Mang gwai chai goon

I must admit that I had more high hopes and expectations for this 1987 Hong Kong horror comedy titled "The Haunted Cop Shop" (aka "(Mang gwai chai goon"). But writer and director Jeffrey Lau just didn't really manage to deliver something that was outstanding or memorable.

For a horror comedy, then this 1987 movie was bland, frightfully so actually. Sure, the movie was watchable, but it wasn't an overly entertaining movie. It felt like there was very little coherency to the storyline; it just felt like a random collection of scenes put together by the director.

The acting in the movie was adequate, but it was a shame that they virtually had very little to work with in terms of a proper script and storyline.

The horror in the movie was bland, a bit too comical actually, and not in a good way.

And the title of the movie makes just very little sense. What is a a "Cop Shop"?

My rating from this 1987 Cantonese horror comedy lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. Hardly a bright, shining moment in the Hong Kong cinema. While the movie is watchable, it is hardly a movie that you'll watch a second time around.

THE HAUNTED COP SHOP is your typical fun knockabout Hong Kong comedy horror packed with action and intrigue. The storyline involves a police station with a haunted past and the return of one or two ghosts intent on wreaking mayhem in the vicinity. Only a couple of upstanding young cops and their pretty superior have the power to prevent catastrophe.

You know what you're getting with a film like this and THE HAUNTED COP SHOP doesn't disappoint. It features the great pairing of Jacky Cheung (BULLET IN THE HEAD) and Ricky Hui (MR. VAMPIRE) as the two cops who are variously scared out of their wits as the storyline progresses. As is usual for a Hong Kong film like this, the first half is a little slow and more rooted in reality, while the second kicks off with near-constant action and hijinks.

This time around the villain duties come from a random Japanese Dracula guy and his army of the undead. It's not quite as effects-fuelled as some of the other Hong Kong horrors I've watched from the same era (such as the two POSSESSED movies) but it has plentiful action, comedy, and horror, so it makes for a very easy watch.

The makers of The Haunted Cop Shop should be arrested for crimes against comedy: the dreadfully puerile knockabout silliness that passes for humour in this late-'80s horror comedy didn't make me laugh once. I did giggle at the name of police madam Fanny Ho (Kitty Chan), but I don't think that was intended to be funny so it doesn't count.

The film takes place in the titular cop shop (note to fellow IMDb reviewer paul_haakonsen: 'cop shop' is British slang for a police station, so it does make sense), which was previously a clubhouse where Japanese soldiers committed seppuku. Now, their ghosts have arisen, taking on the form of vampires, and it is up to two wacky policemen - Kam Mark-K (Jacky Cheung) and Man-Chill (Ricky Hui) to deal with the undead.

The highlight of the whole film is the scene where Man-Chill is trying to reach a set of keys next to a female vampire strapped to a gurney: it's a genuinely tense moment and suggests that the film would have been much better as a proper scary movie than a daft horror comedy. If you're a massive fan of Hong Kong comedy, you might think differently, but for me, the Chinese sense of humour continues to be a source of much bewilderment.

This is one of those nonsensical comedies from Hong Kong, but with a horror theme. Here, according to the IMDb summary, a Hong Kong police station used to be a clubhouse of the Japanese at the time of their occupation of the city during World War II. However, at the end of the war, many of the Japanese committed haka kiri in the clubhouse, and the army's general, Issei (Rico Chu), was inadvertently released by a thief years later and resurrects into a vampire. As a result, police officers Kam Mark-K (Jacky Cheung) and Man-Chill (Ricky Hui) attempt to put a stop to the terror.

The movie is full of slapstick and goofy humor, and you need to be a true fan of nonsensical stuff in order to appreciate the comedy. There are a few cool horror moments toward the beginning of the movie, like the clubhouse ghost scene which reminds me of the hotel ballroom scene in The Shining - full of spirits in a flashback sequence. However, that scene dragged on too long, which led to middle of the movie which was mostly about the two officers trying to get to their superior's good side. The more exciting ghost and vampire action doesn't happen until the latter half of the movie.

You will get a few scares and some laugh-out-loud comedy, but forward to the latter half of the movie for the more entertaining stuff.

Grade C+

This is a great classic! One of the best of that era that combined really funny slap sticks with truly scary moments as well.

And I do mean scary. In fact, some of the scenes in this movie are more scary than some of the so-called "pure horror" movies that are intentionally made only to scare. The plot is also pretty plausible, with the action fast, and intense. The horror is nicely balanced with comedy that will leave you laughing in stitches that makes the whole movie that much easier to stomach.

Kudos to Jacky Cheung too for his terrific performance and rubbery face! I would rate this a 10 out of 10 for the nostalgia! Must see for Hong Kong movie fans.