Mang gwai fat tiu cheung

The filmmakers in Hong Kong are known to produce scores of horror and fantasy movies with a comedic twist. This film, however, is what I think one of the more scarier of these movies from that genre.

This story is about Bill Chang who moves to an old, two-story house in the Hong Kong countryside after Bill gets a job promotion. However, they start experiencing the paranormal as an evil ghost plan to take over the family - giving this movie an Amityville Horror-style approach.

The acting is pretty good and the music score is catchy. The plot is compelling and has many scary moments. The filmmakers did a good job executing the ghost parts of the movie, which slowly graduates as the family are living in the house longer, making the movie eerie, frightening, and bone-chilling, which makes you forget at times you are also watching a comedy movie.

The only issues I have with this movie are that I think the scenes with the exorcist are pretty goofy and that the battle scene at the end is a little on the short side. Other than that, it is a well-done and exciting horror film, and does not drag the plot. Go check it out.

Grade B+

Granted, I hadn't heard about "Bless This House" (aka "Meng gui fo tiao qiang") from 1988 before in 2020, when I was given the chance to sit down and watch it. Needless to say that I took the time to do so, given my love and fascination with the Hong Kong cinema. Plus, the movie had Bill Tung on the cast list.

Well, this was fairly generic for a late 1980s Hong Kong movie, to the point where it just faded into mediocrity. The movie didn't really manage to stand out and make itself noteworthy. As such, then I wasn't overly impressed with the storyline, nor was it an impressive array of entertainment value that director Ronny Yu was throwing at me.

The movie had an adequate cast that performed well enough, but they were somewhat stunted and hindered by the generic storyline.

There are far better Hong Kong comedies available, and even for that era you can easily find something more outstanding than "Bless This House".

My rating for "Bless This House" settles on a very mediocre and bland five out of ten stars.

I loved it, it is everything I want in a movie. The acting was some of the best work I ever say in my life. The music was perfact for the movie, and it made the movie even more enjoyable. So that is why I have to give this movie, 10 out of 10 stars!!!! If I could of gave it a better grade I would.

April 2021

Why such a low IMDB rating. This is a very likeable film from Hong Kong, featuring likeable stars, Bill Tung and Loletta Lee.

Horror with comedy and i like it a lot, the stars really make it.

8ish out of 10.