Wong Jing fools around with Rosamund Kwan, stands her up like a true asshole his friends wants him to be but pays the price for it. She's got an very overprotective ghost family. Vengeance time!

Wong writes himself a scenario where he's bagged Pat Ha as his pregnant wife and has a love affair with Rosamund Kwan in this typical horror-comedy of the era. Shameless.

Several attempt are made in Ghost Fever. One is the strive to be funny but with Nat Chan and Charlie Cho playing the usual moronic, horny mates of the main character, that aspect sinks expectedly. Echoing Evil Dead means there's attempt to be scary but the ways are far too crudely executed as usual coming from special effects Hong Kong cinema (even though Sam Raimi's effort probably resides budget-wise on the same level as Ghost Fever). But as these things go, Hong Kong cinema of the era had a knack for being efficient entertainment-wise even with this low-grade, politically incorrect filmmaking. Which ultimately is the most shameful thing to admit; Ghost Fever kind of is impossible to dislike. Also with Max Mok and Eddy Ko.

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Ghostbusters Hong Kong style minus a lot of the fun, wit and not to mention the unique inclusions Hong Kong can contribute. The money hungry and fairly technologically savvy gang consisting of Wilson Lam, Ricky Hui, Shing Fui-On and Sheila Chan are battling 1000 year old corpses once on exhibition but now on the loose. Meanwhile they banter, Sheila Chan desperately wants the love of Ricky Hui and they track connections concerning Ku Feng and Sheila Chan's characters to the past...

Showing bursts of promise but rarely utilizing the opportunities, you get the standard energy at times involving wires and animated special effects. Featuring dull banter and wackiness in between, involving among other things an invention called The Super Shaker that they use on Charlie Cho's perverted character (things are indeed as expected by the way), it's only the finale where the gang tries to prevent armageddon (the film never looks big despite that big potential event) that is more consistently creative. Also with Ho Pak-Kwong and Maggie Siu.

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Rival swordsmen Tsai (Tien Peng) and Jun Fung (David Tong) are forced to unite against common enemy King Gold that stole Purple Light Sword Tsai won in a duel against Jun Fung. King Gold tries to get the swordsmen turning against each other but eventually they are joined by Yen (Polly Kuan) and head to Gold Mountain to try and conquer the multiple obstacles waiting...

The usual genre staples of supremacy in the Wuxia world are evident, as are a plethora of characters but director Ding Sin-Saai (Whiplash) does in the end chose a very simple story template because he's busy stylistically. A terrific choice. Teasing early that he's on top of his game as one character dissects a fight Jun Fung lost, The Ghost Hill will tenfold display the cinematic possibilities when depicting the Wuxia world. Filled with colourful inclusions such as poison plants, an ice prison, fire pits and creative, violent traps, it's thoroughly delightful and entertaining to follow this unpredictable amusement park ride. With a superb villain in the form of King Lion (who bathes in hot oil, something only he could survive), The Ghost Hill is elite stuff from Taiwan veteran Ding Sin-Saai that shows the relatively early life of the Wuxia movie meant you could still elevate your local cinema with the right skill.

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All too busy social worker Xiao Lin (Billy Lau) is lured into death by a group of spirits. One takes over the body and decides to take his bitterness out on the world and Xiao Lin's environment. A soul master (Wu Ma) previously stuck in a home for the elderly, an ex-con (Stanley Fung) and the in general wacky Joe (Sandra Ng) aids in trying to perform an exorcism on Xiao Lin... with the help of a modified Nintendo Entertainment System...

Billy Lau playing it more subdued but then living out often violent fantasies once possessed is a neat idea but there's never much energy and momentum after that idea has played out its stock for a reel. Stanley Fung certainly tries to add a fast paced ghost busting angle to Ghost In Me but it's all strangely boring. Standout scene sees evil Billy Lau leading a blind man into traffic to become dead meat (off screen sadly). Also with Hui Siu-Hung.

Lousy Chao (Chung Faat) is affiliated with gangsters and end up dead at the hands of them. Coming back as a vengeful spirit, he finds a suitable human, Ming (Alex Fong), to possess as they share the same birthday. Off onto the path of revenge then, starting with a sauna encounter...

Cheap exercise in revenge-tactics but for a low-fi effort of this kind, you can't be deadly boring and expect to get away with it. There are certain boxes in need of to be ticked if you want to stand straight and proudly as a Hong Kong cinema genre effort. Most importantly those boxes concerning energy, pace, low budget creativity and non-boredom. So with none ticked, Ghost Killer fails rather miserably and doesn't elicit unintentional laughs either. Stuff on display just reeks. A little unwarranted nudity as well as half a scene of ghostly rape bumps up the rating to III and seeing the possessed Alex Fong beating legends Ku Feng, Chen Kuan-Tai and Peter Chan Lung is amusing when you think of it... not when you watch it. Also with Julia Cheng (Daughter Of Darkness II) and Lam Wai.

Polly Kuan is Fightress Hua out to revenge her father's death at the hand of The Ghostly Face. On her travels in Thailand that goes on and on, she befriends a girl looking for her sister. And this girl views The Ghostly Face as her saviour. Oh what to do. Despite a short running time, this partly kickass film has padding in the form of multiple, slow moving looks at Thai locations, culture and its ceremonies that barely relate to the plot anyway. When it does shift into its better gear, the movie is a fairly relentless assault of gory fightscenes with a dependable, feisty Polly Kuan at center.

KENNETH'S REVIEW: A Chinese Ghost Story-clone/full on copy with additional sex and no setup! Yep, why waste time when you're not doing your own thing anyway so into the classic man/ghost atmosphere we go, only done with less elegance (despite trying elegance) and care that travels to an audience. Austin Wai plays the scholar trying to reincarnate Emily Chu's Siu Chui. Helping along is an actor made up to look and act like like Wu Ma while other parts of the cast, far away from the leads engages in the bonk-a-thon, sometimes with supernatural tendencies. Boring and indeed being the clone of the classic + a Category III rating equals drab times at the movies. It's only when energy is injected via battles with the underworld straight out of mentioned classic that Ghostly Love has a pace worth following. Problem is, it's still not its own.

A script collaboration officially but the end result that is Ghostly Vixen has Wong Jing's paws entirely over it. Insulting everyone from blacks, transvestites to Sandra Ng, the premise of Amy Yip playing an Evil Girl aiming for immortality by draining virgins of their sperm is of course also unashamedly tailor made for the busty actress but the director of The Inspectors Wears Skirts, Wellson Chin steers this one perfectly allright towards its goals of being energetic entertainment. Nat Chan's virgin character is both abusive and suffering from bad luck in the sex stakes and the only one who's ever loved him, the ugly Lumy (Sandra Ng) even puts spells on him when all's not going in her favour. In one sequence therefore Chan is running around with a lumber-sized erection, one he has to tie to his leg when going to work the next day. Cue skit. It's crass, low and a lot of fun thanks to director Chin's confidence in working with this particular material. With a cast of supporting characters equally well suited for the ride, in particular Shing Fui-On as sort of a biker wizard, Ghostly Vixen tickles, even when it's for the wrong reasons. Wu Fung, Charlie Cho, Wu Ma and Bill Tung also appear.

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Young Noble (Shih Jun - A Touch Of Zen) is seeking a quiet locale to copy scriptures but the surroundings are haunted. More specifically the well in the yard has claimed and is claiming victims. Young Noble himself sees the alluring girl at the bottom and almost falls victim to her spell but instead the girl Su Su (Brigitte Lin) comes out and explains herself. Being under the dominance of a dragon, she is in fact innocent and tries to serve Young Noble while the scriptures protect the two from the dragon. But for how long?

Yet another story from the often referenced "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" by Pu Songliong (also see A Chinese Ghost Story for a similar take), Ghost Of The Mirror is a nice break from Taiwan romance considering Brigitte Lin is being directed by one of the makers behind her debut Outside The Window. Techniques employed very much brings an unsettling and creepy nature to scenes involving the well somehow luring in victims. It's heavy sounds on the soundtrack coupled with this recurring image but the effect is undeniably real. So is the back and forth commitment by the audience as we don't know what harm or if harm will come to Shih Jun's character. It's only when director Sung employs more crude techniques such as a green light hitting Brigitte Lin whenever Young Noble is in danger and the big special effects ending involving the dragon takes you out of the movie. It's entirely understandable Sung wanted to show and not only tell but despite an emotional hook still being present in the film, it no doubts detracts from a valiant effort technically.

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Ghostly hijinxs with Chin Siu-Ho and Chiang Kam (heavyset martial arts actor and stuntman who appeared in Snake In The Eagle's Shadow) trying to learn the craft of magic from master Lin (Lo Lieh) after prior conning their fellow men into thinking they got the gift. A showdown between Chinese and Japanese wizards also lies ahead...

An energetic opening reel where acrobatics registers as a highlight, the following lighter section of the film is mostly an unbearable, not to mention totally unfunny, double act between the leads. This Shaw Brother's production even feels deeply, deeply uninspired even when it does during these sections stage fantasy battles. Occasionally director Hsu Hsia (action choreographer as well as director of fare such as Lion Vs. Lion) lets the swords clash in fluid choreography but it's not until the surprise death of a main character that the film takes a turn for the better! Concerning itself mainly with set piece after set piece, the Western viewers may not be in on the joke of featuring various gods as tools of combat but Ghosts Galore does possess an energy eventually that at least guarantees little boredom. Lo Lieh on autopilot makes the production automatically also gain some colour but Hwang Jang-Lee almost solely behind a worshipping altar is poorly used, only cutting loose way too late when we're in fantasy territory again. Magic and sorcery usually equals fun but Ghosts Galore is despite all its bells and whistles a bit resigned to do anything for the genre. Something that goes hand in hand with Shaw's decrease in market demand as the 80s rolled along. Yeung Jing-Jing (who appeared in the far more satisfying Holy Flame Of The Martial World) and Lung Tien-Hsiang also appear.