Sammo Hung stars in one of his first Hong Kong horror movies, where he plays Bold Cheung, a villager who is on the run from an evil master who wants him dead so he could marry his unfaithful wife and from a corrupted inspector who believes Cheung murdered his wife (he was framed for it). Two dueling Taoist Priests fight over Cheung's fate.
There are plenty of nicely choreographed and sword-wielding Kung-Fu action and a freaky-executed Chinese vampire, who was controlled by the evil priest to do Cheung in. These two are the most exciting elements of the film. However, a large part of the movie stretches too long: Towards the beginning of the film, there is a demon who nearly captures Cheung through a portal in a mirror; however, this scene has nothing to do with the plot and it looks as if the demon scene was just thrown in for good measure. It strays from the story in what is a long and dragged out movie. Too much preaching from the characters added unnecessary plot elements and did make this movie boring at times, contributed by an unremarkable music score. The climax was also, I think, a little overkill.
If you are a hardcore fan of Kung-Fu movies and wouldn't mind watching a long, dragged out movie, than give this film a try. Otherwise, there are plenty of other horror, ghost and fantasy movies from Hong Kong that are more entertaining.
Grade D+
There are plenty of nicely choreographed and sword-wielding Kung-Fu action and a freaky-executed Chinese vampire, who was controlled by the evil priest to do Cheung in. These two are the most exciting elements of the film. However, a large part of the movie stretches too long: Towards the beginning of the film, there is a demon who nearly captures Cheung through a portal in a mirror; however, this scene has nothing to do with the plot and it looks as if the demon scene was just thrown in for good measure. It strays from the story in what is a long and dragged out movie. Too much preaching from the characters added unnecessary plot elements and did make this movie boring at times, contributed by an unremarkable music score. The climax was also, I think, a little overkill.
If you are a hardcore fan of Kung-Fu movies and wouldn't mind watching a long, dragged out movie, than give this film a try. Otherwise, there are plenty of other horror, ghost and fantasy movies from Hong Kong that are more entertaining.
Grade D+