Vampire vs Vampire is a 1989 Hong Kong comedy horror film directed by and starring Lam Ching-ying. The film centres around a priest and his disciples who must battle and defeat a European vampire. Vampire vs Vampire is a fun entertaining film although not the best in the series it is still a welcome addition to the franchise overall.
The direction in the film is good. The film has a gothic ominous tone and uses classic eastern mysticism combined with comedy. The film has both tension and comedy throughout with a dramatic over the top ominous tone. The tone of the film is very humorous with a comedy sequence of them running after and catching the vampire child. The film is an interesting combination of slapstick comedy and eastern mysticism. There are lots of weird surreal elements to the film as well as a sense of cuteness. The film is a constant clash of ideas with the film being fake and artificial but also light-hearted in nature. This constant clash of ideas of shown with the films use of Christian imagery as well as eastern mysticism with the nuns. Building a church. There is a creepy otherworldly atmosphere to the film with the bats taking the steak away showing lots of gothic imagery. Despite all the zaniness there is sadness to certain aspects to the film with the female ghost’s backstory creating a dark ominous tone. There are great fight scenes in the film combined with an otherworldly nature. The film is presented in a classic gothic horror movie style combined with eastern mysticism. The also has a great dramatic tense and funny climax.
The writing in the film is good. The film is told in a classic ghost horror movie style as it talks about the full moon and moonlight being the weakness of the jars that keep the ghosts. There is an ominous nature to the film with the monster trying to attack the protagonists that the inadvertently stop as well as comedy in them trying to secure the coffin. The vampire child then gets out of the coffin leading to a comedy sequence where they chase after him. There is a comedic parent child dynamic in the film the master putting the child on a hook as well as new interesting ideas being shown such as the vampires being able to counteract the talismans. The kid vampire then electrocutes himself in a funny scene with the word as he is. Chased around as they stumble across a person throned braindead by a ghost. They then go out to defeat the ghost woman as the film shifts to the comedic side plot of the male and female cousins. It turns out the water is infected as when the general washes his boots in the river he falls in the film is fall of this slapstick comedy such as when a cross falls on the general at the church as they try and burn down the church because of the bats but the head nun stops them. The priest goes in to deal with it by putting a lit talisman under the door and knocking the door down where they find the previous priest dead in the room. They try and find the origin of the magic through strange eastern mysticism. As the students advise a plan to steal money form the master for potato’s the nuns act like Jehovah’s witnesses annoying the priest. The students stick a talisman on their heads and let the ghost to pass through them to trigger memories of her being a signer and being killed as the master forces the ghost out of him and into a jar. They then unearth a ruby in a sword of a corpse, as the students go and collect the corpse form the grave robbers but are ambushed as the fight their way out. The film has lots of good comedy to it with the couple trying to get the sword out of the corpse and the guy going to great lengths for the corpse not to be burnt. As they try to cut the ruby off the corpse the guy bleeds on the cross causing the zombie vampire to come back to life. The zombie vampire then attacks the woman and drinks her blood to regenerate herself. Later, the nunnery ends up being swarmed by bats as the church burns down and they are trapped inside. The bats bite through the door to try and get inside as the girl outside is attacked by bats. They fight the vampire and trap it with a spell. They then run away and fight the vampire as one of the women transforms into one. She then falls and the vampire plunges to his death. It turns out that the captain’s sister has turned into a vampire, and he doesn’t realise leading to funny moments as the priest comes to attack her inadvertently ripping her clothes off as the cousin threatens him with a gun. The vampire woman then knocks out the chained-up priest and is about to suck his blood when the priest attacks her, she tries to kill him but is stopped by the sunlight as the little vampire kid defeats her. In the climax of the film the vampire attacks nunnery as the students burns the bats as the main vampire attacks them. The priest then comes in to save them as the vampire is burnt by sunlight as they remove the roof boards. The light dagger then stabs the vampire as they use dynamite to blow him and the church up. The film ends with the priest attacking the vampire and burns the priest alive from the inside out as he then traps the vampire in quicksand killing him.
The acting in the film is good. Lam Ching-ying does a god job as One Eyebrow Priest playing the lead vampire hunter and gives of the vibe of a classic eastern mystic combined with vampire hunter. Chin Siu-ho does a good job as Ah Hoo a student of the priest. David Lui does a good job as Ah Fong another student of the priest. Maria Cordero does a good job as Mother Superior the head of the nunnery. Billy Lau does a good job as General a police officer that doesn’t like the main characters. Sandra Ng does a good job as the Generals Cousin playing a very vain character that acts as good comedy in the film. Regina Kent does a good job as the nun the head of the nunnery that gets a lot of good laughs in the film. Frank Juhas does a good job as the European Vampire that main villain of the film that acts as a good antagonist.
The cinematography in the film is good. The film has a classic horror film look to it with nice static shots. The film has a lot of good dark look to it with a good use of shadows. The blue lighting in the film looks good as well as some good shots of the purple lit clouds. There are also good looks of the thunder, lighting, and rain as well as nice shots of the lantern flying.
The special effects in the film are enjoyable in a cheesy way. There are good light effects when the vampire tires to get out of the jar as brown liquid spills out of the jar then turns into a monster. There is a. good use of red smoke used with the vampire as well as well as inviable looking effects when the vampire moves into the era. There are good effects when the female vampire appears flying above a character and when she flies away. There is a good use of red lighting with the ghost silhouette as well as the tress moving. This silhouette is also used when the ghost goes into the fire as well as shows the see-through effect on the ghost. The zombie vampire costumes are cheesy in an enjoyable way as well as the bats. There are cool looking effects like light ball form the priest forming a Ying and Yang symbol and glowing red fire effects. Finally, there is cool effect when the bats carry the corpse and the vampire smashes through a wall.
Vampire vs Vampire is a fun entertaining film. Although not the best in a franchise it is highly enjoyable film that fans of the series would like.
