Mr. Vampire (1985) Synopsis

Master Kow [Ching-Ying Lam] runs the local mortuary and is an expert on vampires and ghosts. He and his two bumbling assistants, Man Chor [Ricky Hui] and Chou [Chin Siu-hou], have the responsibilities of performing funerary rituals and carrying for the bodies of the dead, which includes the eight chiang-shih (hopping vampires) who, along with the Taoist priest who controls them by ringing a bell, are Master Kow's guests. That evening, as Man Chor is checking the wards pasted on the foreheads of the chiang-shih, lighting the incense which feeds them, and making sure that the flame which holds them motionless does not burn out, the joke-playing Chou startles Man by jumping out of a casket wearing a walking corpse* costume. While trying to save himself, Man stumbles against the altar, extinguishing the flame. Immediately, the wards start falling from the foreheads of the chiang-shih, and they start hopping around. Fortunately, Master Kow and the priest are able to secure them again, but the priest and his chiang-shih decide to stay elsewhere.The next day, Master Kow and Man meet Mr Yam for coffee. Mr Yam wants to talk to them about digging up and reburying his dead father, because he was told by a fortune-teller that it will bring him good luck. While Mr Yam and the Master discuss the process, Man has become enamoured of Mr Yam's daughter Ting Ting [Choi-fung Li], who has just returned from the city where she has been studying cosmetics. Three days later, everyone gathers at Grandfather Yam's grave for the disinterment. Master Kow tells Yam that the ground is contaminated and that they must bury Grandfather Yam elsewhere. He offers to take the body to his mortuary where it can be kept until another spot is found. To ease the spirits of the other bodies buried there, Man and Chou are told to place incense on each grave. One of the graves catches Chou's eye. It is the grave of a young girl named Jade.Later that evening, when the Master looks at Grandfather Yam's body, he notices that his skin is changing and his fingernails are long and blue, signs that he's turning into a vampire. Master Kow prepares a magic ink which must be painted at right angles all along the coffin, forming a grid which will help to keep the body from getting free. Unfortunaely, it doesn't work, and Grandfather Yam [Wah Yuen], now a chiang-shih, escapes during the night. The first place he hops is over to Yam's house, where he kills his son. Wai [Billy Lau], the bungling captain of police who also has the hots for Ting Ting, blames the murder on Master Kow because of his long fingernails and arrests him. Kow warns Man and Chou that Yam will rise as a corpse, too, and bids Man to protect Ting Ting while Chou is to bring him an inkpot and some sticky rice and meet him at the jail. Just as Chou is delivering the sticky rice (which, unfortunately, he cooked instead of bringing it raw), Yam awakens. After a bit of kung-fooy, during which Wai gets the worst of it, Master Kow and Chou manage to stake Yam and set his body on fire. One vampire down, but Grandfather Yam is still out there.Meanwhile, Grandfather Yam has returned to Yam's house where he chases around Man and Ting Ting for a while. Fortunately, they know that, if you hold your breath, a chiang-shih can't see you, so they manage to elude him until Master Kow, Chou, Wai, and the police show up. In the melee that follows, Man is bitten by Grandfather Yam, who gets away. Now they've got another problem on their hands in that Man could turn into a vampire, too. The only thing to do is to keep Man moving so that his blood doesn't turn stiff and to send Chou after some more sticky rice to draw out the poison.But Chou has his own problem. Jade [Siu-fung Wong], the girl whose grave Chou saw when they were digging up Grandfather Yam's body, has fallen in love with Chou and come back as a succubus ("Lady ghost") to make love to him. She forces the night watchman to flirt with her, then screams for help just as Chou is riding by with the sack of rice on his bicycle. He rescues her and takes her to her home. When a sudden thunderstorm sends down torrents of rain, she convinces him to stay the night. The next morning, when Chou returns, Master Kow notices the love marks on his neck and surmises that Chou has slept with a ghost. Chou sleeps away the day. When he wakes up, he heads right back to Jade's house. Master Kow follows him, where he fights with the succubus (who does some interesting things with her head) until she flies away.Later that night, after tying up Chou, the Master waits on the front porch for Jade to come. When she does, he does magical battle with her. Meanwhile, inside the house, Man has awakened from sleep and found that he's transformed into a vampire (of the walking corpse type). He tries to bite Chou, but Jade saves him. Chou begs Kow not to harm Jade, so he washes his hands of their love affair and reminds them only that they are from two different worlds. With tears in her eyes, Jade flies away. Now the question is why the sticky rice didn't prevent Man from turning into a vampire. Master Kow takes a hard look at the stuff and finds that it's been cut with regular rice. He sets Ting Ting to work sorting the grains, while Chou files down Man's fangs.Suddenly Wai and his men burst in the door. Grandfather Yam is on the move again. Man, Chou, and Ting Ting spread sticky rice all around the house, then barricade the doors and windows. But they forgot the skylight. Grandfather Yam, now looking more like a walking corpse, breaks in through the skylight and takes them all on. Suddenly, the Taoist priest and his eight chiang-shih pay a visit. When the priest sees what's going on, he leads his vampires into the house and commands them to surround Grandfather Yam. But Grandfather Yam is one strong corpse and knocks out all the chiang-shih. At some point, the priest drops a ceiling lantern on Grandfather Yam. He bursts into flames as do the chiang-shih.*Both the chiang-shih and the walking corpses appear to be vampires, but the chiang-shih hop and are controllable by the Taoist priest while the walking corpses lumber along more like ghouls and are difficult to stop. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Master Kow [Ching-Ying Lam] runs the local mortuary and is an expert on vampires and ghosts. He and his two bumbling assistants, Man Chor [Ricky Hui] and Chou [Chin Siu-hou], have the responsibilities of performing funerary rituals and carrying for the bodies of the dead, which includes the eight chiang-shih (hopping vampires) who, along with the Taoist priest who controls them by ringing a bell, are Master Kow's guests. That evening, as Man Chor is checking the wards pasted on the foreheads of the chiang-shih, lighting the incense which feeds them, and making sure that the flame which holds them motionless does not burn out, the joke-playing Chou startles Man by jumping out of a casket wearing a walking corpse* costume. While trying to save himself, Man stumbles against the altar, extinguishing the flame. Immediately, the wards start falling from the foreheads of the chiang-shih, and they start hopping around. Fortunately, Master Kow and the priest are able to secure them again, but the priest and his chiang-shih decide to stay elsewhere.The next day, Master Kow and Man meet Mr Yam for coffee. Mr Yam wants to talk to them about digging up and reburying his dead father, because he was told by a fortune-teller that it will bring him good luck. While Mr Yam and the Master discuss the process, Man has become enamoured of Mr Yam's daughter Ting Ting [Choi-fung Li], who has just returned from the city where she has been studying cosmetics. Three days later, everyone gathers at Grandfather Yam's grave for the disinterment. Master Kow tells Yam that the ground is contaminated and that they must bury Grandfather Yam elsewhere. He offers to take the body to his mortuary where it can be kept until another spot is found. To ease the spirits of the other bodies buried there, Man and Chou are told to place incense on each grave. One of the graves catches Chou's eye. It is the grave of a young girl named Jade.Later that evening, when the Master looks at Grandfather Yam's body, he notices that his skin is changing and his fingernails are long and blue, signs that he's turning into a vampire. Master Kow prepares a magic ink which must be painted at right angles all along the coffin, forming a grid which will help to keep the body from getting free. Unfortunaely, it doesn't work, and Grandfather Yam [Wah Yuen], now a chiang-shih, escapes during the night. The first place he hops is over to Yam's house, where he kills his son. Wai [Billy Lau], the bungling captain of police who also has the hots for Ting Ting, blames the murder on Master Kow because of his long fingernails and arrests him. Kow warns Man and Chou that Yam will rise as a corpse, too, and bids Man to protect Ting Ting while Chou is to bring him an inkpot and some sticky rice and meet him at the jail. Just as Chou is delivering the sticky rice (which, unfortunately, he cooked instead of bringing it raw), Yam awakens. After a bit of kung-fooy, during which Wai gets the worst of it, Master Kow and Chou manage to stake Yam and set his body on fire. One vampire down, but Grandfather Yam is still out there.Meanwhile, Grandfather Yam has returned to Yam's house where he chases around Man and Ting Ting for a while. Fortunately, they know that, if you hold your breath, a chiang-shih can't see you, so they manage to elude him until Master Kow, Chou, Wai, and the police show up. In the melee that follows, Man is bitten by Grandfather Yam, who gets away. Now they've got another problem on their hands in that Man could turn into a vampire, too. The only thing to do is to keep Man moving so that his blood doesn't turn stiff and to send Chou after some more sticky rice to draw out the poison.But Chou has his own problem. Jade [Siu-fung Wong], the girl whose grave Chou saw when they were digging up Grandfather Yam's body, has fallen in love with Chou and come back as a succubus ("Lady ghost") to make love to him. She forces the night watchman to flirt with her, then screams for help just as Chou is riding by with the sack of rice on his bicycle. He rescues her and takes her to her home. When a sudden thunderstorm sends down torrents of rain, she convinces him to stay the night. The next morning, when Chou returns, Master Kow notices the love marks on his neck and surmises that Chou has slept with a ghost. Chou sleeps away the day. When he wakes up, he heads right back to Jade's house. Master Kow follows him, where he fights with the succubus (who does some interesting things with her head) until she flies away.Later that night, after tying up Chou, the Master waits on the front porch for Jade to come. When she does, he does magical battle with her. Meanwhile, inside the house, Man has awakened from sleep and found that he's transformed into a vampire (of the walking corpse type). He tries to bite Chou, but Jade saves him. Chou begs Kow not to harm Jade, so he washes his hands of their love affair and reminds them only that they are from two different worlds. With tears in her eyes, Jade flies away. Now the question is why the sticky rice didn't prevent Man from turning into a vampire. Master Kow takes a hard look at the stuff and finds that it's been cut with regular rice. He sets Ting Ting to work sorting the grains, while Chou files down Man's fangs.Suddenly Wai and his men burst in the door. Grandfather Yam is on the move again. Man, Chou, and Ting Ting spread sticky rice all around the house, then barricade the doors and windows. But they forgot the skylight. Grandfather Yam, now looking more like a walking corpse, breaks in through the skylight and takes them all on. Suddenly, the Taoist priest and his eight chiang-shih pay a visit. When the priest sees what's going on, he leads his vampires into the house and commands them to surround Grandfather Yam. But Grandfather Yam is one strong corpse and knocks out all the chiang-shih. At some point, the priest drops a ceiling lantern on Grandfather Yam. He bursts into flames as do the chiang-shih.*Both the chiang-shih and the walking corpses appear to be vampires, but the chiang-shih hop and are controllable by the Taoist priest while the walking corpses lumber along more like ghouls and are difficult to stop. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Published Time: 2020-09-08 02:17:52