Cast: Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Wu Ma, Jacky Cheung, Michelle Reis, Nina Li Chi Review by Colin Dibben
The legendary producer hit paydirt once again with 1987’s A Chinese Ghost Story, starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma.
Timid tax collector Ling Choi-San (Cheung) spends the night in an abandoned temple, where he is seduced by a beautiful ghost, Nip Siu-Sihn (Wong). When Choi-san realises that Siu-Sihn is a spirit, he asks oddball Taoist warrior Yin Chik-Ha (Wu) to help him free Siu-Sihn from the clutches of the evil demon that controls her.
In A Chinese Ghost Story II, Choi-San is drawn to an abandoned, haunted villa and a rebel fighter called Windy (Wong), who unsurprisingly bears a striking resemblance to Siu-Sihn from the first film. Soon he is fighting evil spirits once again, with help from Yin Chik-Ha and an even more oddball, frenetic swordsman, Jihau (Cheung).
In the third film, bumbling novice monk Fong (Leung Chiu-Wai) finds himself at the abandoned temple from the first film, where he falls for a female ghost called Lotus (Wong, once again). Fong teams up with a frenetic swordsman (Cheung, again) to protect the golden Buddha statuette he is carrying.
Watching these three in a row is not a good idea. You will get bored: the plot outlines highlight how similar the stories are and the first two are filmed in a very similar style. The narratives rush around without taking time to create much pathos; although there is some, thanks primarily to the actors’ expressive faces.
The films are loaded with special effects that are either intentionally or unintentionally funny but never truly impressive. These elements drag the films down a bit; the monsters in the first two are actually a bit rubbish, but the plots keep returning to them. The effects also lack the wow factor because of the weird, tightly cropped framing Tsui Hark and his director underlings are fond of using.
Frankly this framing makes no sense to me: I want to see more of the effects, if only to gauge how laughable they truly are. Perhaps the tight-cropped frame is a way of concealing the cheapness of the effects; but it also dampens your response to the beautiful lighting and design effects evident, especially in the first film. I am thinking of, for example, the torchlit, water surrounded pier temple and the sensual-comic bathing sequence.
The acting is the real star there. It is all in comic mode – with the third film distinctly more comic in tone than the first two – but Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai are always class acts and Joey Wong gets more expressive as the trilogy proceeds. The supporting actors are perhaps too physical to be remarkable.
Arrow Video is releasing the trilogy in both 4K Ultra HD format and as a standard Blu-ray in 4K.
Extras include a range of interviews and features:
- A Leslie Cheung Story: Hong Kong’s Eternal Icon, a brand new feature-length documentary on the film’s star
- Hong Kong Confidential: Inside A Chinese Ghost Story I, II & III, brand new interviews with Hong Kong cinema expert Grady Hendrix
- 2 brand new interview with Hong Kong cinema expert David West
- The Making of A Chinese Ghost Story II, an archival behind-the-scenes special filmed for the Japanese VHS market, featuring interviews with cast and crew
- Film Without Limits: The New Hong Kong Cinema, an archival documentary featuring interviews with Hong Kong filmmakers and stars including John Woo, Tsui Hark and Jackie Chan, plus extended behind-the-scenes footage from A Chinese Ghost Story III and an on-set interview with Ching Siu-Tung
A Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy is out in separate 4K UHD and Blu-ray sets on 26 October 2026.
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