Story:
A Buddhist monk (Wu Ma) and a Taoist priest (Ricky Lau?)
have been rivals for decades, but when a vampire being
transported nearby escapes it’s captors, they
are forced to team up and save the day.
Review: Four films in, a slight title change
(it’s a saga now, apparently), and the Mr Vampire
series is still going strong. Lam Ching Ying is absent,
and the series’ lesser players step forward
to centre stage. Anthony Chan plays the same part
as he did at the very beginning of the first movie,
and Wu Ma plays an all new character, which just about
makes up for change in cast. Sure, it would have been
good to have the original cast reunited by now, but
this is still has the soul of a Mr Vampire film, and
proves to be rewarding viewing.
Early on, some nice kung fu sets the pace, and Anthony
Chan shows off some nice Taoist moves, transporting
hopping corpses through a forest, and then fighting
off a fox spirit’s alluring advances. It’s
familiar territory for the series, and feels good
to be concentrating on the Kyonsi after Part 3 of
the series concerned itself mainly with ghosts and
ghouls.
The plot hops off in a different direction for a
while, though, exploring the rivalry between the two
holy men. They spend some time casting spells on each
other, having food fights and falling over a lot,
but just as this gets worrying, the vampires show
up again and things really pick up.
One thing missing from part 2 (terrible) and part
3 (much better) was the Kung Fu displayed by Chin
Siu Ho, who provided a lot of the action. Well, in
Mr Vampire Saga 4, Chin Kar-Lok fills that gap, and
his scenes are the best in the film. Trapped in a
house with 4 vampires, he leaps about the place like
a madman, displaying excellent ability as he fights
off the vampires. Filmed with plenty of wide shots,
the action is fast, fluid, and funny as hell. The
vampires are as scary as they are funny, and just
like the first film, we meet clownish vampires, before
building up to the decomposing daddy of them all.
The cast are obviously having fun, and even Yuen
Wah contradicts his usual bad guy image, and shows
up as a gay vampire (it’s not your neck he wants
to suck). Rachel Lee is cute and holds her own against
the rest of the cast, and Wu Ma is as brilliant as
ever. Lam Ching Ying really should have been here,
especially considering that it’s such a good
movie, but the film’s cast still stand up strong.
After part 3 in the series left the vampires to
rest in peace for a while, Mr. Vampire Saga 4 brings
things right back to the source and concentrates on
the Kyonsi. While none of the series could possibly
recapture the genius of the first film, this addition
to the series is definitely worth checking out.
