Eegah Guy

If you've seen the movie that this is a sequel to then you know how wild & wacky the Chinese horror genre can be, but there's no inspiration to be found in this sorry sequel. There needs to be a balance in the horror/comedy ratio for these movies to work and this movie is loaded with way too much comedy filler, which really isn't that comedic when there's no horror to go with it. Sandra Ng can usually be counted on to be funny in anything but she's given very little to do here. This movie has all the evidence of being a rushed production. Recommended only to diehard Chinese vampire movie completists (like me).

The original MR. VAMPIRE is considered the best Chinese horror/comedy ever and it's no surprise that it inspired so many sequels and copycat imitations back in the 80s. The first sequel was gentler and more family-oriented while the second sequel really pumped up the horror elements. This third sequel is a return to the style of the original with a perfect balance of the scary and the silly. I've seen this movie four times now and it's still as entertaining as it was the first time. A real treat for HK action movie fans is seeing Yuen Wah (usually typecast as the ultra-tough bad guy) playing a VERY effeminate character. Another unique element to the movie is its comedic take on the differences between Taoism and Buddhism as the two masters try to outdo each other, especially funny during the "voodoo" doll sequence. Another profoundly silly moment has the two masters throwing food at each other which ends up with Wu Ma blowing beans out of his nose into the mouth of the Taoist. There's comedy, action and horror! Something for everybody!

I saw this movie last week and I just can't get it out of my head. It's a feature-length video document of all the street preachers and religious fanatics that used to hang out on 42nd Street before Disney cleaned it up. The vignettes range from scary (black militants advocating a genocidal religious war against the white man) to ridiculous (a man who thinks he's Jesus and is predestined to marry Madonna) to comical (another man dressed as a priest carries a huge stuffed Mickey Mouse into the Times Square Disney Store yelling "Mickey Mouse is the Anti-Christ!"). It's sad how this parade of humanity uses religious fervor to mask their racial intolerance or mental illness. At various times the director claims to being a Jew and then a Buddhist so it's unclear as to his origins of faith. As this video was shot around 1993-94, we get depressing footage of those grand old 42nd St. grindhouse theaters being torn down and a family-owned hot dog stand with it.