Review: The Chinese Vampire, or kyonsi was once a powerful force in HK cinema, and the success of the Mr Vampire movies and its various spin-offs and imitations produced some memorable horror flicks. Tragically, after China’s most famous vampire hunter Lam Ching Ying died, the genre seemed to die with him, never to be reincarnated. A few recent attempts have jumped out of the grave, but Vampire Hunters (2002) felt a little decomposed and Vampire Combat (2000) was just plain rotten.

As far as bringing the genre back to life, Shaolin Vs Evil Dead may just be the light at the end of the tunnel. It captures the soul of the Mr Vampire movies with some success, in part due to the involvement of Gordon Liu. The former Shaw Brothers star who also appeared in Tarantino’s Kill Bill steps into the dead man’s shoes, and seems to have modelled his performance on Lam Ching Ying’s. There’s something there in his mannerisms that reflects the great man, and assuming it’s on purpose, it’s a fitting tribute.

Shaolin Vs Evil Dead isn’t a straight up rehash of the original Kyonsi movies, though. Director Douglas Kung updates the formula with a few computer generated special effects. Some of the nicest CG out of Hong Kong has left movies like Legend of Zu and a Man Called Hero feeling a little shallow, but by using it sparingly, Kung has ensured there is still a heart beating in the movies chest . The effects aren’t going to challenge The Matrix, and you should expect something more akin to the better effects seen in TV shows, but nothing brings a game of ‘Phantom Chess’ alive like a giant CG scorpion.

Aside from Gordon Liu, the cast aren’t going to attract too much attention from a Western Audience. It’s nice to see ‘Story of Ricky’ star Louis Koo still has a career, and he makes a decent enough bad guy, but most won’t know who he is. The rest of the cast are relatively unknown names to those outside of HK, but for the most part, are an effective ensemble. This is billed as a horror comedy, but it’s ‘light hearted’ rather than ‘hilarious’, and the cast don’t really strain too hard to get laughs, though they are an amiable bunch.

There is one bad egg in the basket, though. ‘Egg Head’ is possible the most irritating character ever created. Child vampires have always been a staple of the genre and they’re always irritating, but Egg Head is in serious need of an exorcism. I know this is a young child actor, but when you only have to say one word over and over again, and you still can’t act, the it’s time to drag your ass back to drama school.

When all is said and done, this is a good movie, but there’s one major problem that leaves you with rigor mortis, and that’s the ending, or lack of one. Shaolin Vs Evil Dead is sometimes a slow boiler, but just as things finally start to get really exciting, the credits come out of nowhere! It seems that the director was so impressed by the two-part structure of Kill Bill that he went and copied it. Yes, it’s a cliff hanger ending, and we have to wait until part two comes out to find out what happens to our heroes. It makes a fair review of Shaolin Vs Evil Dead a little tricky. There is a trailer for the sequel during the end credits, which looks really promising, but then, that’s the idea of a trailer. Have I just reviewed the build-up to a spectacular main event or a three hour lecture on why the dead should stay dead?