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If there is one rule that consistently defines Hong Kong cinema it is that if one movie is a success, then there shall be a constant stream of rip-offs until the next big smash. So if you’ve seen one Hong Kong Vampire movie then chances are you’ve seen quite a few. Just occasionally though we get a pleasant surprise and someone decided to do something a little different with the formula. “Vampire’s Breakfast” is one such example. Whilst the title conjures up images of a Saturday morning cooking show for the undead, it is in fact a feature that deserves to be awoken from its coffin and rediscovered.

There is a vampire loose in Hong Kong. Reporter Piao (Kent Cheng) unwittingly becomes involved as several bodies are discovered and the witness that he finds (Kwan Chiu-chung), proves to be unreliable. Both now forced to prove themselves,...

Hong Kong film releases are classified into three main categories: Category I, II (which is further divided into two) and III. Category III (usually called by its abridged name Cat III) is the equivalent of something like Nc-17 in America, where people under 18 are strictly not allowed due to the depiction of nudity, sex or extreme violence. Of the many, many Cat III works released, probably the most infamous is Herman Yau’s “The Untold Story” from 1993. Despite its restrictive rating, it went on to be a hit at the box office and earned lead actor Anthony Wong a Best Actor nomination and his first win at the Hong Kong Film Awards, before going on its way to become a notorious cult classic.

The story opens in Hong Kong, 1978, as we see an argument between two gamblers over a debt, with one violently killing the other by...

With an engaging mix of goofy comedy, charming romance and a heartfelt, if somewhat trite, message of ecological sanity, Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid has achieved massive financial success. After less than two weeks in release, it has become the highest-grossing Chinese language film in history, soaring past last summer’s Monster Hunt. The story of a mermaid sent by her people to assassinate the real estate developer who has been trashing their home waters, but who instead falls in love with the guy and leads him to a new ecological awareness, the film lacks much of the anarchic edge or verbal dexterity of Chow’s early mo lei tau comedies, or the transcendent martial arts climaxes of his Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. It is nonetheless packed to the gills with the kind of moment-to-moment weirdness that characterizes Hong Kong cinema in general and the films of Stephen Chow in particular,...