| An admirable attempt was made to take the sequel to Mr. Vampire new places but ultimately producer Sammo Hung and director Ricky Lau ended up with a misguided product. The series got back on track with Mr. Vampire III though, early on making a smart move by adding the comic genius of Richard Ng as a conman Taoist priest, getting assistance from two friendly ghosts as he "eradicates" ghostly problems (a plot device also found in Peter Jackson's The Frighteners). Lam Ching Ying is soon in the frey as well as the stern Taoist priest who battles demons, ghosts and in the case of this film, black magic. High annoyance Billy Lau is this time one of Lam's constantly naughty students and proves to be as unsympathetic as when he played a police in the original.
Ricky Lau has the Mr. Vampire formula very clear in his head, directing Lam Ching Ying in the best of ways, getting the humour out of his character trait easily and also going low with some of the jokes when dealing with the shenanigans of the students. A high pace to the entire affair also benefits while the action choreography by Sammo, Stephen Tung and Lam Ching Ying being full of entertaining bouts with the black magicians later turned ghosts (in particular an early scene when the whole town joins up against the evil). Mr. Vampire III simply put is the best of the sequels while Magic Cop holds that honor in terms of best unofficial one. Also with Liu Fong, Fung Lee, Baan Yuen Sang, Chow Gam Kong, Wu Ma, Corey Yuen and Sammo Hung. |
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