Supernatural intrigue! Taoist magic! Martial arts and Romance! It's a classic for the ages...
Last year around this time, we watched the excellent Chinese supernatural horror comedy Mr. Vampire from 1985 and today we return to the genre with 1987's A Chinese Ghost Story.
Frequent listeners to the show have heard us mention Pu Songling's Strange Stories From a Chinese Studio. This movie adapts one of the stories form this collection! It's The Magic Sword and the Magic Bag. As with the source material, it tells the tale of a lonely scholar, a magic swordsman and a lovely ghost.
Cantopop icon and actor Leslie Cheung plays the lead, opposite Joey Wang -- and Wu Ma is a treat as the Taoist swordsman Yin. Siu-Tung Ching directs and the effective score comes to us via Romeo Díaz and James Wong.
Anyway, it was a super fun film to watch and discuss on the show. Fun connections, fun source material and a very watchable and enjoyable film that -- as of right now -- is streaming on Prime in the states.
Ok, one of the scenes we call out in the episode is the excellent Taoist rap, so here it is:
Let's see, other bits of media that we reference? Well, first of all here's that fight scene from the 2003's Belly of the Beast.
Yeah, it's not great. Better to focus on Siu-Tung Ching's many other films -- which, again, star some of the biggest names in Chinese cinema. After recording this episode, I found out that Siu-Tung Ching directed a Chinese Ghost Story-inspired music video for French pop star Mylène Farmer in 199, so I'll share that here:
Up next on Weirdhouse Cinema? We're going to dip once more into the world of Star Wars knock-offs with 1980's Battle Beyond the Stars. In the mean time, remember that we've got MERCH, including the new RUB THE FUR shirt. Check out our Letterboxd page as well.
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