Tsai Tsen (Leslie Cheung), a none-too-bright tax collector, is unable to afford a room at the inn and so retires to the deserted Lam Ro temple. Attracted by beautiful music, he wanders to a lakeside house, inhabited by the lovely Hsiao Tsing (Joey Wong). Tsai is smitten, but Hsiao seems reluctant to take the relationship further, for she is to be married in three days time.
The next day Tsai, Hsiao having disappeared, discovers the only other inhabitant of the temple, Taoist master Yen. Yen reveals that Hsaio is the ghost of a girl murdered the previous year and that her impending marriage is to the evil demon Lord Black, who is forcing her to procure him fresh victims.
So it is up to Tsai and Yen to find Hsiao's ashes, bury them in consecrated ground, defeat Lord Black and generally ensure that good triumphs over evil…
You could be forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja vú when watching 1988's A Chinese Ghost Story . The man falls in love with ghost story is a staple one in Hong Kong cinema, filmed countless times over the years (it was a subplot in Mr Vampire for one), while the film's male lead, Leslie Cheung, played a similar role in Stanley Kwan's Rouge the previous year, and would later reprise his role here in two sequels.
While Rouge may be more romantic and the Cat III likes of Erotic Ghost Story sexier, A Chinese Ghost Story is the pick of the crop when it comes to action, effectively combining the best elements of western adrenaline rushes like The Evil Dead with the flying swordsmen and mystical martial arts of the Wu Xia films recently popularised in the West by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
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