A Taoist warrior teams up with a fox spirit (Sibelle Hu) in order to save a love-struck young scholar from an evil spirit king and his minions.

Ancient Chinese folklore includes tales of fox spirits who would assume the guise of pretty young women to engage in sexual exploits with mortal men, either for love, pleasure, or to drain their life essence. These mostly erotic tales have been immortalized in a book entitled Liao Zai (see Chinese Ghost Stories for Adults), which in turn was adapted for film by Tsui Hark and became A Chinese Ghost Story. The popularity of this film sparked a trend in Hong Kong and a number of related films were produced including Golden Swallow and Erotic Ghost Story. Another film was Ghost of the Fox starring action heroine Sibelle Hu. It’s an insignificant rehash compared with Tsui Hark’s work that not only draws from Liao Zai and the related film adaptations that came before it, but it also borrows from the Chinese vampire craze of the ’80s, and even John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian.

The 17th generation master of a Taoist temple is mortally wounded after doing battle with a powerful spirit known as Evil Wanyuan. The master’s successor Tapo Yunchin grows up trained to vanquish evil spirits and heads out out to combat Wanyuan’s forces on their own territory. Into this spiritual battle walks a young scholar named Tan Kin-yun who rescues a fox from a butcher. The fox turns out to be a beautiful fox spirit named Chantin (Sibelle Hu). The two fall in love despite their differences, but run into serious trouble when Chantin’s master, a servant of Wanyuan, finds out. After helping to save Chantin from imprisonment, Kin-yun is bewitched. It’s then up to Chantin and the sympathetic Taoist priest who join forces to infiltrate Wanyuan’s lair, do battle with him, and save Kin-yun.

Ghost of the Fox shamelessly recycles from other films. I can see where they lifted whole scenes with only slight alterations. Many of the early scenes involving Sibelle Hu and the scholar are taken right from A Chinese Ghost Story and Golden Swallow. A scene where the evil spirits do spiritual battle with the Taoist and Sibelle with the aid of Buddhist monks is taken from the finale to Green Snake. There’s a reference to Japan’s ghostly classic Kwaidan during the same scene. Then the capper is the infiltration of Wanyuan’s lair which steals from the end of Conan the Barbarian. The main villain even turns into a snake just like James Earl Jones did! In this light, the film is pretty pointless, specifically because these scenes aren’t even done well. The special effects work is awful and the editing is a mess. They toss in a hopping vampire for no good reason and he looks terrible. Apparently, a little blackening around the eyes and a dunce cap is all the producers felt was necessary. A lot of old fashioned transition editing and layered compositional shots are poorly thrown together for cheap effect. What is really sad is that some of the worst shots are obviously intentional.

It’s a shame that much of Ghost of the Fox is cheaply done and poorly put together, because there are some good shots, the outdoor locations are excellent, and the fight choreography isn’t bad at all. The only real complaint I have on the martial arts combat is Sibelle’s obviously male stunt double who moves with the gracefulness of an inebriated construction worker. If I didn’t know there were better films on the subject, I would probably enjoy this one more. It’s not terrible on it’s own. It has a lot of lovely ladies in the hippest movie costumes since Flash Gordon, snakes and more snakes, an androgynous evil spirit that flips between a male and female voice in mid-sentence, and a sinewy Taoist swordsman with some decent moves. In general that’s all you need for a campy action movie. If you’re comfortable with the fact that there are better films out there on the subject of Chinese ghosts and spirits and can overlook its rough edges, there is some worthwhile entertainment value to wring out of this flick.

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