Liao zhai yan tan xu ji zhi wu tong shen (1991)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Peter Ngor

Release Date:

23 January 1991 (Hong Kong)

Plot Keywords:

Sequel

Cast

Charine Chan	...	Fang Yu-Yin
Siu Yin Chang	...	Wutung's offsider
King-Man Chik	...	Chen
Yiu-Wah Kwok	...	Shan-Ken
Siu Yip Lui
So Man
Ichijo Sayuri
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang	...	Wutung / Chiu-Sheng
Amy Yip

Also Known As:

Erotic Ghost Story II (Hong Kong: English title)
Liu jai yim taam chuk chap neung tun san (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

Australia:96 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:(Banned) | Australia:R | Hong Kong:III

Company:

Diagonal Pictures

Movie Connections:

Follows Liao zhai yan tan (1987)

sleazy, colorful foreign romp but greatly inferior to the first

I didn't like this one as much as the first, but it was still OK. A number of the external reviewers found this movie to be superior to the first, while some found it to be a train wreck. I'd fall in closer with the latter, but it wasn't that bad.

The movie starts with some clips from the first movie, recapping some of the events of that film. Wu-Tung, the demon sex god (or whatever he is) appears in another body, and takes up with a willing female partner. However, Heaven sends two "fairies" (what the subtitles called them: they're probably something else) to keep them apart by burning the woman at stake. They put her spirit into some kind of pill, and toss it out a window. The spirit pill lands on the shoulder of a baby girl being born.

The girl grows up in a village that regularly sacrifices virgins to Wu-Tung. Wu-Tung, though now with a female counterpart of himself who growls and hisses about as much as he, is still looking for his lost love. It's inevitable that the girl will become slated to become one of the sacrifices.

However, she has some attraction to a fisherman in her village. Some have called him handicapped, but I didn't pick up on that apart from his occasional too-wide goofy grin.

There are a lot of colorful costumes in the movie, although Wu-Tung's get-up is pretty ridiculous. He has a giant white fright wig that must be three feet across at least, along with white face makeup, a metallic-looking phallic tail, huge shoulder pads, etc.: really silly. Some of the sets and outdoor locations are picturesque, while others are on the poor side. Cinematography was generally pretty good. Soundtrack was generally pretty bad, particularly the saxophone music.

I enjoyed the little person Buddhist monk who can jump in the air, spin himself around and turn himself into a ball of fire. He could also shoot soul-fire-pearls. For me, much of the appeal was the peculiar foreignness of everything. It would be interesting to know more about the legends behind some of the characters, if in fact they were based in that.

Apart from the presence of supernatural characters, the movie isn't particularly horrific. Some appendages do get cut, and Wu-Tung at one point splits one of his sex zombies (or whatever she is) in half and has his way with the lower half while the top complains she wants to be put back together since she can't feel anything anymore.

I'd definitely recommend the first film over this one. Viewers who haven't seen Sinnui yauman (1987) AKA A Chinese Ghost Story, should also check out that one if they're not looking for a Category III film.