SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Leofwine_draca This influential classic of the Hong Kong fantastic cinema is one of the most pleasing I've watched from that country, a funny, fast-paced, atmospheric and exciting romp through a haunted world which expertly mixes together a tragic love affair (between man and ghost, a theme that has swamped Chinese cinema ever since this hit first came out), some fine martial arts swordplay, horror and expertly-played comic relief to the hilt. It's an entertaining and genuinely likable movie which has something for everyone and offers all the exotic magic and fantasy you could want from an eastern movie like this.Sure, the first half is a little slow, but this is only so that the characters can be built up (yes, there are real characters here to like, not just action figures). There are the three main stars - Leslie Cheung, who shines as the young and innocent taxman drawn into events beyond his comprehension; Wu Ma as the sarcastic, world-weary swordsman Yen giving an excellent performance and stealing his scenes, and Joey Wong, who fits the bill perfectly as the ethereal love interest Lit Sin Seen. The comedy is enjoyable without being laboured and there are lots of slapstick antics to help take your mind off the thin plot, which serves as a basis for lots of visual delights.This is a film where murky stop-motion corpses slither and stir in ruined temples to great spooky effect; where bodies return to life and have to be burned apart by magical bolts. Men are menaced by gigantic killer tongues (great effect, forget that crappy Spanish comedy KILLER TONGUE - this is how it should be done), men battle demons with colourful bolts and heads roll aplenty. Then there's the tentacled slimy monster that the tongue turns into, a macabre skull-lined inn (that's some furnishing design), a portal into Hell (simple but good special effect), the frightening Black Lord who attacks with slime, tentacles and weirdo flying heads all over and the final battle in Hell which is excellently staged and a convincing depiction of a netherworld with it. The budget is high enough that you never question what's up on screen and there's a poetic, almost lyrical aspect behind the frenetic action which makes it a strong and influential movie in the genre. Superior stuff.

dworldeater A Chinese Ghost Story is the first of three films in a classic wuxia trilogy by famed action choreographer/director Ching Siu Tung. ACGS is a very robust, beautiful, rich looking film starring ghostly vixen love goddess Joey Wang. Leslie Cheung is a traveler that encounters Joey Wang and they fall in love. Joey Wang is promised to another and with the help of a Taoist monk, Leslie Cheung does battle with the undead. The film looks exceptional with great camera-work. Performances are good and the fight scenes are crazy and absolutely astounding. A Chinese Ghost Story blends romance, horror, drama, comedy with fantasy and martial arts and it works. This is the beginning of a very successful series in Hong Kong and influenced many movies to come. If you are a fan of the wuxia genre, this is one swordplay film you should not miss.

mrrockey A Chinese Ghost Story is the first of a trend of supernatural horror/thriller/romance/martial arts/comedy films made in Hong Kong. It was incredibly successful in Asia and is one of the most iconic Hong Kong films ever made, easily up there with films such as A Better Tomorrow and Infernal Affairs. It's hard to review a film that's already received so much praise and accolades and not let that cloud your judgment but with that said, this is a really fun movie!The plot follows a timid debt collector by the name of Ning Choi-San, whose job requires him to travel to rural areas around ancient China. He arrives at a town but fails to find a place to stay so resorts to staying in a deserted temple, where he finds the beautiful, seductive ghost named Nip Siu-Sin, who he eventually falls in love with.What works about A Chinese Ghost Story is its blend of horror, romance, action, and comedy. Hong Kong films are notorious for being uneven in tone, they often blend a bunch of different tones in one movie. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't but here, it completely works. We have the over-the-top horror, the extremely sappy romance, stylized action, and tongue-in-cheek humor and they all compliment each other extremely well. The reason it works is because everything feels consistently exaggerated and blown out of proportion. If we went from realistic, human drama to over-the-top horror, the change in tone would feel very abrupt but since everything feels very over-the-top and unrealistic, it feels like you're just being immersed into the film's world. The film's romance is extremely sappy and melodramatic but it works because the story IS a melodrama. The concept itself is very melodramatic in the first place so the filmmakers just went with it and made it as sincere as possible. The actors do it with the utmost passion that you can't you help but appreciate them for it. The romantic moments in the film are often very funny and affectionate and even touching on a few occasions. You can get away with a lot of silly stuff in your movies if you do it with sincerity and this film is a perfect example of that. The action is very creative and fun to watch throughout and the horror, while not exactly scary, makes you feel like a kid again while watching it with the goofy-looking creatures, foggy scenery, and overall spooky atmosphere, it's all good fun. The comedy is probably gonna be the most divisive thing for Western audiences. Hong Kong Cinema has a very BROAD sense of humor that won't necessarily appeal to everyone but I myself, found it amusing throughout and it never goes overboard, it always comes organically into the script and it never feels disruptive of the overall flow of the film.The cast is surprisingly effective in this zany, over-the-top world created by Ching Siu-Tung and Tsui Hark. Leslie Cheung plays Ning Choi- San as a bumbling bafoon who makes a complete fool out of himself in every scene and we love him for it. Cheung is very funny throughout but he also handles himself well in the dramatic elements, his love for Nip Siu-Sin is incredibly genuine and heartfelt. Joey Wang is incredibly sexy as Nip Siu-Sin but also a believable sympathetic side as well. But for me, the biggest scene stealer is Wu Ma as swordsman Yip Chik-Ha. His character is fascinating throughout as his motives are very opaque and confusing throughout and we don't really know how to feel about him. But he's also shown to be a bada$$ swordsman and a sympathetic character as he's a loner who doesn't belong in neither the world of the living or the dead. The rest of the cast is good too, although Lau Siu-Ming does look a little goofy as the tree demon but that's about it as far as complaints go in the acting department.Lastly, this is a pretty well-made film for an 80's Hong Kong production. The cinematography has a great, spooky look to it with a lot of blue backlighting for the night-time scenes and the camera-work is very inventine and dynamic with a lot of effective POV's for the tree demon. The special effects, while a bit cheesy and fake today, are nonetheless, really cool to look at and fun to watch. Overall, A Chinese Ghost Story is a over-the-top fun with a sappy yet sincere romance, fun action, spooky horror, amusing comedy, an effective cast, and solid production values. 8/10

Michael Neumann Director Ching Siu Tung throws everything but his kitchen sink into this epic (and almost indescribable) adventure, creating not only the definitive Hong Kong movie experience but also perhaps the world's first musical-romance-martial arts-action-comedy. Key ingredients include a pack of spectral wolves; some animated rotting corpses, a ghost-busting Zen swordsman, a transvestite vampire with a voracious tongue the length of the Great Wall, a beautiful spirit under a terrible curse, and an all-too human pilgrim whose bumbling innocence is the perfect defense against every supernatural peril. The film is an ideal antidote for the post-summer blockbuster doldrums: it's fast, furious, totally ridiculous and, despite some oddly translated subtitles ('scary' becoming 'scareful', and so forth), one heck of a lot of fun.