Geung see ga zuk

MR. VAMPIRE was a comedy horror classic that very nearly equalled the heights of Sammo Hung's ENCOUNTERS OF THE SPOOKY KIND, so this sequel has its work cut out from the outset. And it's fair to say that it doesn't come close to equalling the power, atmosphere or feel of the original movie. That doesn't mean it's a bad film - in fact, it's a pretty good example of its type - just don't go in expecting more of the same.

This time around, a family of vampires (mother, father, and son) are excavated by an archaeologist (ENCOUNTERS star Fat Chung) and before long the usual hijinks ensue. This time, the film is divided into sub-plots between three groups of characters; one of them involves the archaeologists trying to make amends for their mess, another involves the antics of the vampire kid trying to integrate into family life, and a third sees the return of the one-eyebrowed priest, played by Lam Ching-Ying.

It's disappointing that Lam Ching-Ying gets a lot less screen-time this time around, although the producers do make up for that by casting Yuen Biao in a central role; a disappointment then that Biao doesn't get to take part in much martial arts. Too much of the narrative is taken up by the vampire kid, although things do hit a high note at the climax which offers more of the traditional vampire action that you'd expect. Sadly, the film's centre-point gag, which sees the action taking place in slow motion, goes on for way too long and just isn't very funny.

The original MR VAMPIRE was a ground-breaking all time classic. The sequel doesn't try to match it, and has next to nothing in common with it, other than the appearance of hopping vampires. This is a wise move, because the original was simply perfection. MR VAMPIRE 2 is entertaining but not in the same league as its predecessor.

There are some jokes that are just not funny (the formaldehyde fight scene) and some annoying sub-plots (the "cute" vampire kid), but in the end these can't detract from the fact that this is insane Hong-Kong action cinema, which completely wipes the floor with anything Hollywood could ever produce.

The hopping vampires return as the sequel to the classic Mr. Vampire moves the setting from ancient China to modern-day Hong Kong, and includes a whole family of bloodsuckers. Inevitably, the little vampire comes into contact with a young brother and sister team who confuse him for an illegal Chinese immigrant. Lam Ching Ying returns in his trademark role as he attempts to control and safely transport the vampires to their graves..

This sequel is partially designed for children, with a long heartwarming scene of human children and kid vampire, and the rest is the usual mayhem featuring hopping vampires, some Kung fu and chaotic scenes. I don't mind the modern setting, it suits the story, and though it's not as good the first one, it's still fun, though it gets tiring towards the end.

This is the first, unofficial sequel of 1985's Mr. Vampire. The movie's events are set in modern times. A group of explorers steal three corpses from an ancient cave and plan to sell them for a large amount of money. Unfortunately, they do not know that the corpses are actually a family of vampires and, after taking them to Hong Kong, they revive and threaten to wreak havoc on mankind.

The two adult vampires, played by Wing-Cheung Cheung and Pauline Wang Yu-Huan, are the menaces while the child vampire, played by Kin-Wai Ho, is a harmless and friendly creature who befriended two children in the city. The subplot of the child vampire and the children distracts from the main plot a little, but fortunately, the kiddie scenes do not take too much screen time. The main plot involves local herbs Master Lam, played by Lam Ching Ying, discovering that one of the explorers was bitten by a vampire and goes to investigate with his daughter, played by Moon Lee, and future photographer son-in-law, played by Yuen Biao. What follows is what I think the highlight of the movie - the three protagonists go head-to-head with the adult vampires in slow motion (a jar of "retarder" accidentally spills onto them, resulting in slowed movements). Composer Anders Nelsson provided a wonderful piece of orchestral music score, inserting music to action and comedy scenes where appropriate.

What depletes from this film are the Kung-Fu action. Being a movie with martial arts stars like Lam Ching Ying and Yuen Biao, more Kung-Fu sequences would have made this movie more entertaining. And, a bunch of popular Hong Kong actors made cameos in the movie and I wished more of them would have been given more screen time. I also wished the adult vampires would have been portrayed as a little more menacing - they are after all supposed to be a threat to mankind.

Overall, a more sub-par movie of the Hong Kong vampire/ghost genre, but still an OK and pretty fun movie to past the time on a slow Saturday night.

Grade B-

This film is a complete change in tone from "Mr. Vampire". This sequel is really only an extension of the vampire-gone-loose idea, and is set in modern times. We have very little brought from the original, and what is brought (Lam Ching-Ying), is quite dis-connected anyway.

That said, this film is quite odd. Lam Ching-Ying is excellent as usual as the kind of hard-case Taoist priest, and we seem him up against vampires in the usual sense. Yuen Biao is quite under-used as the Taoist Priest's off-sider, and is quite clumsy and reluctant to engage in kung-fu technique it seems. I was waiting for him to really do something but it never really came for me. Most of this film is wrestling back and forth with a pair of vampires.

The vampires are portrayed (for my tastes), as too human. Whereas in Mr. Vampire 1, the corpse is sort of without personality, and has ceased being human, the vampires in this film are really portrayed as a family unit. We are asked to sympathise with them quite often.

Do not expect anything like Mr. Vampire 1 and you'll be fine. If you do, you may have to see it at least twice as I have to judge it on it's own merits. It really is a very separate film to the original, and the title does it more harm than good I believe.