Jeff Lau reunites his main cast (Jacky Cheung & Ricky Hui) for the sequel to his very energetic original. Energetic being one of the great, big compliments on The Haunted Cop Shop. The sequel sees Cheung and Hui alongside their superior (Woo Fung also reprising his role) trying to put together a crack team of vampire busters at a haunted military camp. No one told them about the haunted aspect though and it's struggles from day one. Best way to learn really...

That Jeff Lau manages to maintain such a frantic pace without losing sight of the entertainment value (even though this type of film is very uniquely Hong Kong so your Hollywood movie fan friends may scratch their heads) is a testament to his particular skills. While thoroughly silly, low-brow and downright childish, Lau has a great pulse on the energy to his horror-comedy, even delivering dependent scares and gore along the way. Billy Lau returns as the loopy twin brother of his character from the first film. The reveal is not quite on par with Chow Yun-Fat's return in A Better Tomorrow II but Lau is good fun. The subplot of Ricky Hui's predicament as a half-man, half-vampire (he only got one bite you see) threatens to be a boring echo of a similar plotline the actor was faced with in Mr. Vampire but Jeff neatly avoids that and makes it an worthwhile inclusion as part of the comedy. Also with Charlie Cho, Sandy Lam and Barry Wong.

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KENNETH'S REVIEW: Farce, dark humour and straight faced horror collide in Tony Liu's (Holy Flame Of The Martial World) wild experience. It's rather a haunted quartet of policewomen that after a fortune telling know their respective fates (be it beaten, raped or killed) will come at the hand of the first man they meet. It seems to be leaning towards their superior Pei (Siu Yuk-Lung - Possessed) but in reality the hand of fate will be the work of Taoist magic terminator (Jason Piao) now turned terminator spirit with a penchant for possession. Liu's said Shaw Brother's extravaganza won't be threatened but a crazy nature comes with The Haunted Madam that is often entertaining. A raid on an apartment complex containing a cross dressing lunatic with two guns isn't light stuff per say but black humour executed with belief. When mostly then dealing with one of the ladies being the victim of possession and when in that mode doing cartwheels in her aerobics outfit, Liu strikes a fun balance between the scares and dark comedy. Especially via the animated special effects of the time that is performed without hesitation or fear. The green light accompanying Piao's entrances are an example of that, yet it's not laughable. Of course it all can't reach similar efforts such as Possessed (and in particular its sequel) but The Haunted Madam is fairly close to cult status despite.

Chor Yuen (Killer Clans, The Bastard) and Mou Tun-Fei (Lost Souls, Men Behind The Sun) helms one of the haunted tales respectively, a format by popular demand (?) usually consisting of three stories but here split into two. Chor portrays the mysterious, ghostly surroundings of Yali (Cheng Lee), effectively blurring the line between reality and possibly illusion. Fine use of colours and rather freakish make-up effects makes this one flow. Also starring Ling Yun and Lam Jan-Kei.

Greed and sleaze is everywhere and unholy activities in between will not please the saucer spirit as Mou Tun-Fei speaks of in his short story. Chan Shen is a grade A, smelly loser who gets otherworldly assistance to win the lottery but doesn't quite shape up as a human being after given the chance. Mou amps the nudity and injects little to none class into the proceedings therefore. Certainly passes the time but the finale contains a worthwhile, tension-filled gamble about Chan Shen's characters wealth and a gory comeuppance worthy of the plot content.

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Tony Leung Chiu-Wai plays the über bad son Chor Yuen who after lashing out against his father (Tony Leung Ka-Fai in mediocre old age make-up) finds out he's fallen into a coma after fighting a robber. Feeling hate to the degree that he even has sex with a nurse in the hospital, Chor soon finds himself in front of a wishing hole for kids that he manages to fall into only to wake up in the 60s! Here he finds his parents (mom being played by Carina Lau who is also in a fat suit in the present scenes) living on Memory lane, all thin and beautiful and thus begins the journey towards appreciating his parents and ancestors...

A box-office hit from UFO, providing overly narrated, warm, suitable, star-filled family entertainment without taking as much as a risk in the process. Which is kind of why He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father! doesn't feel special but in a weird way irresistible. Back To The Future did the whole scenario much better and while the Peter Chan/Lee Chi-Ngai helmed local flick does travel sufficiently, it does feel somewhat closer to heart of its audience. Which isn't a bad thing and certainly UFO's intention to the T. But watching the parade of stars conquer issues of love for parents, love for your girl, your children, overcoming debts, gambling habits while at later points break out into sing and dance and doing a bit of dress-up as Indians, the product becomes rather infectious. Anita Yuen, Lawrence Cheng, Anita Lee, the real Chor Yuen, Valerie Chow, Michael Chow, Jacob Cheung and Waise Lee also appear.

Kirk Wong's multi-nominated sophomore effort is quite a puzzler. Expect comparisons to Mad Max, a futuristic battle between traditional martial arts and the neo-Nazi goons of the future. All set to a frenetic synthesizer score and embedded in rough production design. Arguably the latter is where Wong deserves his most acclaim. Clearly not a lot of budget came with this production and instead Wong simply decorates his future with lo-fi, strung-together equipment akin to what Brazil did shortly thereafter to cool effect. Wong almost seems to offer up an arthouse aura as dialogue is kept to a minimum, relying more on atmosphere and the mentioned score. The result is questionable as it certainly isn't much of a film but you stick with it, waiting to see what may come next as very few aspects registers as conventional, even coming from Hong Kong cinema! Eddy Ko, Johnny Wang, Ray Lui stars and Elvis Tsui appears briefly in a fighting role.

Reportedly, no subtitled edition exists or has ever existed for Health Warning and the only readily available version is Tai Seng's English dubbed dvd (re-titled Flash Future Kung Fu)

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Yee (Anita Yuen) gets impregnated by lawyer Kit (director Lawrence Cheng) who promptly flees to his wife and back to Australia. Left in the caring hands of gay tailor Kai (Tony Leung Ka-Fai), they agree upon a marriage and to have him look after the baby while she pursues a career. After a while, everything flows so well that flamboyant Kai starts to experience love towards women again. Or rather one woman...

Director Cheng opts for select detours in elaborate camera work, especially the opening and closing shots that moves neatly through sets but he's otherwise telling a basic, synch sound story here. Basic not being an all out good remark hurled towards He & She. Mostly escaping a throughline concerning the stereotyping of homosexuals (actor Leung balances his act in that regard), Cheng doesn't quite smoothly set up the lead character's friendship for us to firmly believe it goes the places it does. It's much thanks to the lead's shining star power (although Anita Yuen runs a little bit too much on autopilot for my liking) that any of this goes affecting places. Much of what's communicated through the film, going through family rejection of your lifestyle (Leung has a finely played scene concerning this where he stays within a subtle range instead of the usual outbursts you would expect) and male abandonment, boils down to a view on marriage symbolizing the union as a project. A project that concerns safety first and foremost, something that threatens to disrupt when Lawrence Cheng's character pops up again to settle matters in court. The climax therefore feels out of touch with the reality of courtroom proceedings and is more a sequence that comes from a need to fulfill a structural duty (and prejudice makes sure to take a place in proceedings too). Still, He & She remains memorable for detours into the meaning of relationship and sexual confusion, anchored in the long run in a likable way by Tony Leung. Christine Ng, Annabelle Lau, Law Kar-Ying, Sheila Chan, Alex Fong, Kingdom Yuen and acclaimed director Jacob Cheung also appear.

Writer Maggie (Maggie Cheung) takes her sister (Bonnie Law) to On Lok village for inspiration. Tagging along is Weeny Eyes (Liu Fong), a general pest and since long one that is head over heels in love with Maggie's sister. Their miserable stay at one of the village houses (number 13...subtle) gets disrupted one night as Maggie witnesses retarded neighbor, nick named Pink Panther (Wong Ching), being brutally murdered. Next day however, everything is all right with him and his uncle (Woo Fung)...

Co-directed by Kent Cheng (who also appears in a cameo), Heartbeat 100 succeeds more when not mixing suspense and brutal deaths with broad comedy (mostly coming from the annoying Liu Fong). The premise of a village of shady and bizarre individuals echo feelings of the Jamie Luk helmed The Case Of The Cold Fish, only directed more straight with more nods to horror. Cheng and co-director Lo Kin proves to be fairly adept at this but Heartbeat 100 doesn't become anything more than that as the mystery isn't all that original. However, it's a rare Hong Kong cinema genre attempt and the film proves to be an entertaining watch. Chiao Chiao, Lam Chung, Shing Fui On and Mark Cheng also appear.

Andrew Kam (Red And Black) bid farewell to Hong Kong cinema with this recognizable action-drama, dealing with themes of brotherhood, sacrifice etc etc...yawn. But as luck would have it, long after John Woo made the themes an institution in modern day action cinema, Heart Of Killer still surprises.

Kam does log a work of varying quality as the pretentious factor can be pretty extreme and cause confusion at times. As can Max Mok's comedic presence do for your frustration vein. Kam holds surprises up his sleeve though in his possible ode to John Woo as he envelops Heart Of Killer in a hard boiled atmosphere, transformed strikingly by cinematographer Jim Pak Hung. Frankly, you wouldn't expect something as well shot from this initially nor that certain heroic bloodshed clichés actually possesses some genuine interest here. Action directing does suffer from all too tight and quick cut camerawork but one shootout in daylight is a nice reminder of the type of action that both John Woo and his gazzillion of imitators did well.

A winner but with emphasis on minor, Heart Of Killer possesses a interesting narrative and cool images that manages to overpower most of its flaws. Also starring Yu Rong Guang and Elaine Tung.

Kwong Sun (Joey Wong) enters Hong Kong illegally from China and in order to buy herself time to get an ID, she fakes amnesia. Cop Bon (Chow Yun-Fat) has to look after her, actual truths are revealed and naturally, they fall for each other.

Time to bring in that immortal Anthony Wong quote once again; "We put everything into Hong Kong films except knowledge". Director Norman Law not so gently greets us with immigrants on the run, sadistic torture followed by buddy cop comedy shtick and the eventual romance between Chow Yun-Fat and Joey Wong's characters. Considering the fact that we have a few small plot strands instead of one coherent one makes A Hearty Response a prime suspect for one of those made up as they went along productions. When the running time also offers up a scene of Chow asking a kid to urinate into a man's mouth to see if he's faking unconsciousness, you know you're in typical Hong Kong cinema 80s fare. It's not a charming mix, it's not fun and when Norman Law goes all out for the uncomfortable and violent finale, almost all notions of acceptance goes out the window. Despite, A Hearty Response is a decent watch for fans of either stars as they look great together and the various stunts amidst the action choreography is terrific. Kent Cheng briefly appears as a dim-witted cop.

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