Dead and the Deadly, The (1983)

Sammo Hung and Wu Ma star in this cornball, horror comedy that features low-budget special effects, lowbrow humor and a smidgeon of excellent kung fu. Falling somewhere between similar horror comedies ENCOUNTER OF THE SPOOKY KIND (1980) and MR. VAMPIRE (1985), THE DEAD AND THE DEADLY has a lot of great elements going into it but doesn’t quite match the other two films.

Intending to get rich, Ma Lucho fakes his death with the aid of two conspirators posing as his wife and a priest to sell his family’s burial antiques. But when the other two discover that Lucho’s widow will be entitled to a much larger sum of money, they make sure Lucho’s death is permanent. Lucho’s ghost pesters his old friend, Fatboy, to avenge his death. Unwilling to resort to violence himself, Fatboy allows the spirit to possess his body long enough for him to get even with his former partners. The only problem is that Lucho has to return his friend’s body before sunrise or Fatboy stays dead. Failing to do so leaves only one hope for Fatboy’s soul, a woman whose love he had spurned.

Sammo, who directed and starred in the superior ENCOUNTER OF THE SPOOKY KIND finds himself in similar circumstances in this film. In both roles he is portrayed as the bungling commoner who ends up possessed and supernaturally imbued with greater kung fu skills. Even the opening sequences both involve a situation involving infidelity. Yet this film frequently cultivates more black or base humor that doesn’t mind taking a stab at death, sexual dysfunction, miscarriage, and women’s undergarments (used to ward off the supernatural). Although the film is rarely blatantly funny, there are moments worth savoring. For instance, there is a great extended scene where Sammo dresses as a life-size paper doll (used in funerals) and attempts to perform an autopsy on his friend who is still playing dead.

One of the broader aspects of the film to be appreciated is that all of the characters are portrayed in a humorously unfavorable light with the exception of Fatboy’s girlfriend who, coincidently ends up saving the day. Sammo is a callus and cowardly oaf, while Wu Ma plays a sexually impotent and greedy opportunist, sporting a rather large and unflattering fake nose. Lam Ching-ying, who co-starred with Sammo in THE PRODIGAL SON, plays an aging Taoist priest who can barely walk straight. This, of course was the role he was best remembered for and destined to play in MR. VAMPIRE as well as in several sequels and spin-offs (minus the old man guise).

The B-rated special effects and a limited number of fights are made up for by competent direction by Wu Ma and the quality of the fight choreography, something Sammo Hung is master of. Besides, the old-school feel of the effects like the final scene involving ghosts looking like they stepped out of Jabba the Hut’s palace before morphing into Slimer’s primitive cousins is pure genius. The keywords here are campy and fun, elements most of today’s low budget, computer effects films sadly lack.