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➤This English post was first posted on 2023/08/30 on my Tumblr.
➤Btw, 2023/08/30 (the 15th day of the 7th lunar month) is The Ghost Festival (中元節).
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( Long post!! )
It’s been a while, but I found that Kaoru mentioned a lot of classic Hong Kong movies in this tweet.
These are the movies I used to watch when I was a kid, and I never thought I’d ever hear them from Kaoru one day, so I want to give a brief introduction to these movies. 😀
01. スパルタンX (Spartan X)
↳ 繁體中文：快餐車 / English: Wheels on Meals
Wheels on Meals is a 1984 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy film written and directed by Sammo Hung (洪金寶), with action choreographed by Jackie Chan (成龍). The film stars Jackie Chan (成龍), Sammo Hung (洪金寶), Yuen Biao (元彪), Lola Forner, Benny Urquidez and José Sancho.
In 1984, it was adapted into the video game Spartan X (released as Kung-Fu Master internationally).
02. 五福星 (ごふくせい)
↳ 繁體中文：奇謀妙計五福星 / English: Winners and Sinners (or 5 Lucky Stars)
Winners and Sinners is a 1983 Hong Kong action comedy film written and directed by Sammo Hung (洪金寶), who also starred in the film. The film co-stars Jackie Chan (成龍) and Yuen Biao (元彪), the latter serving as one of the film’s action directors.
The film is followed by My Lucky Stars (福星高照) and Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (夏日福星), insofar as the “Five Lucky Stars” concept (福星系列) and many of the same actors return in those latter films. However, the character names and indeed their roles differ - Stanley Fung’s character is the nominal “leader” of the quintet in Winners and Sinners (奇謀妙計五福星), whereas Hung’s character takes the mantle in the latter films.
03. 霊幻道士 (れいげん どうし)
↳ 繁體中文：殭屍先生 (or 暫時停止呼吸) / English: Mr. Vampire
As this is one of my favorite movies, I will introduce more 😃
Mr. Vampire is a 1985 Hong Kong comedy horror film directed by Ricky Lau (劉觀偉) and produced by Sammo Hung (洪金寶).
The vampire of the film is based on the jiang-shi (殭屍/ㄐ一ㄤˉ ㄕˉ), the hopping corpses of Chinese folklore (similar to both zombies and vampires).
“殭” means “to die immortal” (死而不朽) or “stiff” (about the same as “僵”), and “屍” means “dead body”.
The film was released under the Chinese title 暫時停止呼吸 (literally: Hold Your Breath for a Moment) in Taiwan. This is because most (not all) of the 殭屍 can’t see with their eyes, they can only tell where people are by their breathing, so if you hold your breath you won’t get caught by 殭屍.
The box office of Mr. Vampire success led to the creation of a Mr. Vampire franchise, with the release of four sequels directed by Ricky Lau (劉觀偉) from 1986 to 1992, and subsequent similarly themed films with different directors released between 1987 and 1992, with Lam Ching-ying (林正英) as the lead for the majority of them.
The film was the breakthrough success of the jiangshi genre, a trend popular in Hong Kong during the 1980s, and established many of the genre’s recognisable tropes.
I highly recommend this movie!!
Also, I love the the movie song - Ghost Bride (鬼新娘). 👇
04. Mr.Boo
↳ 繁體中文：半斤八両 / English: The Private Eyes
The Private Eyes is a 1976 Hong Kong comedy film written, directed by and starring Michael Hui (許冠文) and co-starring his brothers Samuel Hui (許冠傑) and Ricky Hui (許冠英) as well as Shih Kien (石堅) and Richard Ng (吳耀漢) in his second film role. Sammo Hung (洪金寶) served as the film’s action director and Jackie Chan (成龍) was also a stuntman.
In 1979, when Jiahe Corporation (嘉禾公司) promoted Bruce Lee’s (李小龍) kung fu film in Japan, it added “The Private Eyes” and changed its propaganda department to “Mr Boo!” as a call to action, it became a huge hit, earning a billion yen at the box office in Japan, followed by several Huh Brothers (許氏兄弟) comedies featuring “Mr. Boo!” as the title.
It is worth mentioning that Hsu Kuan-chieh’s (許冠傑) character was voiced by the famous Japanese actor Kitano Takeshi (北野武). In 1981, Takakura Ken (高倉健) starred in “駅 STATION ”, there are also male and female protagonists watching “The Private Eyes” kitchen fighting scenes. Japanese manga master Akatsuka Fujio (赤塚不二夫) has written the preface and Japanese lyrics for this film.
#吳耀漢
↳ 繁體中文：吳耀漢 / English: Richard Ng
Kaoru mentioned 吳耀漢 in the tag because he passed away in April 2023. 吳耀漢 is a famous actor in Hong Kong, and he has appeared in all the movies mentioned above except Mr. Vampire.
※ In fact, 吳耀漢 appeared in 霊幻道士3 (繁體中文：靈幻先生 / English: Mr. Vampire III), a sequel to the Mr. Vampire series, which was released in 1986. I guess this is the movie Kaoru was referring to.
Speaking of 吳耀漢, I would like to recommend another Hong Kong movie: Rigor Mortis
05. Rigor Mortis
↳ 繁體中文：殭屍(2013) or 殭屍 七日重生
Rigor Mortis is a 2013 Hong Kong horror film directed by Juno Mak (麥浚龍) and produced by Takashi Shimizu (清水崇，the director of 呪怨 Juon). The film is a tribute to the Mr. Vampire film series. Many of the former cast are featured in this film: Chin Siu-ho (錢小豪), Anthony Chan (陳友), Billy Lau (樓南光) and Richard Ng (吳耀漢). *吳耀漢 is the 殭屍 on the poster.
Unlike the usual Hong Kong comedies, the overall atmosphere in Rigor Mortis is very depressing. The whole movie is full of nostalgia and reluctance for Mr. Vampire, which reminds people of the glory of Hong Kong jiangshi movies back in the day. Personally, I think it is the best jiangshi movie of the last 20 years.
The Hallway Scene in the movie also uses the song Ghost Bride (鬼新娘), and the song is even more creepy as it slows down. 👇
It’s really happy to know that Kaoru has watched these movies.
💜 Thanks for reading 💜
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