Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead: Quick Takes

While production company My Way have been at it for over 10 years, it's only fairly recently that their Hong Kong cinema tac has been picked up on by fans. Creating vehicles as a throwback to the golden age of the 80s and 90s, Shaolin Vs Evil Dead presents familiar ground. I.e. the ghostbusting priest/hopping vampire/kung fu-flick and it scores points early by designing itself to be that very film. Frequent My Way director Douglas Kung clearly sweats to work up the proceedings to 90 minutes though as evident by the up and down nature of the film in terms of momentum. While energy could've been cranked up a new notches, the opening set-piece at a zombie infested inn infuses the battle with today's CGI used to only average effect but the new millennium meets the old in quite a refreshing way after all. Plus you get coolness in the form of Gordon Lau as a lead who isn't echoing Lam Ching Ying's ability as a stoic AND comedic performer as skillfully but leads very well nonetheless. In comparison to the entire genre output, it's cheap, tired and not a little silly but the film does feature more memorable scenes such as a cute little romance between disciples Sun (Jacky Woo) and Moon (Shannon Yiu), a game of Evil Chess with children buddhist monks vs. children hopping vampires and an unconventional birth of a boy by a boy. It could've been tighter and more strongly paced but My Way has the heart in the right place. The film ends inconclusively, showing highlights from the sequel Shaolin Vs Evil Dead: Ultimate Power and the tightly edited show reel is promising. Co-starring as a rival Taoist priest to Lau's White, Fan Siu-Wong shows his skills on select occasions.

After making the rounds internationally on home video, My Way finally struck a distribution deal in Hong Kong as Kam & Ronson brought out the dvd of Shaolin Vs Evil Dead in 2007.