ZombieDog’s rating: Hopping good!

ZombieDog’s review: Kung Fu movies are by far one of the guiltiest pleasures that I indulge in when I just want my brain to shut off. Their plots are never very complicated, and fights break out at a pornographic rate. This is what makes them fun — it’s not really about the story, it’s about watching people jump around hitting each other.

However, there are times when you can have both plot and action.

Encounter of the Spooky Kind came out at the beginning of what is known as the Hong Kong New Wave. While Hong Kong cinema was strong in the ’70s, it became a powerhouse in the ’80s. The New Wave concept was put forth to signify the complete rebuilding and empowering of a film industry that was embracing creativity and passion at levels that had only been seen in Hollywood.

During this time, we started to see these films experiment with subject matter, cinematography styles, and unique actors. Jackie Chan rose to fame in this very atmosphere. Also, the star of Encounter of the Spooky Kind truly represents this creative atmosphere.

Pulling triple duty as writer, director, and actor, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung nails it in this Kung Fu-comedy-horror. For the most part, his Bold Cheung is an everyday guy with everyday problems and a group of friends. However, he catches his wife cheating with a mysterious man. The man in question is an up-and-coming politician who doesn’t want to risk being outed as a philanderer.

To this end, the politician employs a local vampire-empowering warlock to kill Bold Cheung. Fortunately for our protagonist, the warlock’s brother (Priest Tsui) thinks that killing an innocent man to protect the politician is wrong and vows to protect Bold Cheung.

I’ve been watching’s Kung Fu movies since I was young and understood that story has never been their strong suit. If there is any story at all, it’s usually convoluted and contains plot holes the size of mountains. The basic “good versus evil” setup is a simple enough format that gives a great ride to the audience.

I’m always torn about these kinds of films because I do prefer the dubs. I know you should listen to it in its original language but, as I said earlier, this is pure indulgence. The problem with this, and even reading subtitles for that matter, is that there are cultural ideas that can be mistranslated or even outright missed. Think about it as a comparison to the western genre that was popular in America. There were tons of metaphors and outright well-established memes that propelled the story forward. The same thing exists in both Chinese and Hong Kong cinema.

Kung Fu aside, we do need to talk about the fact that this is a horror movie that involves vampires. Every culture has its own take on what a “vampire” is, and the Chinese are no different. If you’ve never seen a Chinese vampire before, it’s going to be slightly confusing because they hop. Chinese vampires and the Chinese undead are generally portrayed hopping to get from place to place. The reason for this is that the dead or the undead are thought of as being rigid, stiff, or hard to move, thus their only form of moving from place to place is hopping.

However, this doesn’t make Chinese vampires less dangerous. Just being within proximity of one of these vampires can be lethal. Encounter of the Spooky Kind does take great pains to show that being around a vampire is something you should avoid.

On top of the Kung Fu and horror is a comedic aspect. If I had to put it into some kind of descriptive context, I would say it’s a mix of House, Evil Dead II, and Fright Night if it was acted by Chris Farley. Sammo Kam-Bo Hung is not a small guy, and I can’t emphasize enough how the comparison to Chris Farley is appropriate. Both are amazingly agile and have the ability to do physical comedy the likes few others have achieved. Combine these aspects with Hung’s martial arts skills and we have a highly effective if rarely used Kung Fu comedy. Sammo Kam-Bo Hung acted in dozens of movies with Jackie Chan, who also embraced the comedy style with great success.

The term B-movie is truly related to post-golden years Hollywood. There is no doubt that the term itself is undergoing reevaluation and redefining, I would argue that the term is almost an origin idea that has been with us since before high art and even cinema itself. Throughout the ages there have been storytellers around fires, which developed into plays for the masses, and the modern equivalent low-budget cheesy movies. Yes, there is fine art but that’s not what we’re talking about, the beauty of the shamanistic storyteller is accessibility. The scary story of the unseen monster mixed with the heroic adventurer are tales that have been with humanity since the beginning. The spirit here is the unbridled experience of living. Nowhere more is the B-movie spirit alive then in Hong Kong cinema.

So, is Encounter of the Spooky Kind any good? It has its moments and lags a little in the middle, but if you go along for the ride, you will definitely be privy to some unique comedy moments. Heads up, there are a couple scenes which will make you wince. I don’t really want to go into detail because I don’t think that the movie should be avoided because of them. You will definitely know them when you see them, though!

I cannot emphasize enough how I think that Sammo Kam-Bo Hung is a straight-up movie god! Not only can he do it all, direct, write, and act, his personal story is epic. He fought with Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, was instrumental in Jackie Chan’s climb to fame, and comes from basically Hong Kong movie royalty. Sometimes as moviegoers we only see the finished product and never look beyond that. After doing research for all these movies I can tell you there’s always something more. In this case the ‘more’ is nothing short of amazing. Look him up, folks, you won’t be disappointed.