Ching Siu-tung

(In French, On Cable TV, May 2022) I remembered just enough of the first Chinese Ghost Story to be looking forward to the sequel… and I remembered correctly: Anyone looking for a charmingly low-tech film very much in the Evil Dead vein could do much worse than have a look at this fog-drenched maximalist take on fantasy film. This second instalment goes wide in presenting an ensemble cast fighting against demons and imperial soldiers, with plenty of wire-enhanced fighting, wild monstrous creatures and some memorable set-pieces. Director Ching Siu-tung has a lot of fun staging the mayhem, and star Leslie Cheung makes for a great protagonist. The romantic content of the first film (hastily summarized in the sequel’s first few seconds) is clearly toned down in favour of demonic sword-fighting, and that’s fine – it’s enough of a departure to be distinctive. Now, I’m clearly catching only a fraction of A Chinese Ghost Story II’s allusion to Chinese mythology – but the result is high-energy enough that I don’t care all that much. (Although keeping an eye on the Wikipedia plot summary may help keep your bearings.)  This is old-school horror fun with plenty of comedy to soften the blow, and enough fun with the camera (almost a character by itself) to still wow more than thirty years later.