Story:
‘The One Eyebrow Priest’ has to transport
a subdued vampire from England to China, but when the
plane crashes in rural Africa, a local tribe has to
deal with the fact that there is a vampire on the loose
Review: The universes of ‘Mr Vampire’
and ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ clash head
on, and fuse to form ‘Crazy Safari’, possibly
the strangest vampire movie ever made. Lam Ching Ying
stars opposite genuine African tribesman and movie
star Nixau, to face monkeys, angry rhinos, evil witchdoctors,
and of course, vampires.
This is also a movie in which Lam Ching Ying rides
an ostrich. Now there’s something you don’t
see every day.
Crazy Safari isn’t particularly scary, but
it certainly is funny, and while it probably won’t
become a favourite in anybody’s collection,
is worth seeking out for it’s pure oddball nature.
Any pretence of plot is also irrelevant, this is a
movie which just rolls, and does some odd stuff along
the way. There is a hilarious Bruce Lee tribute towards
the end, and a man gets attacked by the angriest baboon
since ‘Shakma’, but don’t expect
anything to make any sense.
One thing that seems obvious is that HK film-makers
were apparently not very politically correct in the
early 90s, and the portrayal of the African tribesmen
is very dubious indeed. Remember the little black
guy with a bone through his nose who starred opposite
Bugs Bunny, but was later covered up before Warner
Brothers became accused of racism? Well, the locals
in Crazy Safari aren’t portrayed much differently.
Especially bizarre is the idea that they should be
so confused by automobiles and even mirrors. They’re
rural, sure, but the idea that they assume that any
shiny object is magical is verging on fascism. Some
may take outright offence, but approached from the
angle that the film shows how times have changed,
and how culturally dumb film-makers have been in the
past, there is some humour to be derived from it.
Honest.
Another irritating factor that subtracts from the
enjoyment of this film is the lack of subtitles on
some sections. Whenever the story is handed over to
the local tribes, they speak in their own language,
and the voices of Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat provide
narration. Sadly, none of these sections are subtitled
at all.
This isn’t an official Mr Vampire movie, and
it’s pretty poor when you really think about
it, but for the conoisseur of weird films, this is
a vintage wine that comes with its own crackers and
cheese.
