Mr Vampire

A madcap, genre-defying mashup that pits hopping vampires against eye-popping martial arts slapstick.

Set in Republican Era China, Taoist priest Master Kau specialises in magic that controls jiangshi: a cross between a vampire and a zombie. When he is enlisted by a client to relocate his deceased father, Kau discovers that the body is alarmingly preserved. Deducing that the man has become a vampire, Kau relocates him to his house, which is protected from the spiritual world by amulets and talismans. Unfortunately, his assistants fail to vampire-proof the coffin and the undead man escapes, leaving a trail of death in his wake. With the police now pointing the finger at him, Kau must clear his name and defeat the reanimated corpses that begin to arise.

Curator's note
Directed by Ricky Lau and produced by Sammo Hung (who led the comedy horror trend with his Encounter of the Spooky Kind, 1980), the film's enormous success at the box office led to the creation of a franchise, with four sequels following, all directed by Lau. Its ongoing popularity continued through a videogame, a theatrical play and plenty of merchandise. The film's combination of Chinese folklore (the hopping jiangshi at its centre), broad comedy and balletic martial arts action cemented its breakout success and spawned the genre tropes that would define these films going forward.