Now here’s something to sink your fangs into. After Lam Ching-ying’s one chance to break out internationally with Golden Harvest’s English-language vampire flick Demon Hunters was ruined when the film was scrapped, he stepped into the director’s chair for the first time to shoot his own crossover of sorts. Forget Shaw Brothers’ The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires or EMG’s more recent Twins Effect. Vampire vs. Vampire is the ultimate East meets West vampire movie where Lam Ching-ying, Asia’s leading spookbuster, takes on a nasty Western bloodsucker in a mammoth knockdown, drag out brawl of unrelenting mayhem and gory-ridden destruction. Okay, that may be overstating things a little bit, but as Hong Kong vampire flicks go, this is certainly one of the more action-packed and entertaining.

The initial setup indicates that Lam is picking up where the first Mr. Vampire leaves off. Now appropriately referred to as the “One Eyebrow Priest,” Lam is a Taoist master in a rural village, who with his two assistants Lui Fong and a returning Chin Siu-ho, are doing business as usual which primarily involves acting as ghostbusters. They battle supernatural evils including a ghost siren inhabiting a palm tree and then store them away in jars sealed with spells. One twist is that they have befriended a benign juvenile kyonsi, not unlike The Real Ghostbusters’ Slimer mascot.

There is a slow buildup to the main plot as the Western vamp doesn’t show for nearly an hour, but Lam keeps things moving with an impressive array of fun, old school special effects. Thankfully, he doesn’t dwell too long on the situational comedy that plagues all of the hopping corpse films either. There is a black ooze creature with a massive row of teeth that slips through a crack in a Taoist jar to menace Chin. The Lam versus ghostess in the palm grove battle is even better. Lam leaps in among moving trees to corner the spirit in a spectacular series of magical and acrobatic moves.

The second half of this Chinese vampire movie actually starts to get a little scary (for once!) as Lam focuses on a Catholic church where nuns are harassed by attacking bats. A scene where they hole up in a small room is very impressively staged. The bats all look real and your worst fears about them are realized. Meanwhile, Lam is busy investigating the poisoning of the town’s water supply. He puts his feng shui expertise to use in locating a well. But he’s just falling into the hands of an evil force that leads to the accidental excavation of a partially decomposed corpse impaled with a jewel-encrusted crucifix. Sensing trouble, Lam instructs the town to burn the corpse and scatters its ashes. But of course that doesn’t happen in time and Lam soon finds himself forced to contend with a Western vampire that’s immune to most of his Taoist tricks. Thus, the stage is set for a fast-paced confrontation that turns the church into smoking rubble. The fight continues in a nearby forest and things get deliciously ugly as Lam uses everything in sight to pummel, burn, impale, drown, and smack that vampire into unholy oblivion.

The action choreography in this film is presided over by Stephen Tung Wai who delivers some awesome scenes. Early on, there is a move performed by Chin, or possibly a double where he scales a one-story building like a monkey. I watched it three times in a row and still couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Later, Chin unloads a few brilliant kung fu moves. Finally, it’s Lam himself who goes all out in a series of frantic action sequences, one of which has him desperately knocking tiles off of a roof to shed some light on the subject. The success of the action in this film is found in relentless pacing. Lam and Tung Wai never miss a beat and just keep on pushing the momentum and creativity to the maximum.

Vampire vs. Vampire is not without faults. The score is another forgettable series of stock tunes. The Western vampire, played by a gweilo is little more than a raving fiend which is quite unlike the suave image of Dracula. It suits the film for action purposes, but a more cunning vamp with personality would have been an improvement. There are also too many horror elements being tossed around. However, this film is definitely far superior to Lam’s second tussle with a Western vamp in Wu Ma’s average Exorcist Master (1993).

Most Mr. Vampire knockoffs are disappointments, but leave it to Lam Ching-ying to get it right. The pacing, action, special effects, and camera work are all well above average. What really counts is that Lam fully comes across as the ultimate badass spookbuster. Nobody in Western or Asian cinema can touch this guy within a mile and Vampire vs. Vampire may be the best film to prove it.

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