Lam Ching-Ying's Taoist priest is, for me, as much an icon of Hong Kong cinema as Chow Yun-Fat or Jackie Chan. He can make the most ridiculous concepts viable - and boy, does he have his work cut out here. The main enemy here is a European-style vampire, found in a locked room at a Catholic church, and eventually resurrected by her former lover, dug up in the search for a new well. There's also a female demon who lives in palm trees, a hopping kid vampire, Feng Shui, killer bats, a blob-monster, the ghost of a murdered prostitute and far too much "Whoops! I've lost my trousers!" humour. The film is 83 minutes long. Don't blink.
Effectively an unofficial entry in the Mr. Vampire series, this is the kind of film that reminds me why I got into HK flicks. It's berserkly imaginative, relentless, stupid, with extremely lame optical effects, and subtitles which leave much to be desired. The DVD sleeve synopsis will give you some idea of what to expect: "The Chinese exorcist is One-Eyebrow Priest. He leads a peaceful life in hermitage with his two bungling students and the mini-vampire. One day a ghost ship comes to the village and the priest is asked to catch the ghosts. He meets Sister Maria and her beautiful assistants. Life is no longer peaceful. The water becomes polluted. The priest discovers the pollutant to be a European vampire who is aided by a dead countess. The priest's Chinese exorcism fails miserably..."
Actually, a ghost ship is about the only thing not found in the movie, but if your mouth is salivating at the general concept of the above, the film lives up to it. If, on the other hand, you're going "Eh?", best leave VvV alone, as viewing it should only be attempted by highly trained professionals, under strictly controlled conditions. The killer bat attack sequence is, however, quite cool on any terms, although the only way to explain their remarkable ability to chew through doors, is as the work of a mad scientist who spliced some woodpecker DNA int... Er, I guess that particular subplot was left on the cutting-room floor.
B
