[KFCC] Spooky Encounters Review

Story: Courageous Cheung has the reputation of being the bravest man around. Carrying such a reputation often leads him to accept various challenges of courage. His wife's lover is a rich and powerful man who wishes Cheung out of his way, he hires a taoist priest to get rid of him. Cheung is challenged to spend the night in an old abandoned temple were the priest will use his dark magic to bring an end to Cheung's life.

Review: Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind has been sometime credited for revolutionizing the Hong Kong horror genre. The movie deals with Taoist magic, ghosts and vampire which are all respected as strong fears in Chinese superstition. From a north american viewpoint the horror factor in this movie is trivial but none the less the Chinese superstitions are extremely entertaining. The story is simple to follow and quite entertaining.

You have an interesting cast of characters in this movie, from the victim Courageous Cheung to the good and evil taoist priests. The two priests are especially well portrayed, their every action hold something of interest or uncovers a Chinese superstition. Sammo Hung(Cheung) plays his role perfectly adding a lot to the movie in general. There are no real character background and any deep development, everything is kept simple and entertaining.

You have Kung Fu, Black Magic, Swordplay and Chinese traditional vampires, if this combination does not scream out action I don't know what will. Along with the action you have humor, often in these kind of horror movies there is a good amount of humor. The movie has a smooth pace, either you have an action packed scene or general humor to entertain you in between fights. As for the fights themselves you have some very good martial arts from Sammo not to mention an extensive sword fight near the end. The kung fu fight with the vampire is also very well done, its something very different to see. It can be easily said this movie is entertaining from start to finish but you find the very end seems to end sharply, its not bad or anything just a little strange.

The subtitles were very good and the dialog was easy too follow. These older Hong Kong movies are always very entertaining but it's a shame that many people are turned off by the cheesy special affects because they are missing something good. This somewhat cheesy look adds the extra something to this movie, would it be an entertaining using the latest in special effects? One thing is certain where this movie lacked in high tech it replaced twice as much with soul, in the end that what matters the most. For people who enjoyed movies like Mr. Vampire they will certainly enjoy this movie. If your fascinated with Chinese superstition or magic this is a must see.