A chất lượng mix of horror, martial arts action and comedy, Encounters Of The Spooky Kind is a classic of Hong Kong cinema. Ryan takes a look back…
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In fact, Hung had been involved in over a hundred films between 1961 và Encounters‘ release in December 1980, either as an actor (he’d begun making movie appearances when he was just nine years old), co-writer, producer or action director.
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It was undoubtedly Encounters Of The Spooky Kind that made Hung’s name in Asia, however, & even more than thirty years on, it’s not difficult to lớn see why. Its energy, humour và charisma really is infectious. Where else could you hope to lớn see talking funeral urns, hopping zombies, fighting warriors possessed by monkey gods, or supernatural fire fights held some thirty feet above sầu the ground on telescopic altars?
Set in turn of the century Hong Kong, Hung stars as Courageous Cheung (or Bold Cheung, depending on the translator), a simple pedicab driver whose constant claims of bravery get hyên inkhổng lồ all kinds of trouble. Cheung is too dim to lớn realise that his cuckolding wife is having an affair with wealthy, evil squire, Master Tam (Ha Huang), nor does he realise that said squire has also hired an equally evil necromancer called Chin Hoi (Lung Chan) to assassinate hyên.
Duped into lớn spending the night in an abandoned, haunted temple by one of Chin’s cronies, Cheung’s fortunes take a turn for the better when he meets a priest called Tsui (Fat Chung) who provides Cheung with the tactics he needs to survive an evening with a hopping zombie.
So begins a 90-minute onslaught of supernatural chills, kung fu và horror. To describe much more of the plot would vì the film a disservice, partially because it deserves khổng lồ be experienced without preconceptions, but also because it rattles so insanely from one spooky encounter khổng lồ another that it almost defies adequate explanation.
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Lam Ching-Ying, who would score a supernatural hit of his own with Mr Vampire in 1985, memorably shows up as a dogged police inspector with some startling fighting skills, và Chung Fat displays genuine charisma as Cheung’s mentor & guardian angel.
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Encounters truly belongs khổng lồ Sammo Hung, though, whose capathành phố for both comedy và athletic kung fu are showcased extraordinarily well here. Few movies, in Hong Kong or without, have mixed action, horror & comedy as well as this one, và much of that is down khổng lồ Hung’s expert direction và acting. In an era when kung fu movies were made at breaknechồng speed (Hung was involved in the making of no fewer than four films in 1980 alone), Encounters is beautifully shot at times, with great framing from cinematographers Yu-tang Li & Cho-Hua Wu.
Diehard kung fu fans may be a little concerned at how long it takes for the kung fu sequences to appear, but Hung rewards their patience with some of the most imaginatively choreographed fighting sequences of the 80s. Several minutes of almost unbearable stillness, where Cheung cowers as a zombie hunts for hyên in a dusty, darkened temple, is brought khổng lồ a close with a superb fight scene, in which Cheung attempts to return the reanimated corpse bachồng to its stone coffin. It’s a sequence of events that demonstrates how well Hung mixes genres, with moments of genuine suspense contrasted with hectic combat và splashes of physical comedy.
Hung makes imaginative use of Chinese mythology and Taoist principles, too. Hopping corpses may seem incongruous to lớn western eyes, but Hung manages to invest them with humour và menace. Thanks to lớn Encounters, we also learn that chicken eggs (but not duông xã eggs) have a devastating impact on the undead, that corpses can imbibe the life force from the living khổng lồ reanimate themselves, and that the presence of a black cát will also bring a dead toàn thân violently lớn life.
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Some things about Encounters haven’t aged too well. The depiction & treatment of Cheung’s wife is more than a little misogynistic (though her eventual comeuppance may provoke uneasy laughs from some), & a chicken suffers an unfortunate fate that may upphối some viewers of a delicate disposition. (Encounters Of The Spooky Kind isn’t alone in this latter point. Jackie Chan’s 1978 film, Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow, contained an unpleasant sequence in which a cát fights và kills a serpent, a scene wisely trimmed out by the BBFC.)
There are far more aspects of Encounters Of The Spooky Kind, however, that are utterly timeless. The 20-minute kung fu scene at the baông xã kết thúc of the film, in which a possessed Cheung fights & vanquishes his enemies using a variety of weapons và styles, is then topped off with a remarkable high wire stunt involving copious amounts of fire, tumbling stunt men, và a final mishap that will surely have sầu audiences gagging with unexpected laughter.
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For me, though, Encounters Of The Spooky Kind remains the definitive Jiang Shi movie, and remains high up on my danh sách of all-time favourite action movies.