Search - Kung Fu Beyond The Grave / Chinese Vampire Story on DVD

1 decent movie and then a really bad one

morgoth | omaha, NE | 12/30/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"KUNF FU FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE-Billy Chong stars in another supernatural movie after making the classic 'Kung Fu Zombie'. Sai Aan Dai(Bai Sai Ngai) from '10 Magnificent Killers' and 'Buddhist Fist' is a black magician who is stirring up all sorts of trouble and using human hearts to make his master invincible. The master played by the great Lo Lieh has trouble of his own because Billy Chong is here to kill him after receiving a message from his father that he must take revenge for him and Lo Lieh is the one who killed him. Alan Chui(Rebellious Reign) shows up as what seems a comedic role at first and some of the fights in this movie are definitely worth watching. Chui and Chong taking on Sai Aan Dai is the highlight of the film, with an appearance by Dracula as a close second. And don't be fooled by Sai Aan Dai's somewhat deformed eye. He is one bad mother AND he can call on Dracula whenever he needs help.

The final fight between Lieh and Chong is nice only to see these 2 go at it on screen together but overall it is dissapointing. 2.5/5 though if I had to choose I would go with a 3.

Picture quality is horrible and English dubbed

CHINESE VAMPIRE STORY-groundzero loves to rename movies and this movie is actually called 'Mr. Vampire #5' or 'Mr. Vampire 1992'. This is the first movie I have seen in the series and I defintely should not have started with the last entry. Lam Ching Ying starred in a lot of these movies where he played a Taoist priest and this is only the 3rd I have seen. While he gives a good performance, the movie is not a good vehicle for him. There is just not a lot going on. Chin Siu-hou(Fist of Legend) stars as one of Lam's assistants or pupils but doesn't really get to do much action. Maybe a punch or two and one brawl with some vampires but not nearly enough. Now if the story was good this would all be fine but it just drags along when there is no action and the only thing worth seeing is the general hopping around like a Chinese vampire. The finale is very unspectacular and you have to wonder if they just filmed this movie for a couple of days while shooting another project and added the special effects later. 1.5/5

Picture quality is horri-awful, has small black bars at the top and bottom, in is Chinese with burnt in imbedded subtitles. But you can actually read the subtitles! That is if you feel like it."

Some Classic Insanity

J. Pinkerton Snoopington | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 06/05/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD, from Ground Zero Entertainment's "Black Belt Theater" line, assembles two completely insane Hong Kong movies about the afterlife - "Kung Fu From Beyond the Grave" and "Mr. Vampire 1992" (incorrectly labelled "Chinese Vampire Story" on the box).
"Mr. Vampire 1992" (the fifth in a popular series) tells a practically incoherant story of babies aborted during pregnancy. These angry babies keep pop up in spirit form, doing wacky things like peeing on people's faces (very graphically, I might add - isn't there a law against this?). Also, there's a lot of really failed comedy...and vampires. It's nuts. Don't ask me to make sense of it.
"Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave" is even better. It's the crazy story of a young man visited by the zombie of his dead father. The father tells the young man to avenge his murder. This kung-fu monster mash has it all - even Dracula, in what I suppose is a guest appearance.
The DVD is crappy by any standards. Both the movies seem like second or third generation dupes, with lots of scratches and faded colors. "Mr Vampire 1992" looks slightly letterboxed (maybe 1.66:1), but, oddly, some of the special effects actually protrude onto the lower black bar. Go figure. There are no extras, which is unsurprising."