Hot Picks
|
|
|
The Spooky Bunch
Hong Kong 1980
produced by Josephine Siao, Tina Lau for Hi-Pitch Productions
directed by Ann Hui
starring Josephine Siao, Kenny Bee, Cheng Mang-Ha, Kwan Chung, Lau Hark-Sun, Tina Lau, Cheung Kam, Leung Ban, Chan Chi-Wong, Kam Wai-Lim, Che Hung, Kam Shan, Hui Ying-Sau, Yat Boon-Chai, Gam Lau
written by Joyce Chan, music by Tang Boon-Kei, Melody Bank, martial arts director: Ching Siu-Tung
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
Rich man Ma hires Uncle Deng's (Lau Hark-Sun) rather second rate
opera troupe for a couple of performances - but not because he's a patron
of the arts but because he desperately wants to marry his nephew Dick
(Kenny Bee) to the star of the company, Ah Chi (Josephine Siao). And sure,
she's lovely, but actually Ma has ulterior motives: Decades ago her
ancestor was poisoned by his ancestor, who sold her bad medicine, and
since she has cursed his family to be denied any offspring. Now a union of
Dick and Ah Chi would of course lift that curse. And since both Dick and
Ah Chi are young and good looking, they actually fall in love for real.
Curse lifted? Not quite, because Ma and Dick's ancestor didn't only
poison her but a whole platoon of soldiers, who soon enough execute Ma,
possess members of the theatre troupe and now want to kill Dick and
everybody who gets in their way. But Ah Chi takes Dick's side, and they
try to get the whole situation sorted, but at first seem to only make
things worse every corner they turn, until at a performance pretty much
all of the performers but Ah Chi are possessed, and the audience is mostly
composed of the spirits of yet more performers of the show. And since the
dead soldiers now see Ah Chi as an enemy as well, things look really dire
- until Dick brings along a monk as a sort of deus ex machina to
set things straight again. In the early 1980s, director Ann Hui
was on the course become a critic's darling and one of the most revered
figure heads of the Hong Kong new wave - however, The Spooky Bunch
is more of a slightly random horror comedy done Honk Kong style, with
plenty of slapstick and at times rather blunt gags. That's not to say this
is a bad movie though, as far as Hong Kong horror comedies, which back in
the day saw a bit of a heyday, go this one's pretty cool. Sure, it's no Encounters
of the Spooky Kind from the same year, but at the same time it
stays squarely away from the purely moronic, shows genuine artistic
tendencies in at least some of its creative choices, and pays conscious
hommage to silent slapstick cinema every now and again rather than just
offering soulless physical comedy. This all said, this is no masterpiece -
but a fun watch nevertheless.
|
|
|