Encounters of the spooky kind (1980)

Sammo takes on a hopping vampire!

Sammo Hung took on all sorts of things that go bump in the night in Spooky Encounters. This was a combination of horror, comedy, and kung fu with mixed results.

Bold Cheung’s wife is having an affair with the local wealthy guy, Master Tam. Unwilling to share or be exposed Tam hires Chin Hoi, an immoral priest to kill Cheung by magical means. Chin Hoi’s apprentice, Priest Tsui, refuses to go along with the murderous plot and secretly helps Cheung. Another of Chin Hoi’s apprentices tricks Cheung into spending the night not once, but twice in a locked temple. Not scary, you say? Locked inside is a hopping vampire! When the hopping vampire fails to kill him, the bad guys frame Cheung for the murder of his very much alive wife. Eventually the simple Cheung is convinced that the man he trusts and the wife he loves are plotting to kill him. It will all come down to a no spells barred priest against priest and Sammo against the rest ultimate magical fight.

This is considered a kung fu horror classic and many people love it. I struggled to connect with it. I love a good hopping vampire story and this one scored on that account. But if Sammo is in the movie, I want more action. The first fight didn’t take place until 43 minutes into the movie. And most of the action took place after the 1-hour mark. The story wasn’t compelling enough to keep me interested during the first half. I was happy to see Lam Ching Ying, one of the martial arts directors, have a nice little fight against his own men when they were possessed. Chung Fat played a lot of bad guys early in his career so it was fun for him to play a heroic character. The final fight had Sammo possessed by different characters including the Monkey King. The action and dialogue were cranked high in fast motion. Once Sammo started fighting the film took on more interest for me. Fair warning there were some gruesome images-insects, rodents, a decomposed corpse, and a decapitated chicken.

Encounter of the Spooky Kind was one of the first movies to combine kung fu, comedy, and horror. It started out slow, finally finding its footing. The humor could be hit or miss, but when it came to fighting, Sammo rarely missed.

10/4/23

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