Mr. Vampire
| Mr. Vampire | |
|---|---|
Original Hong Kong film poster
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| Traditional | 僵屍先生 |
| Simplified | 僵尸先生 |
| Mandarin | Jiāngshī Xiānshēng |
| Cantonese | Goeng1 Si1 Sin1 Sang1 |
| Directed by | Ricky Lau |
| Produced by | Sammo Hung |
| Written by | Sze-to Cheuk-hon Barry Wong Wong Ying |
| Starring |
Ricky Hui Moon Lee Chin Siu-ho Lam Ching-ying Wong Siu-fung Billy Lau |
| Music by |
Anders Nelsson Alastair Monteith-Hodge The Melody Bank |
| Cinematography | Peter Ngor |
| Edited by | Peter Cheung |
|
Production
company |
Bo Ho Films Co., Ltd.
Paragon Films Ltd. |
| Distributed by | Golden Harvest |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
96 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Budget | HK$8,500,000 |
| Box office | HK$20,092,129 |
Mr. Vampire is a 1985 Hong Kong comedy horror film directed by Ricky Lau in his directorial debut, and also produced by Sammo Hung. The film's box office success led to the creation of a Mr. Vampire franchise, with the release of four sequels directed by Ricky Lau from 1986 to 1992, and subsequent similarly themed films with different directors released between 1987 and 1991. The vampire of the film is based on the jiangshi, the hopping corpses of Chinese folklore. The film was released under the Chinese title 暫時停止呼吸 (literally: Hold Your Breath for a Moment) in Taiwan. The film was the breakthrough success of the jiangshi genre, a trend popular in Hong Kong during the 1980s, and established many of the genre's recognisable tropes.
Master Kau is a Taoist priest who performs magic that maintains control over spirits and irrepressible vampires. Together with his inept students, Man-choi and Chau-sang, he resides in a large house protected from the spiritual world with talismans and amulets.
One day, he accepts an assignment from a wealthy businessman, Yam, to remove Yam's deceased father from his grave and rebury him, with the hopes that doing so will bring more prosperity to the Yam family. Unfortunately, upon opening the coffin, Kau notices the body is still intact, even though it has been years since he died. Realising that it is a vampire, Kau orders it to be moved to his house for further study and to be subject to spells that will prevent it from awakening. Kau deduces that Yam's father had died angry, and his last breath became stuck in his body for years, causing it to keep him "alive" and reducing it to a mindless state.
Once in the house, Choi and Sang cover the coffin with enchanted ink to keep the vampire from escaping. However, they forgot to cover the bottom of the coffin, and the vampire breaks out two nights later and escapes from the house, heading straight for Yam's home. It savagely kills Yam and goes into hiding before morning.
Wai, an incompetent police inspector who is smitten with Yam's daughter Ting, blames Kau for murdering Yam and arrests him. Kau is imprisoned in the local jail and Yam's body is placed in a makeshift morgue nearby. Choi stays at Yam's house to protect Ting. Sang breaks in to free his master, only to witness Yam reawakening as a vampire. Kau and Sang engage it in battle and kills it. Wai realises his mistake in framing Kau earlier and accepts the fact that another vampire is on the loose.
The vampire again invades Yam's house, forcing Choi and Ting to hide. Kau and Sang arrive in time to wound it in battle and forcing it to flee, but not before it attacks and critically wounds Choi. Kau invites Ting to stay at his house for safety. The next morning, after examining Choi's wounds, Kau claims he too may become a vampire. He orders Sang to feed Choi with glutinous rice, claiming it may decrease the vampire's venom in Choi's body and bring him back to his normal state. While shopping for the rice, however, Sang fails to notice that the shady merchant deliberately mixed different kinds of rice in the bag. While Sang rides home, he is lured by a mysterious woman into her home. He soon deduces she is a spirit, but she uses her supernatural power to seduce him. They sleep together for the night.
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