Chinese Ghost Stories

Fantasy elements

1987

A Chinese Ghost Story

(Sinnui Yauman)

(In Cantonese with English subtitles.)

Leslie Cheung falls in love with ghost Joi Wang

Rating: 2

1990

A Chinese Ghost Story II

(Sinnui Yauman II)

Review

(In Cantonese with English subtitles.)

Leslie Cheung returns as the same character, now a scholar rather than a debt collector, in a wonderful monster fantasy.

This is a great action packed adventure: Cheung's character is falsely imprisoned, escapes with the help of his cell mate, teams up with a ghost hunter, encounters a grisly monster, helps a family (one of whom resembles his lost ghostly love) to rescue their father, and challenges an evil Buddhist priest. In the great finale they all battle a giant monstrous centipede, surfing on flying swords.

This sequel is not as 'haunting' as the first film, but there's lots of jumping and flying about inside houses, various monsters, good fight scenes, great humour (especially the "freezing the monster" and "stolen robe whilst bathing" scenes), and wonderful villains.

Rating: 2.5

1991

A Chinese Ghost Story III

(Sinnui Yauman III)