Leslie Cheung is Ning Tsai-Shen, a traveling something-or-other who spends a night at a supposedly haunted temple. He meets Tsing, a ghost with whom...this being a fantasy...he falls in love. Poor bastard. Little does he realize that Tsing is (unwillingly) part of a spectral sisterhood that lures wicked, evil males (meaning all men except our good-natured protagonist) to their doom. The leader of this group is a tree-monster with a giant, slimy tongue that rampages through the woods in search of victims to devour. There's also a Taoist swordsman (Wu Ma) who, with his one mystic incantation that seems to accomplish pretty much anything, seeks to rid the world of the living of these vicious spirits (when he's not starring in little one-man music videos, that is).

I've never been impressed with Joey Wang's limited acting abilities before and I'm not impressed with them now, but she seems like a good choice for the role of Tsing; she's got the wide-eyed innocent look down pat. Leslie Cheung and Wu Ma are certainly serviceable, but not extraordinary.

The film's few attempts at humor...such as overzealous guards who spring into action whenever a villager says "Don't go away" and an overplayed scene in which Tsing must conceal Ning in a bathtub...fall flat. The action sequences have that high-flying Ching Siu-Tung hyperkineticism, which is very much a love it or hate it kind of thing and clashes uncomfortably with the somewhat methodical pace of Ning's attempts to befriend Tsing (it seems like he visits the temple more often than necessary). And while the sets and morbid-looking props are impressive (the film gets an A for visual style), the special effects are quite antiquated, and the "Black King"...a suit of armor surrounded by smoke with a movable jawpiece...was laughable before the movie was even made.

This isn't a badly put-together film, and I don't begrudge it its popularity, but it didn't do much for me, personally. Actually, the main reason I watched it is because Harvey Weinstein doesn't want me to. Just my little way of kicking dirt on the fat fuck's shoes.

That said...next up: A Chinese Ghost Story 2!

Yes, the film is indeed a ghost story, an atmospheric and humorous one at that. Its attempts at comedy are as frequent as its attempts at horror yet both often fall flat. There's a little bit of wire-fu, although most of the action doesn't involve fights at all, but rather people running up walls and across tree tops. Yawn. There are also far too many scenes of laughably fake animatronic and stop-motion zombies that make the skeletons in the '60s film Jason and the Argonauts look T2:Judgement Day in comparison.

So, if it isn't scary, funny or feature copious amounts of wire-aided action or mayhem, what IS it, exactly? In a word, dull. The best thing that can be said about CGS is that it features slick cinematography and stylish direction by Ching Siu Tung. Producer Tsui Hark's trademark style is also evident here and gives the film a distinct look common to his films. The performances are adequate, including decent turns by Leslie Cheung as a bumbling tax collector and a beautiful Joey Wang as a ghost. There are a couple of enjoyable scenes in the movie that DO elicit genuine laughs yet these are too few and far between to add up to a good time.