Mr. Vampire

Mr. Vampire
Original Hong Kong film poster
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
Screenplay by	Sze-to Cheuk-hon Barry Wong Wong Ying
Starring	Lam Ching-ying Ricky Hui Chin Siu-ho Moon Lee
Music by	Anders Nelsson Alastair Monteith-Hodge The Melody Bank
Cinematography	Peter Ngor
Editing by	Peter Cheung
Studio	Bo Ho Films Co., Ltd. Paragon Films Ltd.
Distributed by	Golden Harvest
Release date(s)	7 November 1985
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Gross revenue	HK$20,092,129

Mr. Vampire, also known as Geung-si Sin-sang, is a 1985 Hong Kong comedy horror film directed by Ricky Lau and 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.

Plot

Taoist priest Kau is engaged to perform a reburial for a deceased rich man. Together with his inept students Man-choi and Chau-sang, Kau discovers that the corpse is still almost intact and looks alive. They attempt to prevent the corpse from resurrecting by drawing magical lines all over the coffin, but the corpse still breaks out and becomes a geung si (Chinese "hopping" vampire).

The vampire runs amok and starts killing many people while Kau and his students try to stop it. In one battle, Man-choi is bitten by the vampire and infected with the "vampire virus", causing him to almost turn into a vampire as well. Meanwhile, Chau-sang is seduced by a female ghost and nearly loses his soul to her. Kau has a hard time dealing with his students' problems and putting an end to the vampire's rampage.

Cast

• Lam Ching-ying as Master Kau (九叔), a unibrowed priest specialising in Taoist supernatural arts
• Ricky Hui as Man-choi (文才), Kau's student
• Chin Siu-ho as Chau-sang (秋生), Kau's student
• Moon Lee as Ting-ting (婷婷), Master Yam's daughter
• Huang Ha as Master Yam (任老爺), a rich man. He is apparently killed by the vampire but later rises from the dead to become like his late father.
• Anthony Chan as Priest Four Eyes (四目道長), Kau's friend. He uses magic to control "hopping" corpses and transport them to their hometowns for burial.
• Yuen Wah as the Vampire, Master Yam's deceased father
• Wong Siu-fung as Jade (董小玉), a female ghost who seduces Chau-sang
• Billy Lau as Wai (阿威), the cowardly police inspector. He is also Ting-ting's cousin.
• Ho Pak-kwong as a villager
• Ka Lee as the night watchman
• Wu Ma as the rice shop owner
• Wong Wan-si as the rice shop owner's wife
• Tin Kai-Man as the rice shop owner's idiotic son
• Yuen Miu as a policeman
• Yuen Biao as a "hopping" corpse
• Pang Yun-cheung as a policeman
• Chow Gam-kong as a policeman
• Chin Sing-wai as a policeman
• Cheung Wing-cheung

Release

Highly successful at the time, both in Hong Kong and as a cult film favorite with overseas enthusiasts of Hong Kong cinema, Mr. Vampire spawned four sequels, inspired numerous parodies and homage films. The film launched Lam Ching-ying's character, the unibrowed Taoist exorcist, whom he would portray not only in the Mr. Vampire sequels, but also in many other films, including unrelated ones.

Awards and nominations

Mr. Vampire won Best Original Film Score at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1986. It was also nominated for another 11 other awards as follows.

• Best Film
• Best Director (Ricky Lau)
• Best Supporting Actor (Lam Ching-ying, Billy Lau)
• Best New Performer (Billy Lau)
• Best Screenplay (Wong Ying, Barry Wong, Sze-to Cheuk-hon)
• Best Cinematography (Peter Ngor)
• Best Art Direction (Lam Sai-lok)
• Best Action Direction (Sammo Hung Stunt Team)
• Best Original Film Song (Gwai San Noeng)

Theme song

The film's theme song, Gwai San Noeng (鬼新娘; Ghost Bride), was performed by the Jie'er Choir (傑兒合唱團).

Sequels

Mr. Vampire spawned a number of sequels, including Mr. Vampire II, Mr. Vampire III and Mr. Vampire IV. Most do not relate to the first film but are set on the same themes. The same cast members appear in some films but they are recast in different roles. They are also other films of the Chinese vampire genre starring Lam Ching-ying, such as Encounters of the Spooky Kind II (1990) and Magic Cop (1990), or directed by Lam himself, such as Vampire Vs. Vampire (1989), which are all separate from the Mr. Vampire franchise.^[1] In addition, Lam uses his real name for his character in some of the films he acted in.

A related television series titled Vampire Expert (殭屍道長) starring Lam Ching-ying was broadcast from 1996 to 1997. However, during the filming of the third season, Lam developed liver cancer and died before the project was completed. The first season of My Date with a Vampire, a television series produced by ATV, was specially dedicated to Lam, and the story was based on future events in Vampire Expert.

Theatrical play

Mr. Vampire was adapted into a theatrical play and was performed at the Cultural Centre's Studio Theatre in Hong Kong from 29 to 30 October 2010 as part of a Halloween theme.^[2]

Home media

VHS

Release date	Country	Classifaction	Publisher	Format	Language	Subtitles	Notes	REF
Unknown	United States	Unknown	Rainbow Audio and Video Incorporation	NTSC	Cantonese	English		[3]
21 September 1988	Japan	Unknown	Pony Video	NTSC	Japanese(Dubbed)	None		[4]
19 June 1998	United States	Unknown	Tai Seng Entertainment	NTSC	Cantonese	English		[5]
19 October 1999	France	Unknown	HK Video	NTSC	Cantonese	English		[6]
24 January 2000	United Kingdom	15	Made in Hong Kong	PAL	Cantonese	English		[7]

Laserdisc

Release date	Country	Classifaction	Publisher	Catalog No	Format	Language	Subtitles	Notes	REF
1988	Japan	N/A	Pony Video LaserVision	G88F0112	CLV / NTSC	Cantonese	Japanese	Audio Mono	[8]

VCD

Release date	Country	Classifaction	Publisher	Format	Language	Subtitles	Notes	REF
Unknown	Hong Kong	N/A	Megastar (HK)	NTSC	Cantonese, Mandarin	English, Chinese	2VCDs	[9]
Unknown	Hong Kong	N/A	Deltamac (HK)	NTSC	Cantonese	English, Traditional Chinese	2VCDs	[10]
5 December 2003	China	N/A	Jiang Xi Wen Hua Yin Xiang Chu Ban She	NTSC	Mandarin	English, Traditional Chinese	2VCDs	[11]
7 Octover 2005	Taiwan	N/A	Xin Sheng Dai (TW)	NTSC	Mandarin	Traditional Chinese	2VCDs	[12]
25 February 2009	Hong Kong	N/A	Joy Sales (HK)	NTSC	Cantonese, Mandarin	English, Traditional Chinese	2VCDs Digitally Remastered	[13]

DVD

Release date	Country	Classifaction	Publisher	Format	Region	Language	Sound	Subtitles	Notes	REF
Unknown	Hong Kong	N/A	Deltamac (HK)	NTSC	ALL	Cantonese, Mandarin	Dolby Digital 2.0	English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese		[14]
Unknown	Japan	N/A	Universal Pictures Japan	NTSC	2	Cantonese, Japanese	Dolby Digital Mono	Japanese	Digitally Re-mastered Box-set	[15]
2001	Hong Kong	N/A	Mega Star	NTSC	ALL	Cantonese and Mandarin	Dolby Digital 5.1	Cantonese, English, Thai, Vietnamese, Spanish		[16]
22 April 2002	United Kingdom	15	Hong Kong Legends	PAL	2	Cantonese, English (Dubbed)	Dolby Digital 5.1	English	Digitally Re-mastered	[17]
19 February 2004	France	N/A	HK Video	PAL	2	Cantonese	Dolby Digital	French	Box-set	[18]
7 September 2004	United States	PG-13	20th Century Fox	NTSC	1	Cantonese, English (Dubbed)	Dolby Digital 5.1	English	Digitally Re-mastered	[19]
26 June 2005	Hong Kong	N/A	Joy Sales (HK)	NTSC	ALL	Cantonese, Mandarin	Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS Digital Surround	English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese	Digitally Re-mastered	[20][21]
5 December 2007	Australia/ New Zealand	M	Magna Pacific	PAL	4	Cantonese, English (Dubbed)	Dolby Digital 5.1	English	Digitally Re-mastered	[22]
8 July 2011	Japan	N/A	Paramount Home Entertainment Japan	NTSC	2	Cantonese	Dolby Digital	Japanese		[23]

References

1. ^ IMDB database
2. ^ "Mr. Vampire Theater". timeout.com.hk. http://www.timeout.com.hk/stage/features/37895/mr-vampire.html. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
3. ^ "Mr. Vampire (Geung si sin sang) (1985) - 1986 Golden Harvest Ltd./Rainbow Audio VHS". ghoulbasement.com. http://www.ghoulbasement.com/2011/07/mr-vampire-geung-si-sin-sang-1985-1986.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
4. ^ "aoist spiritual vision (Japanese dub version) [VHS"]. amazon.co.jp. http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%9C%8A%E5%B9%BB%E9%81%93%E5%A3%AB-%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E5%90%B9%E6%9B%BF%E7%89%88-VHS-%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%82%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%83%A5%E3%82%A6/dp/B00005MYVX. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
5. ^ "Geung si sin sang [VHS"]. Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Geung-si-sin-sang-VHS/dp/B000009N6I/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1316359259&sr=1-1. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
6. ^ "Mr Vampire French". hkvideo.fr. http://www.hkvideo.fr/ficheVhs/31/. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
7. ^ "Mr.Vampire [VHS"]. Amazon.co.uk. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-Vampire-VHS-Mr-Vampire/dp/B00004CUWL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316281009&sr=8-1. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
8. ^ "Mr. Vampire (Geung si sin sang) [IU81"]. urabanchou.com. http://www.urabanchou.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=928_944&products_id=77601. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
9. ^ [http://www.cinemasie.com/en/fiche/video/2651/ "VCD Mr Vampire Megastar"]. cinemasie.com. http://www.cinemasie.com/en/fiche/video/2651/. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
10. ^ "Mr. Vampire VCD". yesasia.com. http://www.yesasia.com/us/mr-vampire/2319-0-0-0-en/info.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
11. ^ "Mr. Vampire (VCD) (China Version) VCD". yesasia.com. http://www.yesasia.com/us/mr-vampire-vcd-china-version/1002975813-0-0-0-en/info.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
12. ^ "Mr. Vampire (Taiwan Version) VCD". yesasia.com. http://www.yesasia.com/us/mr-vampire-taiwan-version/1004077436-0-0-0-en/info.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
13. ^ "Mr. Vampire (VCD) (Digitally Remastered) (Hong Kong Version) VCD". yesasia.com. http://www.yesasia.com/us/mr-vampire-vcd-digitally-remastered-hong-kong-version/1014419463-0-0-0-en/info.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
14. ^ "Mr. Vampire DVD Region All". yesasia.com. http://www.yesasia.com/us/mr-vampire/1000030202-0-0-0-en/info.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
15. ^ "Mr.Vampire DVD Box [Limited Release"]. cdjapan.co.jp. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=UALD-48819. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
16. ^ "Mr.Vampire DVD Comparison". dvdbeaver.com. http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare5/mrvampire.htm. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
17. ^ "Mr Vampire [1985 [DVD]"]. amazon.co.uk. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000634DO/ref=nosim?tag=dvdbeaver-21&link_code=as2&creativeASIN=B0000634DO&creative=374929&camp=211189. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
18. ^ "Mister Vampire : L'intégrale - Coffret 4 DVD". amazon.fr. http://www.amazon.fr/Mister-Vampire-Lint%C3%A9grale-Coffret-DVD/dp/B0001501Z8/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1316356868&sr=1-1. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
19. ^ "Mr. Vampire". amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002CR08Q/devildead. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
20. ^ "Mr. Vampire (DVD) (Digitally Remastered) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All". yesasia.com. http://www.yesasia.com/us/mr-vampire-dvd-digitally-remastered-hong-kong-version/1004027212-0-0-0-en/info.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
21. ^ "Mr.Vampire DVD Comparison". dvdbeaver.com. http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare5/mrvampire.htm. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
22. ^ "Mr. Vampire 12680". magnapacific.com.au. http://www.magnapacific.com.au/index.php?option=com_jmovies&Itemid=2&task=detail&id=228. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
23. ^ "霊幻道士 デジタル・リマスター版 [DVD"]. amazon.co.jp. http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%9C%8A%E5%B9%BB%E9%81%93%E5%A3%AB-%E3%83%87%E3%82%B8%E3%82%BF%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E7%89%88-DVD-%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%82%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A6/dp/B004VC2T20/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1316357831&sr=8-22. Retrieved 18 September 2011.

External links

• Mr. Vampire at the Internet Movie Database
• Mr. Vampire at AllRovi
• Mr. Vampire at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase