Qu mo jing cha

Vampire Buster Lam Ching-Ying does it again with his skillful and magical persona, playing Uncle Feng who joins forces with Hong Kong police detectives Lam (Wilson Lam) and No. 2237 (Miu Kiu Wai) to investigate a drug ring, whose leader is a black magic practicing Sorceress (Michiko Nishiwaki) that can turn the deceased into zombies.

Lam Ching-Ying sheds his usual Taoist Priest character but brings the same personality and bagful of magic tricks and charms into this modern story, catching ghosts left and right in the attention grabbing introduction, which then leads to the detectives trying to stop a runaway drug dealer - all leading to a funny culture clash between Feng's mystical style in solving the case and Detective Lam's more conventional and by-the-book method.

There is only some light martial arts action, but the film is pretty fast-paced with all its investigation scenes and zombie action, including the thrilling battle scenes between Uncle Feng and the Sorceress. The special effects of the film were nicely done and I thought the acting was actually good.

The story could have emphasized the drug dealing plot a little bit more, but other than that, this film is great zombie and magic action fun!

Grade A-

This is really a cool movie, Ching-Ying Lam as a hard-boiled cop with some magic skills in a 90s environment, this is what I wanted the from Ching-Ying after all the comedic roles he had as the taoist in the Mr Vampire films.

Now this film still got a fair amount of comedic scenes in it, but they're not as embarrassing as previous films, this film actually takes itself a bit more serious and it works so well. The Police Force fighting walking corpses, controlled by a Sorceress and for some reason the Police Force just happens to have a cop that can deal with magic too and it's the most perfect example of a fight between Masters of Magic.

The film still got a limited amount of budget, so take it for what it is. It's not the same gory makeup you see in Hollywood films like Terminator or Romero's Dead Series. But instead you have things you've never seen in films before, like the "fortune telling car chase" - you have to see it for yourself to see what I mean, but it's why I love watching films, when I see things like this, great and fantastic ideas I would never have thought of myself.

There were still some dumb, comedic scenes I felt dragged the coolness of the film down, especially from the two cop sidekicks, but Ching-Ying was just amazing. And for some reason all of these HK horror/comedies seems to have a rule to not be longer than 90 minutes, on one hand I would love to have more content, on another hand it's very packed with what it got, and the ending is more closed this time than previous films. I hope we'll see a release of this film on bluray, because I would love to see this again and for many others to discover this gem. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Ching-Ying Lam is very famous for his ghost busting Taoist priest in the Mr.Vampire series and any horror comedy movie with Chinese hopping vampire after that so in 1990 his battle with the force of evil one again happen in the modern times when science take over and the old traditional being left behind.This time we still get the slaptick humor from his co-star and many crazy ghost busting techniques that too awesome to put into words.Magic Cop is very entertaining and a must see for fan of Ching-Ying Lam and Hong-Kong cinema in general

Lam Ching Ying is one of my favorite Chinese actors and when he passed on I was greatly saddened. Although I can't pick my favorite of the movies that he's done, as there are so many great ones, "Magic Cop" is up there. Lam once again plays his "Ghostbusting Taoist monk", but in this one he's a cop (but still Ghost-busting and Taoist) This film will bring a smile to your face, it's action packed & it holds up on multiple viewings. What's NOT to like?? Still not sold? The writer of this film also wrote suck greats as "In the line of Duty", the hilarious "God of Cookery", AND Shaolin Soccer.

My Grade: A

DVD Extras: Just the theatrical trailer & a short bio on Lam Ching Ying

When a famous actor dies, I usually think, "oh, that's sad", and pretty much forget about it. When Lam Ching Ying died, I was truly sad, and this movie is one of the major reasons why. In Magic Cop, Lam brings his Taoist Priest persona out of the hopping vampire genre and into a modern setting. The film masterfully combines the best elements of films like Mr. Vampire and A Chinese Ghost Story with modern Hong Kong police action films.

Somebody tell me if this one ever comes out on DVD!