boo!

Review of A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) by screenqueeen: 👍 4/5

the thirteenth night in the lonesome hooptober day 23 film 20 cat: 0

71/100

Siu-Tung's ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN but with much more Raimi influence (whether that was intentional or not). usually the love stories in wuxia fare like this feel unnatural and tacked-on, this time it felt necessary and integral to both Caichen and Xiaoqian to be emotionally invested in each other but in different ways for each of them, like a doomed relationship would be set between two people who see their relationship differently from the other in a way that challenges how they fundamentally see it.\ this goes up to and then past Sammo Hung's ENCOUNTER OF THE SP\Y KIND with some cute and fun haunted house antics that suggest there also was a kind of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET \\\\\\\\ nod in execution somewhere. lots of fun with great creature effects and slapstick humor. i'm bummed it took me this long to get around to it!

\*if this is how you made a realization about a relationship in your life, i'm so sorry. you deserve better than to discover that while browsing A CHINESE GHOST STORY reviews on letterboxd.

\\if you're wondering why i censored that word it's because that is a slur, you can read my friend Sharai's article on the case to remove it from your vocabulary here