After a string of bad luck, a debt collector has no other choice than to spend the night in a haunted temple, where he encounters a ravishing female ghost and later battles to save her soul ... Read allAfter a string of bad luck, a debt collector has no other choice than to spend the night in a haunted temple, where he encounters a ravishing female ghost and later battles to save her soul from the control of a wicked tree demon.After a string of bad luck, a debt collector has no other choice than to spend the night in a haunted temple, where he encounters a ravishing female ghost and later battles to save her soul from the control of a wicked tree demon.
- Awards
- 12 wins & 15 nominations total
- Lip Siu Sin
- (as Tsu-hsien Wang)
- Secretary Chiu
- (as Dawei Hu)
- Boss at Tavern
- (as Ha Huang)
- Policeman
- (as Kam Chiang)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Sinnui Yauman, is without a doubt one of the best ghost stories ever made into film. Written by Songling Pu and directed by Siu-Tung Ching, A Chinese Ghost Story has it all. Ling Choi Sin played by Leslie Cheung is a young man down on his luck who goes in search of a monastery for lodging, deep in the woods, a place the villagers seem very afraid to go near. The trek alone is perilous with wolves, and a crazy taoist monk lives at the temple.
Ling Choi Sin meets Tsing, a beautiful and mysterious young girl who also lives nearby in a deserted temple. She is forced to seduce men for her evil mistress, but when she meets innocent Ling Choi Sin they fall in love.
Ling Choi Sin is sort of a bumbling fool but his heart is in the right place, while Tsing tries to protect him from the other spirits in the woods, he tries to protect her from the monk who is trying to kill the spirits in the woods. There's great martial arts, even a monk that breaks out into drunken song as he performs ritual taoist sword forms. The movie does a lot of traditional old martial art films acrobatics, with magic and flying through the air, leaping from tree to tree, with elegant long gowns and scarves, but the movie genuinely flows, and everything is effective.
Tsing is to be married to a evil tree monster, which cant be good, and we feel her plight in her home where we meet her sisters and stepmother who is truly not nice.
In the end they must fight a tree witch with a deadly tongue, and go with Yin deep into the heart of hell to fight a thousand year old evil to save their souls, and bring Ling's ashes back to her home for a proper burial so she may have a chance at reincarnation.
A beautiful story that truly pays attention to details. One is touched in many ways by this movie, you'll laugh, cry, and just have fun with the great martial arts and cinematography. And though at the end, Yin and Ling Choi Sin ride off into the morning sun under a enchanting rainbow, we never know if Tsing was afforded a reincarnation, but we do know her.
The first Hong Kong film that I saw which wasn't purely martial arts action, A Chinese Ghost Story opened my eyes to the incredible world of Asian fantasy horror, a magical realm inhabited by beautiful female ghosts, bumbling innocent heroes, sword wielding Taoist monks, monstrous spirits, and dark lords of the underworld; I instantly fell in love with the film's exuberance, energy, humour, inventiveness and visual excellence.
Two decades later, and this amazing movie still remains one of the finest examples of its genre that I have seen—a sumptuous, breathtaking masterpiece that brilliantly blends horror, comedy, fantasy and romance. With superb direction from Siu-Tung Ching, excellent editing from David Wu, stunning cinematography, and a whole slew of imaginative special effects (including a humongous killer tongue, a many tentacled monster, and multiple flying heads!), A Chinese Ghost Story is a completely unforgettable and thoroughly enjoyable experience from start to finish.
Some of the ideas in this film are very interesting, and the way that it was filmed and put together made me think "live action anime". The acting is good, the female lead is gorgeous, the action scenes are typically frenetic and yet possess a clarity not often seen in mainstream Western films. To be honest I wasn't expecting any action scenes at all before I started watching, not that I'm complaining. The film was also quite funny in places, as well as romantic, but not necessarily scary (at least by today's standards).
Something I should say is that the film is fairly fast paced yet we manage to keep track of the story, but it moves so fast that we don't really get the chance to feel for the characters and they don't really have the chance to develop. The pacing itself was often uneven, but now I'm merely splitting hairs.
Worth a watch.
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the screen test, the casting manager thought Joey Wang had an on screen charm and sexiness, but her mannerism within the film's periodic sense didn't seem to match up quite well with the attitude. Tsui asked her to visit the Peking Opera in order to get the sense of the idea of periodic piece, as well getting used to it with the costume.
- Quotes
Yin Chek Hsia: Today's a good day in hell. They must've got Tsing back.
Ling Choi Sin: Old Evil is coming to collect the bride.
Yin Chek Hsia: Scholar, it seems we've to storm hell!
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoires de fantômes chinois II (1990)
- How long is A Chinese Ghost Story?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $5,600,000 (estimated)