (1985) (and its sequels).

"Heaven and Earth are limitless!"