Kung Fu Zombie (1981)
A criminal comes to town in order to kill Billy Chong over a past dispute. But instead of getting his own hands dirty, he hires a Taoist wizard to animate some zombies to do the job for him. The plan goes horribly awry, and the bad guy ends up getting killed in his own trap. This pisses off the villain's spirit and he forces the priest to reincarnate him - only they can't find a suitable body. Meanwhile, an undead fiend of sorts comes to town to kill Billy's father over some other past dispute. This is where all of Billy's kung fu training comes in handy, and he manages to kill the attacker. With this, the other bad guy finally has a body to use, but the reincarnation goes wrong and the corpse is reborn as a vampire.
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Best movie of this year hands down!
Beautiful, moving film.
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Okay, so the only reason I ever saw this movie to begin with was because I found the used DVD (the Black Belt Theatre version) on sale for $2 in a local video store in the middle of nowhere. I honestly expected it to stink to high heaven, and only bought it for the funny title. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it! I'm pretty confused at most of the reviews I see on the web for this movie calling it a "horror" film, because this is a comedy pure and simple. Everything is so ridiculous that it's absolutely hilarious, from the "wizard's" goofy dancing whenever he casts "spells," to the scene where they're out "shopping" for corpses, to the protagonist's complete indifference as to whether his obnoxious father lives or dies. The dub is absolutely hilarious (I've seen probably over a hundred dubbed movies/shows and this is, no kidding, one of the most effective ones I've ever seen, though it's obviously much easier to dub a goofy comedy than a drama), and it makes excellent use of music at hilarious times. I also have to give a hearty thanks to the editor for the Americanized version, who clearly edited out at least half an hour of what was clearly dull story, leaving absolutely nothing but kung fu and comedy scenes.If you have the capacity to enjoy goofy, ridiculous movies and slapstick humor, I fully recommend this. The closest thing I can compare it to is a super low-budget version of Kung Fu Hustle. I only wish the DVD transfer were better (it's watchable, but the scenes in dark places can be hard to make out).
ej's kung-fu capsule review for films of the chop-socky old-school - 1. basic plot type - fantasy comedy, supernatural-'fu 2. plot construction - confusing 3. dramatic - no 4. funny - tries to be, but fails 5. dialog - ridiculous 6. cast performance - poor 7. crew performance - poor 8. amount of fighting - appears to be lots 9. quality of fighting - bad; loses interest 10. special any cast or crew notes - billy chong's worst movie ever, and he plays an unlikeable character; in fact, there are no likable characters in this film; the only thing of historical interest here is the introduction of Japanese anime references into an old-school chop-socky 11. big positive - none 12. big negative - it was ever made bottom-line - who should see this movie - kung-fu completists only
Kung Fu Zombie is a charming flick loaded with fast paced martial arts fighting. The story is too over the top to try to explain here, but it's worth mentioning that this film has zombies, ghosts, a vampire, a wizard, possessions, an exorcism, paintings that shoot lasers out of their eyes and a healthy does of well executed kung fu! All of this is packed into a film on the short side of 80 minutes. Intentionally funny, Kung Fu Zombie is a hilarious, tightly edited, romp of a film. The big pay off is at the end of the film when Billy Chong fights an undead vampire martial arts master. The energy and absurdity of this scene is magnificent. If you're expecting a lot of zombies, you may be disappointed, but if you're looking for an entertaining ride on the wonderful roller-coaster of crazy kung fu films, Kung Fu Zombie won't disappoint!
Kung Fu Zombie is one of those rare gems. It does nothing special, or even well, but the speed at which things happen and the utter madness you could only get from a HK release make this very appealing. The titular kung fu zombie is fun. He flies around pulls faces and, and this is the best bit, every time he is seen the camera pulls a close up to the 'da da dah-da da dah, da da d da da' part of the James Bond theme.One for the late night stoner brigade. It worked for me and my mates (respect to jimmy for getting it in the first place).