Mr. Vampire: Give Me Goofy or Give Me Death!

I’m late to the party. Ricky Lau’s Mr. Vampire (1985) spawned several sequels and seems to have been something of a smash success in Hong Kong and beyond. It inspired (again, as I understand) many entries in the Jiangshi genre, a species of B-movie about hopping zombie vampires from Chinese folklore. Knowing a bit about these things must, I assume, make the films more comprehensible. I, however, had none of that knowledge. No. For me, Mr. Vampire was hilarious, confounding—an all-around wonderful time. And not at all hard to follow to boot.

Things are a bit crazy on my end this week, so I’ve opted to spread the wealth a little. Nothing too critical to say here, nothing even a bit negative. Lau’s film is fun, pure and simple, an ideal HK analogue to the American horror comedies of the mid and late 80s. The foreignness of the imagery, however, prevents it from rot or staleness. I had no idea what would happen next, and I found myself laughing at least once a minute. What more could I want?

With Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2025) due out later this month, it’ll do us some good to return to the tradition. So, what if these are non-Western vampires? So what if they hop and have nothing to do with Bram Stoker? Sometimes we need a little goofiness. Mr. Vampire is, if nothing else, as goofy as it gets.