Ma yi chuan qi

This Hong Kong horror flick was billed as the sequel to the hilarious and entertaining Spooky Family, which starred Kent Cheng, Pauline Wong, Nina Li Chi and Lung Chan. Cheng and Chan both appear in this film as well, however, playing different characters. Aside from the title, this movie has no relation whatsoever to the previous film and is, in my opinion, less entertaining and less funny.

The main ghost in the movie, the evil Earth Devil King (Lung Chan), is definitely a force to be reckon with, horrific looking, punching people around and out to suck the blood of young women - quite scary elements to the plot. And, the ghost of a young women out to warn her benefactor and his sister and friends about the demon's wrath is a nice addition to the plot. However, the movie suffers from less amusing characters, less entertaining plot and mild comedy.

Kent Cheng as the head priest is rather funny at times and really carried the film, along with his character brother Shi Wu (Kenny Ho). But, the doctor character that got seduced by the female ghost, Brother Bian (Cheung Kwok-Keung), was rather mediocre and his sister, Fu Rong (Joan Tong), was an annoying snob who loved to slap poor Shi Wu around. There's really no connection between the two characters, who were supposed to play boyfriend and girlfriend.

Overall, it's a very average film with the occasional riveting horror moments, but mild comedy, lesser excitement and lesser entertainment brought down the film quite a bit.

Grade C-