Synopsis: Vampire hunter Uncle Ying, has a run-in with ghosts and treasure hunting Mormons in this horror-comedy from Billy Chan. (91 Mins)

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Views: The late-great Lam Ching Ying teams up once again with director Billy Chan for the brilliant Mad Mad Ghost, just 1 of 6 (if not more) films made in 1992 that would see Lam recreate his most famous role. The film opens with Uncle Ying teaching his 5 young students the art of vampire hunting, with Hui – the only female student – standing out as his best due to her great kung-fu knowledge. They all live in a house where a married couple of ghosts live in the attic, with the wife constantly abused and belittled by her abusive husband. After he tries to (hilariously) attack Uncle Ying as he sleeps, the Taoist priest decides to help the poor wife and expels the husband from his home to help her live peacefully. While on his day job as a security guard for the housing block, Uncle Ying soon meets 2 Western men who claim to be Mormons but are really in search of some buried treasure that was hidden in Uncle Ying's garden some time ago. It doesn't take long for trouble to follow and soon, Uncle Ying, his students, and ghost lady Kuen, find themselves up against the treasure hunters in a host of fun action sequences!

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Lam Chin Ying most definitely wins as the most stereotyped actor of the century. After his infamous role as Mr. Vampire, he would forever be known as the Taoist priest that hunts down ghosts, demons, and vampires (all but for a few other exciting roles) up until his death in 1997. In Mad Mad Ghost, we are treated to a more fair priest as he takes pity on Ah Kuen, helping her get a second chance at life where she takes on the persona of pop star, Madonna. She is played by the wonderful Jacqueline Law Wai Guen (who passed away in 2012) and gets to deliver some genuinely funny moments, as well as suffer some crazy abuse and even get in on the action towards the end. Her abusive ghost husband is played by Mandy Chan Chi Man, an actor and choreographer who made his debut playing Donnie Yen's adversary in the awesome Drunken Tai Chi before joining him in films like Mismatched Couples, Tiger Cage 2, Iron Monkey, High Voltage, and Satan Returns – most of which he also assisted on with the choreography. In Mad Mad Ghost, Chan provides a bevy of fun and wacky action sequences, from ghostly battles to hilarious fights between Ying's team and the wild Westerners, played in the most OTT fashion by fan favourites, Mark Houghton and Eddie Maher. The final third is absolutely bonkers with some fun action that reminded me of the crazy Vampire Settle On Police Camp from Chen Chi Hwa.

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While Mad Mad Ghost comes across as more of a low-budget affair than the likes of Mr. Vampire, keeping the most of its scenes in and around the one location, it still manages to keep a hold of its audience with a decent enough cast including cameos from Billy Lau – one of the original Mr. Vampire stars – and Shum Wai, who appeared in Billy Chan's directorial debut, New Mr. Vampire. Ying's team of students consists of Chin Shih Erh, a recognisable actor who started out in 7 Commandments Of Kung Fu as well as starring in titles like A Life Of Ninja, Fury, Against All, A Rascal's Tale, Gang's '92, and Circus Kids of which he also helped choreograph. Martial arts starlet Lee Fai plays the only female of the team who, although having only starred in around 12 films over her 20 years in the business, has impressed wonderfully in titles like Royal Tramp 1 & 2, A Chinese Ghost Story 2, Angel Terminators 2, Iron Monkey, and Champions alongside Dicky Cheung. The cheeky faced Tse Wai Kit joins the team as does Ricky Ho Pui Tung, both of whom have starred together in a number of films over the years, who are led by elder brother, Sze Mei Yee, a hilarious actor who has appeared in many great Hong Kong hits from The Blonde Fury to Kawashima Yoshiko, Fight Back To School 2, Black Mask, Master Q, and many more. The wonderful Peter Chan, who has shared the screen with Lam Ching Ying many times over the years, appears towards the end as an opposing priest who has been hired by the Mormons to counteract Uncle Ying's work and provides a few laughs along the way – and was no doubt doing a favour for his brother, director Billy Chan Wui Ngai.

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Having started as a bit player in many Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, and independent kung-fu titles from the early 70s, Billy Chan (along with Peter) stuck close by the legendary Sammo Hung where he got to hone his skills on a host of classic titles such as The Iron Fisted Monk, Warriors Two, Knockabout, Odd Couple, and many more. While his work as a choreographer would continue (and on many Sammo titles), Chan got the chance to work as the assistant director on his big brother's wonderful Heart Of The Dragon before making his directorial debut with the aforementioned, New Mr. Vampire. From there, he has delivered a host of great titles such as Brotherhood (Code Of Honor), the underrated License To Steal, brilliant All Men Are Brothers: Blood Of The Leopard, White Storm, and Crazy Safari which saw him take Lam Ching Ying's Taoist priest into the African badlands combining Mr. Vampire with The Gods Must Be Crazy as Lam teams up with N!Xau to take on vampires, lions, rhino's, and more. Now if one film deserves a Blu-ray release, it has got to be that one!

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Overall: While far from perfect, Mad Mad Ghost offers plenty of laughs and some great action which should keep most Lam Ching Ying fans happy!