Xiao sheng pa pa

Innovative directing, great soundtrack - this is an early eighties hong kong ghost flick. Silly in the extreme, the trio of ghosts, who all look like vampires, do their best to encourage this hapless guy's lovelife. They appear and disappear using the film technology available at the time in a very creative way. Especially nice is a chair dancing scene after one of the characters sees a picture of charlie chaplin gracing the girlfriend's apartment wall. It's an homage to early cinema - very nice. The music score also compliments the action in a great way, with a leitmotif announcing the ghosts, making the most out of limited resources, combining real instruments with early eighties electronics. Great slapstick fun.

Irene (Olivia Cheng) is unlucky in love: her first husband is run over by a steamroller; her second husband pops his clogs during the marriage ceremony, choking to death on a bird; her third husband has a fatal heart attack when he is confronted by the ghosts of the first two husbands. The spirits of all three dead husbands try to help Irene find everlasting love with radio personality Bruce Sit (Alan Tam), but the course of true love never runs smooth...

I had the choice of watching an HD copy of Till Death Do We Scare in Chinese without English subtitles, or a really poor copy with burnt-in English subtitles but no sound. I opted to see the high definition version, even though I knew I wouldn't understand the finer details of the plot. After all, I wasn't watching this one for the story or the comedy: I was more interested in the special make-up effects by none other than Tom Savini (I had read about this movie in his book, Grande Illusions, way back in the '80s).

The humour in this Hong Kong horror comedy is typical of the period: very silly knockabout nonsense of the kind that generally leaves my ribs untickled. Savini's effects aren't the best examples of his talent, but they're in keeping with the general craziness: over-the-top and very wacky. There's a fun gag in which one of the ghosts sucks his face inside out; another of the ghosts stretches his mouth so that it is ridiculously wide; yet another ghost pops out his eyeballs; and, in the finalé, the Ghost King transforms into a demon with massive fangs and huge talons, which allows Savini to try out some bladder effects and some techniques clearly inspired by Rick Baker's work on An American Werewolf in London.

Other barmy stuff that happens in the film includes a well choreographed scene involving the three ghosts tormenting Bruce's friend with a chair, and a ghost party where everything - the building, a bridge and even a car - is made out of flimsy material that bursts into flames as the sun rises.

5/10. Not a great film, but reasonably fun and worth a watch if you're a fan of Savini's work.

Kept me laughing throughout! Starts off a little slow so I didn't really pay attention, however it picked up the pace and kept me thoroughly entertained. A great retro flick. Even though I'm a child of the 90's, looking at the retro settings, listening to the old music and observing the fashion of the time made me feel somewhat nostalgic. I wish cinema now was as classy as in the past, cracking jokes without the need for vulgarity. Sexy scenes can also be done tastefully as they are here without being crass! Try it out if you like silly flicks like the classic "A Chinese Ghost Story". I myself love silly, fun ghost/ghoul-themed movies that aren't actually scary such as Beetlejuice so this was perfect for me. The last thing I would like to say is that I found the effects pretty remarkable for a film 30 years old! In Singapore, I would say even the very recent Jack Neo movie "Where Got Ghost" and other ghost movies lack such well done effects and innovative gags. Without spoiling anything, I was very impressed by their visual effects.

Please give this movie a shot if you want a light, fun film.