Review: 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 scatter 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.

One-eyebrow Priest (Lam Ching Ying) is a Taoist monk, specializing in the supernatural. He has two apprentices (Hoh, Chin Sui Ho and Fong, Lui Fong) with which he is always at odds, though it’s never more serious than good-intentioned father-son like problems. Together they watch after or restrain a young Chinese vampire who is always in hopping motion. He’s mischievous, but very predictably so, and when we are obviously supposed to think “how cute”, we are instead annoyed beyond belief. The little vampire is strangely possessed, or something of that nature, but the Priest quickly rids him of the problem. The two apprentices are far less competent. While trying to stop a spirit in the palm trees, they both make the same crucial mistake and the spirit goes after one of them. Later, they are told to lure in a female ghost. Their attempt fails, and the ghost almost has her sexual way with one of them, but of course the priest comes in at the last instant to save the day in a very strange fight scene with terrible effects. After this, the film takes a big shift for the better. The Priest is summoned by the Town Leader to diagnose the problems with the city’s water. After much examination, the Priest determines that it is something about the water itself. He uses some mystical means to determine the best position to dig a well, and all is set to work. However, a team of bats come and move his maker to a different location. As bats are also found throughout the stream, the people in charge go looking for their nest. The General (Billy Lau) assumes it to be within an old, crumbling church that is abandoned save five nuns. The Priest stands up for them and discovers a locked away room inhabited by bats, a kneeling skeleton, and an empty tomb. The well he suggested earlier is dug; the people find instead of water a very strange looking corpse with a ruby-studded cross stuck in its chest. That creature is, of course, our Western Vampire. When the Priest and his apprentices discover the vampire, over the top fight sequences occur as the vampire is transformed from his handsome European self into a pale, wrinkly, blood soaked thing that can best be described as walking gore. It’s really cool.

This film was the first of two films directed by popular Hong Kong actor and martial artist Lam Ching Ying. While no amazing cinematic work, it does have its fair share of visual treats and Ying show’s far more talent than most American actor-turned-directors. Still, his is not any noteworthy talent: there is little cohesiveness from shot to shot, most scenes edit together rather poorly, everything is far too fast and clumsy in appearance. Most of the pleasing visuals, while likely from Lam Ching Ying’s creative mind, can be attributed to cinematographer Cho Nyn Sun’s inventive uses of light and shadow.

The acting here is extremely over the top – a mix between a traditional wushu film and a crazy Chinese comedy. Lam Ching Ying, who is the leading man as well as the director, comes closest to giving a real performance. The Chinese nuns are all loud, mostly annoying, and never really seem to be acting. Chin Siu Ho and Lui Fong are both convincingly naïve and amusing as Ying’s apprentices, though never really funny. They also are given opportunity to give a hint at their martial arts skills, and while the scenes are usually too rushed to put it all together, they appear to have a good deal of talent in that area. This is definitely not a film to watch for performances.

When it all comes down to it, Vampire vs. Vampire is little more than a strange diversion for the Hong Kong film fan. If you can make it past the first 20 minutes, it has enough humor and action spread out to keep you entertained, but it’s very unlikely you’ll remember it once it’s ended. It does have some great humor: for me, the scene where the nuns have come to visit the Priest, who is wearing only a shirt, no pants or underwear, and tries desperately to keep the nuns from knowing, is gut-wrenchingly funny. If nothing else, Lam Ching Ying was an amazingly talented comedian. The soundtrack, by the way, is probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard. At times, usually when the little vampire is on screen, the sound effects and “musical” score made me want to rip my eyes from their sockets and stuff them in my ears to make it all stop. It’s that bad.

If you get the opportunity to rent or see a screening of this film, it would be an enjoyable enough experience. However, I can only recommend it for purchase to fans of Lam Ching Ying or the Mr. Vampire series.