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Sammo Hung film. Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind. Also features Sammo doing Monkey-style kungfu. Which is great. Also features the jiangshi or Hopping Vampire one of the most ludicrous of all movie beasties. They hop and can thus be defeated in much the same way as daleks.
Other great supernatural include The Seventh Curse. Based on stories about Wisely (hero of several books and films) it features an ancient demon that looks like the alien, a small purple worm demon, a cackling eunuch sorcerer, the giant stone Buddha, and, of course, the infamous baby-grinder. Oh and it has Chow in it as a pipe smoking occult expert with a rocket launcher.
Other things to look for are pretty much anything by Tsui Hark and starring Jet Li (who should have killed everyone in L.Weapon 4). Once Upon a Time in China has a stunning finale fight on ladders. Peking Opera Blues does not have Jet but does have gender confusion, acrobatics, evil white men, strong female characters, torture, slapstick, love, and death.
Saviour of the Soul is one of my all time favouriotes. Set in a near future it combines gun fu and kung fu in equal measures. It has a ludicrous plot, supernatural powers, drugs, explosions, a love triangle, a bratty kid who doesn't make you want to sterilise mankind to avoid the threat of kiddies in movies, beautiful cinematography, gorgeuous lighting, and it is almost comprehensible!
Burning Paradise. Good monks get trapped in evil temple fight their way out. Amazing martial arts, amazing. Invincible air stance, paint as a weapon, a cackling bad guy, monk versus monk, damn good stuff. Particualrly like the time passes method which is to show the hands of a guy buried alive outside the temple slowly decomposing to bones. Nice touch.
If you want to know more (and I could go on all night) I recommened Sex and Zen and A Bullet in the Head a book about the buisness and the movies by Stefan Hammond and Mike Wilkins and Made in Hong Kong on Portobello road in London (if it's still there).
Other good films include almost anything by Woo, particularly starring Chow Yun-Fat because he is possibly the coolest guy alive, City on Fire (Ringo Lam's 1987 film which had more than a little influence on a small heist flick called Resovouir Dogs), Project A Part 2 (suprisingly good Chan film in which he runs down the wall of a falling house, stands in the middle of a falling wall and the window goes over him, dangles from the hands of a clock, spits industria;l alcohol at his foes, fights with chilis, and skids across hot coals (I think that's all in this one) and, and, well you get the idea... |
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*bounce*