Hopping Mad - The Mr Vampire Sequels

Following the huge success of MR. VAMPIRE (1985), audiences demanded more vampire-hopping action, resulting in ever more ‘Jiangshi’ flicks to the delight of fans. Four of these classic titles have just made their UK-Blu-ray debut with stunning new restorations. Presented as a 2-disc set, the comedy-horror films are: MR. VAMPIRE II / MR. VAMPIRE III / MR. VAMPIRE IV and finally, VAMPIRE VS VAMPIRE.

Although three of the films (2, 3 and 4) were produced by the one and only Sammo Hung (who produced the original film), the great man himself only makes one brief appearance in Mr. Vampire 3, in which he has a ten minute cameo as rice wine guzzling ‘Uncle Hung’. However, those familiar with Sammo’s films will be pleased that a bevy of his usual on-screen partners have starring roles here, including Yuen Bia, Yuen Wah, Billy Lau, Chung Fat, Chau Sang Lau, James Tien, the late Richard Ng and above all, Lam Ching-ying in the role of the vampire-battling physician and Taoist priest.

In MR. VAMPIRE II (1986; aka VAMPIRE FAMILY), archaeology professor Kwok (Chung Fat) brings two of his students, ‘Chicken’ (Billy Lau) and Sashimi (Ka Lee) on an excursion to retrieve ancient artefacts. Instead, they stumble upon a cave and discover the remains of three ‘hopping vampires – one adult female (Agassi Wang), one adult male (Cheung Wing-cheung) and one boy vampire (Hoh Kin-wai). After the usual slapstick shenanigans, in this case courtesy of Chicken (who literally has a snake crawling up his privates and it makes for a hilarious scene), the vampire family has been immobilised by having Fu-talismans (in paper form) stuck to their foreheads. The bold Kwok takes the vampire woman and the vampire man back to his lab but decides to sell the boy vampire as somewhat of a novelty on the black market. En route to the place, the boy’s talisman accidentally falls off his forehead, meaning it breaks the spell and the boy escapes from Kwok’s car. He and Chicken are alarmed that back in the lab, the same might happen with the vampire parents and race back… suffice to say, the chaos which is about to ensue beggars belief and we are treated to non-stop martial arts comedy action what with Chicken and Kwok battling hard against the hopping vampire couple and resulting in Chicken being bitten… Worried, he consults local physician Dr. Lam (Lam Chin-ying) who immeditaley recognises the nature of the bite marks and – together with daughter Gigi (Moon Lee) and his prospective son-in-law Yen (Yuen Biao) – vows to destroy the vampires but that’s much, much easier said than done as they are about to find out… Meanwhile, the little vampire boy hides out in the greenhouse of the Hu family, composed of widowed father Mr. Hu (Bowie Wu), his young son (Choi Man-gam) and his young daughter Chia-chia (Hon To-yue). While the kids are watching a TV program about illegal children having been caught by Hong Kong border police, Father Hu explains to Chia that these kids are referred to as ‘snake children’ since they cannot show their faces in daylight for fear of being caught. When, by coincidence, Chia discovers the vampire boy in the greenhouse, she mistakes him for an illegal migrant kid and hides him in her room… making sure daddy doesn’t find out. Over the next few days, all the kids from the neighbourhood make the acquaintance of the strange little boy who seems to have supernatural powers and can only come with them to the playground when he’s wearing gigantic sunshades… With Chia and her friends growing fond of their new friend and Dr. Lam and Yen adamant to destroy the adult vampires, can there be a happy end?

MR. VAMPIRE III (1987) returns to a period setting and kicks off with almighty comedy action when Uncle Ming (master of goofy expressions Richard Ng) unsuccessfully attempts to exorcise nasty spirits but only succeeds in a narrow, humiliating escape and in bringing Big Pao (David Lui) and Small Pao (Hoh Kin-wai), two ghostly companions, with him. When they arrive in a nearby town they find themselves confronted by a group of particularly evil bandits with supernatural powers, led by fearsome witch doctor Devil Lady (Agassi Wang). Cue for fog, ghostly riders on horseback and insane stunts! Oh, and let’s not forget bats, more snakes, even more bats and gross-out gore (vegetarians, be warned)! Later on, Ming and his two companions enjoy a meal in a restaurant when Captain Chiang (Billy Lau) appears and gives them a hard time. A game of wills (or tricks, rather) ensues – however, in the thick of it, Taoist priest Uncle Nine (Lam Chin-ying) turns up, subdues the two ghosts and traps them inside a huge wine jar. When Ming begs for the release of his two ghostly companions, Nine agrees under one condition: Ming must go his own way, which is just as well because as soon as the two ghostly Paos are released, Big Pao is captured by Devil Lady. The stage is set for a no holds barred showdown between good and evil, non-stop martial arts action of the spooky kind and plenty of humour in between. In order to destroy Devil Lady, powerful Uncle Nine may need to join forces with Uncle Ming and the Paos… but is he willing to take the risk?

Compared with the sheer outrageousness of Mr. Vampire 3, the follow-up MR. VAMPIRE IV (1988; aka UNCLE VAMPIRE) initially feels almost like an anti-climax, seeing how the first half of the film focuses on two feuding neighbours, namely a bad-tempered ‘Four-Eyed’ Taoist priest (Anthony Chan) and Buddhist monk Master Yat-yau (Wu Ma). There’s also a bit of rivalry going on between feisty Jing Jing (Rachel Lee), a student of Master Yat-yau, and super acrobatic Kar-lok (Chib Kar-lok) who happens to be Four-Eyed’s student. Enter food fights, plenty of karate kicks and above all, in your face humour (at times bordering on vulgar). We also have a side-splittingly funny scene depicting vampires hopping behind each other like a row of domino stones (and falling like dominos) – led by a singing and dancing Yat-yau attempting to trap them. The tone changes during the film’s second half as we well and truly enter the realm of the supernatural… namely when a royal convoy passes along the road, led by Taoist Crane (Chung Fat) who is Four-Eyed’s junior, as well as Crane’s four disciples. Then there’s a young boy prince (Hoh-Kin-wai) and Attendant Wu (Yuen Wah), the prince’s gay and effeminate personal servant (yes, really). To top it all, the convoy furthermore carries a coffin and inside it is, yes, you guessed it, a hopping vampire. When the weather turns and the coffin tumbles, well, no need to explain what happens next… Four-Eyed Taoist, Kar-lok, Master Yat-yau and Jing Jing must put their rivalry aside to combat evil, which is about to lurk at every corner. There’s also an inspired scene featuring Pauline Wong as a shape-shifting seductive vixen cum fox demon.

For the final film in this set, we remain in a period setting once again, though VAMPIRE VS VAMPIRE (1989) was, unlike the previous three films, not directed by Ricky Lau but by Lam Ching-ying (who also takes on the lead role as One Eyebrow Priest). Chua Lam was responsible for the production side of things, giving Sammo Hung a well-deserved break. It’s Taoism vs Christianity and East meets West in this horror-comedy with occasional nods to Hammer Horror. We begin in a suitable atmospheric mood when Fong (Fong Liu) and Hoh (Siu-hou Chin), two hapless pupils of Taoist priest One-Eyebrow, are tasked with ensuring that the moonlight does not touch certain jars in which spirits are trapped. Of course, things don’t go according to plan and in the process a child vampire (Jing Wam Lam) escapes. It’s down to One-Eyebrow to keep the child vampire (who, throughout the entire film, makes gurgling and babbling noises just like Baby Yoda) under control. In fact, this child vampire is so adorable you want to take him home with you. Later on, One-Eyebrow is supposed to find out why a nearby village is beset by reoccurring misfortunes and the local General (Billy Lau), who acts as an arm of the law, is certain that the problem stems from a Catholic church led by Mother Superior (Maria Cordero) because a huge number of bats seem to nest there – contaminating the surrounding area. Of course, the real source is a former Catholic priest from Europe who is supposed to have died many years ago… but isn’t quite dead… in fact, he is a vampire (Frank Juhas) and when the General’s attractive cousin (Sandra Ng) falls prey to his halfway reanimated corpse, this human source of blood restores the vampire completely and it’s now literally a case of bats out of hell… One Eyebrow priest and his two pupils have to use their combined wits to fight evil once and for all when they come to realise that Taoist exorcism has no effect on a European vampire… They also get unexpected support from the little vampire boy. Unusual in its concept, this horror-comedy is the odd one out though every bit as entertaining!

Bonus features include various audio options, audio commentaries, history and resurgent popularity of the Hopping Vampires genre featurettes, trailers, reversible sleeve plus Limited Edition O-card slipcase & Collector’s booklet (first print run of 2000 copies only).