Martial Arts Film of the Day: Mr. Vampire ( 殭屍先生, 1985)
Taoist priest Kau (Lam Ching Ying) is a renowned memeber of the community, so it's not surrpsing when rich businessman Yam (Huang Ha) asks him about a reburial for his father (Yuen Wah) according to what a Feng Shui master told him. But when checking the grave, Kau realizes the corpse is on the path to becoming a jiangshi: a hopping undead creature that haunts the night. But when his bumbling disciples Man-choi (Ricky Hui) and Chau-sang (Chin Siu-ho) mess up the sealing ritual, Yam's father's corpse is now on the loose. Which is not helped by the fact the two disciples are smitten with Yam's daughter Ting-ting (Moon Lee), who is now a target of the beast.
Yes, this one doubles as horror comedy of the day but give me a break; I wouldn't have it any other way in Friday 13th. And let's be honest, it's more on the comedy side than horror. Directed by Ricku Lau and produced by Sammo Hung, this Hong Kong classic is actually quite a great family horror flick: while it does have specks of blood is not that more gruesome than some 80's American family films like Gremlins (1984), and for all the bits of effectively eerie atmosphere and ingenious (if inconsistent) make up, the badass displays of Master Kau and the sheer, unadulterated stupidity of his disciples break most of the tension into hilarity.
The action, while not as plentiful as other films I've talked about, takes advantage about the jiangshi being defined by their hopping motion and turns many tense situation into slapstick opportunities; the juxtaposition of the music and the actors trying keep it straight while the situations in display being patently ridiculous sealing the whole deal. While not the first to try the mixture of Chinese folklore and kung fu action, the execution of comedy horror immediately spawned an entire subgenre.
Seriously, while jiangshi as a concept existed prior to this film, this one really popularized and codified most of the tropes around it, from the use of Manchu soldier clothes for the creatures to the unibrow Lam Ching Ying wears as Kau as quintessential to the monster fighting Tao master. It didn't just spawn sequels and competitors in China, but got Japan into a craze over these creatures too. We still see modern examples in series like Dandadan, but even the freaking Mario series has references to them in games like Mario Land with the pionpi(which is a similar type of enemy to the Dry Bones in case you're wondering).
The film's use of taoist artifacts to fight evil is... loose, to say the least, but I guess it's the Chinese equivalent of the stylish European vampire hunter which also takes creative liberties with consecrated objects in Christianity. There's kernels of real Feng Shui belief in there (like the use of mirrors to repel evil spirits), but accuracy takes a backseat to entertainment.
And of course, a sample of it's blend of action, comedy and the titular monster.
