Ghost Snatchers (1986) Movie Review

“The Ghost Snatchers” was originally released back in 1986 when the Hong Kong ghost boom was in full swing, with filmmakers still desperate to cash in on the success of Sammo Hung’s classic “Spooky Encounters” and the hit “Mr Vampire” series. The film was directed by genre veteran Lam Nai Choi, also responsible for the classic “The Seventh Curse”, and who went on to make such treats as “Erotic Ghost Story” and “Story of Ricky”. Interestingly, it provided an early role for schlock-master Wong Jing, who also wrote the script, a fact which all but guarantees wackiness.

Here, he stars as a security guard called Bong who along with his colleague Fan (genre regular Stanley Fung, also in “Jail House Eros”) is warned by a fortune-teller that they will both die soon. Unfortunately, it looks as though the soothsayer will be proved right, as the bad feng shui of the building they work at unleashes a horde of unpleasant ghosts. Bong’s girlfriend (played by top Hong Kong starlet Joey Wang, famous for her roles in the likes of “Chinese Ghost Story”, “Green Snake” and others) tries to help by putting the useless duo in touch with exorcist Ling (Mrs. Sammo Hung, Joyce Godenzi, also in “Eastern Condors” and “She Shoots Straight”), who does her best to guide them and to find a way to break the curse before it claims their lives.

Unsurprisingly, aside from the usual anti-Japanese sentiments and the theme of the horrors being linked to World War 2 atrocities, the “Ghostbusters” influenced plot is largely relegated to the background, and the proceedings basically resemble an endless stream of intangibly linked supernatural and slapstick set pieces. As a result, the film is for the most part incoherent and scattershot, though it is so in the very best madcap Hong Kong style of the time, and for those accustomed to this approach it works very well. Certainly, director Lam keeps the pace fast and the gags constant, and although the humour could politely be described as being lowbrow, most of the jokes hit home, and the physical comedy is amusing in suitably manic fashion. Wong Jing makes for an entertaining buffoon, turning in a hilariously dignity free performance, that if nothing else certainly proves that he can take it as well as dish it out when it comes to cheap toilet gags and wacky humiliation.

Where the film does stand out from the countless other similar efforts that appeared in the mid 1980s is in that it does actually try to drum up a few scares amongst all the nonsense. While the accent is still heavily on comedy, there are several genuinely unsettling and startlingly gruesome moments – all in the worst possible taste of course. The film benefits from being highly imaginative, with a large variety of ghosts and spooks making an appearance. This makes for a good number of unpredictable, surreal moments, including a television set that grows legs and chases people around, and a frankly insane furry little mahjong ghost that really has to be seen to be believed. Inevitably the film does have a sleazy, sexual edge which intrudes rather needlessly at times, for example during a scene featuring a corridor full of waving decomposed arms, which for no discernable reason other than cheap titillation proceed to rip the clothes off an unfortunate female victim. Still, the film is not as misogynistic as others in the genre, and never really gets too offensive.

Although cheap, the special effects are actually quite charming, and Lam makes good use of puppets, rubbery make up, optical tricks and eerie neon lighting, throwing in plenty of slime and dripping ooze for good measure. Occasionally unintentionally amusing, these further up the entertainment value of the film, and are arguably preferable to the cold, unconvincing CGI that tends to dominate these days.

Horror comedies rarely work out in the East or West, and “The Ghost Snatchers” is a rare example of the balance between scares and laughs being successfully struck. Although it may perhaps be a little too wild and wacky for more conservative viewers or for anyone looking for logic or sense, it stands as one of the best Hong Kong ghost films of the 1980s, and though now more than twenty years old still provides wonderfully tacky entertainment.

Ngai Kai Lam (director) / Jing Wong (screenplay)
CAST: Joyce Godenzi, Jing Wong