Eureka Classics Blu-ray, out now

The latest horror comedy set from Eureka, Hopping Mad comprises four films, rather disingenuously referred to as “the Mr Vampire sequels.” Here we have Mr Vampire II (subtitledVampire Family), Mr Vampire III, Mr Vampire IV, and Vampire Vs Vampire.

How one defines the Mr Vampire sequels is a matter for some debate among fans of both the franchise and the Jiangshi (Chinese revenants) genre. While the numbered sequels included here were all made by the original film’s director, Ricky Lau, and producer Sammo Hung, Vampire Vs Vampire is directed by star Lam Ching Ying, and there’s no really discernable reason to include it here rather than the only actual officially-a-sequel-to-the-original-movie, Ricky Lau’s Mr Vampire 1992.

In that respect the franchise is kind of like the Django films, with assorted knockoffs, related-movies, and stuff with the same cast doing the same iconic schtick without being official. For example they’d have been as well including Magic Cop if they were going to tag in a Lam Ching Ying busting the supernatural kind of movie.

 

Anyway, to the films themselves, and first up is Mr Vampire II, subtitled Vampire Family. This reunites the same cast and crew – and the hopping vampires – to try doing something new with them: in this case bringing a family of vampires into the then-present day (the mid 1980s) thanks to a scheming archaeology Professor (Cheung Fat) and his bumbling assistants Billy Lau and Ka Lee. While the adult male and female Jiangshi engage in fabulous fight scenes and comedy antics against those two, the child vampire, Hoh Kin Wai, who will return in the rest of the films, befriends some other kids and has some adventures clearly modelled on ET.

Overall, it’s a good laugh, the kids aren’t too annoying, the action is awesome, and the comedy is ramped up, with the horror elements toned down but not too much. The other element ramped up is the craziness, with Lam Ching Ying’s Taoist priest now himself, under his own name as the student of Sifu Sammo Hung… Throw in Yuen Biao as his prospective son in law, Moon Lee as his daughter, and the set is off to a good start, doing something new with the franchise, without losing any of the fun.

Next up, the craziness gets cranked up further, and horror elements brought back up, in Mr Vampire III. In this one, returning to the 19th century setting, Richard Ng plays Uncle Ming, a rival Taoist ghostbuster to Lam’s Uncle Nine. The difference is that Uncle Ming has two tame ghosts – Hoh Kin Wai returns as one – with whom he fakes hauntings to exorcise. Soon he encounters a real ghost, and finds himself out of his depth and needing the help of Uncle Nine to deal with a full-on Sith Lord of an evil witch (Pauline Wong, really throwing herself into it) and army of ghosts and bandits.

Oddly, there are no vampires in this, though Uncle Ming’s tame ghosts are dressed as Jiangshi, but don’t hop or drink blood. There’s still plenty of supernatural action to be had, with awesome stuntwork, great comedy, swarms of bats, Pauline Wong, and unbelievable craziness – where else will you see a Taoist priest attacked by a hungry ghost who sees him as a giant bird (none of the commentary contributors can agree on what sort!) or a naked ash-smeared Richard Ng fighting a demon made of half-fried dough?

It’s also interesting that Pauline Wong’s witch character is perhaps unintentionally sympathetic as the good guys murder her tied-up henchmen – a surprise bit of dubious morals. Watch out also for cameos by Sammo, Wu Ma (who will star in the next film), and Corey Yuen. This may be the best film of the set.

Over on Disc 2, Mr Vampire IV is a disappointing oddity. For one thing there’s no Lam Ching Ying at all. Instead, Wu Ma and Anthony Chan are neighbouring Buddhist and Taoist priests who don’t get on, though their students do, and spend more than half the movie just pranking each other in a seen-it-all-before kung fu comedy. Only once Yuen Wah turns up as a disturbingly camp eunuch (there’s 1980s Hong Kong cinema for you) escorting a young Prince (yes, Hoh Kin Wai) and an ancient coffin do things get both vampiric with jiangshi hopping action, and full-on Sam Raimi style with a cellar-dwelling supervamp. This last third is good stuff, and Yuen Wah and Wu Ma are as excellent as always, but it’s too little too late.

Finally, Vampire Vs Vampire is a different take of things. It stars Lam Ching Ying as the iconic unibrowed Taoist priest, who as well as his students has a resident child Jiangshi who is just there for the mischief and has been raised to feed on tomatoes. In the 19-teens, while investigating a fouled water supply, he discovers the remains of a European Count, who is soon returned to vampiric life by his Chinese Countess, and threatens a group of nuns in a nearby abandoned church.

While the Mr Vampire films have lifted elements from Western vampire films – such as the bats sequence in Mr Vampire III – this one goes the whole hog, with the iconic Lam having to find new solutions as a western vampire count – all red eyes and a pretty brutal and scary performance – doesn’t have the same weaknesses as a Chinese jiangshi. There’s also a kind of potential romance between him and the leader of the nuns, though there was never a sequel to this that could follow up on it. Lam Ching Ying’s direction is very different than Ricky Lau’s atmospheric cinematography, and very much restrained with little real craziness, but it does work well enough, and of course, he’s great in the lead role. The ending is extremely abrupt and weird, though.

 

Extras-wise, there are commentaries and trailers for all four films. Mr Vampire II has an English dub which is hilariously overblown, while all four films have commentaries by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema – which as always are a delight for the listener at being brought into their double-act chat, with tons of anecdotes about the Hong Kong film industry, and (on Mr Vampire III) their feelings on cockroaches and bats, and by Frank Djeng which are typically informative. Mr Vampire III has Djeng joined by John Charles for a surprisingly muted commentary.

There’s also a featurette on the influence of the jiangshi genre on pop culture in Asia, and one with a Taoist priest explaining the lore and influences against a background of clips from many films. There are also some deleted scenes from Mr Vampire II, including an extended sequence of the child jiangshi’s adventures with his new friends, a longer cut of the fight when the two adult vampires are first awakened, and a reason why the child vampire is being transported away from the Professor’s lab/museum.

As per usual the first 2000 copies have an O-card slipcase and nice collector’s booklet about the series by James Oliver. The regular cover is also cool, being reversible between new art and original poster art.

 

Verdict: It’s an excellent set for fans of the genre, or of horror comedy and kung fu films generally. There’s some great performances, laughs and wince-inducing stunts throughout. The two movies on the first disc are near-classics on the level of the original, while the two on disc two are inferior, but the last is better than its predecessor, which in turn does have its moments and its good performances.

It is a shame that they couldn’t include either Mr Vampire 1992, or the original Mr Vampire for those who missed its Blu-ray release three years ago, but it’s still a worthwhile set, and an absolute must for any fan of the original. 9/10

David A McIntee

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