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If there is one rule that consistently defines Hong Kong cinema it is that if one movie is a success, then there shall be a constant stream of rip-offs until the next big smash. So if you’ve seen one Hong Kong Vampire movie then chances are you’ve seen quite a few. Just occasionally though we get a pleasant surprise and someone decided to do something a little different with the formula. “Vampire’s Breakfast” is one such example. Whilst the title conjures up images of a Saturday morning cooking show for the undead, it is in fact a feature that deserves to be awoken from its coffin and rediscovered.

There is a vampire loose in Hong Kong. Reporter Piao (Kent Cheng) unwittingly becomes involved as several bodies are discovered and the witness that he finds (Kwan Chiu-chung), proves to be unreliable. Both now forced to prove themselves,...

Having a movie that revolves around a tragic love story whose actual protagonists and Hong Kong cinema legends tragically died 15 years later have deemed “Rouge” a legendary film. Apart from its non-cinematic significance, “Rouge” was an international and local success, winning six awards in from Hong Kong festival and a plethora of others in festivals all over the world.

The script is based on the homonymous novel by Lilian Lee, and unfolds in two periods. The first one takes place during 1934, when we are introduced to Fleur, a high-class, extremely popular courtesan and Chan Chen-pang, a rich playboy who frequented the opium dens of Hong Kong at the time. The two meet and soon fall in love, but his family objects to the affair. In their desperation, the two lovers decide to commit suicide and meet again in the afterlife.

The second period takes place 50 years later, when a disgruntled Fleur,...

The mark of a true classic movie is its capacity to transcend time. “A Better Tomorrow” has been in recent years remade in Korea (Watchable) and in China (Surprisingly good!). It has had sequels and entered popular culture albeit not necessarily for the right reasons.

A sudden introduction of Kit (Leslie Cheung) being shot is revealed to be a nightmare before transitioning to a more lighthearted fashion to open the movie. As we see Ho (Ti Lung) and Mark (Chow Yun Fat) initially fooling around before Joseph Koo’s memorable score kicks in as a montage of the money laundering part of their gangland roles is shown, culminating in the first famous image of the movie as Mark burns a freshly produced counterfeit note.

Ho is to go on a visit to Taiwan with underling Shing (Waise Lee) but first goes to see his younger brother Kit graduate as a police officer.