Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980)

Posted in Reviews by - March 30, 2015
Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980)

In a most vivid and exciting crossover, Sammo Hung blends his customary traditional kung fu antics with supernatural horror. The film is credited for being the first major success of its kind, featuring as it does walking corpses, hopping vampires, evil spirits and a bag of other tricks. It’s all done with great humour, too, which means the surreal special effects and dodgy prosthetics escape any real scrutiny. Plus, the kung fu action is some of Sammo’s finest; an amazing tea-shop brawl and a Monkey Fist finale being the ultimate showstoppers. The slapstick story sees Sammo as ‘Courageous’ Cheung, the bravest man in town who has just discovered his wife is having an affair with his boss, Master Tam. Tam is the cautious type so he plans to have Cheung eliminated, hiring powerful Taoist priest Peter Chan to do the dirty. Regular Sammo actor Chung Fat turns in a career best as a rival magician helping Cheung against a barrage of spooky encounters. This is blistering entertainment at its hair-brained best and a crazy kung fu masterpiece.

AKA: Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind; Ghost Against Ghost; Spooky Encounters

This post was written by
Editor and creator of Kung Fu Movie Guide and the host of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast. I live behind a laptop in London, UK.

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