Rating: 
Summary: Xena: Warrior Princess series finale copied this!!
Review: "A Chinese Ghost Story", one of my favourite Chinese fantasy movies, is based on a short story, "Nie Xiaoqian", from a 17th century compilation of Chinese ghost stories called "Strange Tales from Liaozhai". Joey Wong, one of the great beauties of Hong Kong cinema, is Nie Xiaoqian, a ghost who lures men to their deaths against her will. Xiaoqian died young and her ashes were buried under an old tree by her father. Unbeknownst to him, the tree, having lived for a thousand years, has been transformed into a bisexual demon who feeds on the "qi" (Chinese term which translates roughly as "breath" or "life energy") of men. Holding Xiaoqian's ashes hostage so she could not be reincarnated, the demon forces Xiaoqian to capture young men for him/her. (Note: the ancient Chinese believed in the Buddhist concept of the Wheel of Existence, where death is but a transition to the next level of existence, be it as a ghost, a demon, a god, or another human being.) Leslie Cheung is Ning Chaichen, a poor scholar who spends a night at an abandoned temple near where Xiaoqian's ashes were buried. Xiaoqian meets Chaichen, and realising that he is kind and good-hearted, spares him from the demon's clutches. They soon fall in love, but with a conniving sister, a wicked foster mother/father and being very dead, can Xiaoqian find true happiness? "A Chinese Ghost Story" was a big hit when it was released in the late 80s. It spawned two sequels and numerous copycats. Joey Wong gained immediate fame in Asia (Leslie Cheung was already famous) but was often typecast (typecasted?) in similar roles thereafter for years. Likewise Wu Ma, who plays the sage who comes to Xiaoqian and Chaichen's rescue. Joey Wong's ethereal beauty made her especially suitable for roles as the damsel (dead or alive) in distress. Leslie Cheung is excellent in his role as the archetypal poor Chinese scholar who has to lodge in abandoned temples because he could not afford the inn. The movie is full of grand Chinese imagery - the creepy abandoned buildings, the beautiful silk costumes, the intricate hairpieces (the demon's hairpiece is a wonder to behold, and much imitated in Chinese movies thereafter), sages, warriors, scholars, ghosts and, of course, the Diamond Sutra. To enjoy the movie fully, be prepared to suspend disbelief and accept the wondrous - people who have read ancient Chinese classics like "Strange Tales from Liaozhai", "Journey to the West" or "Creation of the Gods" will know that the Chinese (ancient or modern) have always had a worldview that includes the unseen, the wondrous, and the impossible. A further note of interest for Xena fans - the series finale of Xena: Warrior Princess borrowed heavily from the opening scenes of "A Chinese Ghost Story", right down to the bells worn around the ankles that summoned the evil Yodoshi. If you loved that final episode of Xena, grab a copy of this movie and watch its inspiration.
Rating: 
Summary: Hideous subtitling mars otherwise fantastic film.
Review: A Chinese Ghost Story (Siu-Tung Ching, 1987)
A Chinese Ghost Story is the kind of movie that makes you wonder what it is the Hong Kong film guys are doing right that we're not. There's so much in here that Americans have repeatedly tried to do, and failed far more often than not. Here, it all works.
Ning Tsai-Shen (the late Leslie Cheung, fresh off his success in A Better Tomorrow) is a neophyte tax collector who's had a run of very bad luck. He asks where he can spend the night for no money, and is told about a haunted temple outside of town. After settling down, he's drawn to the sound of a lute, which is played by Nieh Hsiao-Tsing (Joey Wong, who also acted opposite Cheung in the recent Ashes Time). Of course, he falls in love with the girl, despite the warnings of Yen (Ma Wu of Iron Monkey II), a local hermit who's familiar with the haunted temple and the evils that reside there.
It sounds like a horror film, but it's not. In fact, it's a rather sweet, good-natured romantic comedy. (With zombies. See, Shaun of the Dead isn't the only one.) Tsai-Shen is a great bumbling hero, and the opening scene of him suffering misfortunes along the road into town is wonderfully done. Hundreds of American filmmakers could take a lesson from the combination of understatement and slapstick used in the opening sequence. (His oblivious search for his inkpad later in the film is another scene that stands way, way out from the crowd.) The everpresent martial arts sequences have a Three Stooges feel to them, but work better than Three Stooges routines ever did. With all this going on, most filmmakers on this side of the Pacific, assuming they could pull all that off, would let the effects become the movie and ignore the story. Not here, though to be fair the movie is a tad thin on plot. But then, it's a romantic comedy. How much plot do you need? Boy meets ghost, boy gets ghost, boy loses ghost, boy has to save ghost from eternal damnation. A tale as old as time.
One can't blame Siu-Tung Ching for this, but whoever does the subtitles at DirectMedia, Chinese Ghost Story's American distributor, really needs to go back to school. The subtitles in this movie are worse than anything I've ever seen from Tai Seng-- and that's saying something. Even though it's not the film's fault, I took off half a star simply because at times I had no earthly idea what was going on. (At other times, I didn't care, because the Engrish was so hysterical.)
Anyway, though, recommended. I strongly suggest seeing it with someone who speaks Cantonese so you can get an accurate translation of some scenes, though. *** ½
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful Chinese film!
Review: A Chinese Ghost Story is a wonderfully bizzare little gem of a movie ... part love story, part horror story, but all kung-fu!While the film shows its age ... and the subtitles are, shall we say, lacking in quality at times ... this is a good-hearted, completely engrossing movie that is a lot of fun to watch ... alone, with friends, or that special someone. Note: Soundtrack is in Mandarin and Cantonese only. Subtitles are in English, Japanese, Korean, Bahasa (Malaysia), Bahasa (Indonesia), Chinese (traditional), Thai, Chinese (simplified)
Rating:
Summary: Simply wonderful!
Review: A chinese ghost story is one of the best chinese ghost movie ever made. It is simply a classic!! it talks about a poor scholar in love with a ghost. the love story is simply lovely!! get this dvd, u will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, not very good DVD transfer
Review: A very good movie as all the other reviewers here have suggested, but the non-anamorphic DVD transfer and print quality are pretty ropey compared to high quality DVD examples. Hoping they re-release this with some care taken with the transfer. DVD purchasers with large screen TV's may want to wait until that happens.
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Summary: Good intro to the genre of HK fantasy/romance/folklore
Review: After viewing a few hundred HK films, this one remains one of my favorites. Don't want to give away the story, so no details, other than to say this is an excellent film to broaden one's horizons in the HK genre.
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Summary: CGS is a great mix of fantasy and action
Review: CGS will suprise you in how it was made.The quality in the film is amazing with its awesome action and interesting characters.The picture and sound could have been better but the movie is still very enjoyable nonetheless.
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Summary: Good story, fun effects
Review: Chinese Ghost Story, as often happens, spawned a number of successors, including an erotic spin-off series. Leslie Cheung plays a hapless, clueless tax collector who falls in love with the ghost who intends to make him her victim. Unlike the American Ghost Story with Alice Kriege and Craig Wasson, this ghost, played by Joey Wang, falls in love with her intended victim and asks him to find her ashes and move them to a place where she can be reincarnated. Cheung tries his best, but other ghosts want to keep her from succeeding. Wang, like Kriege, is absolutely gorgeous. Kriege, however, can act. On the other hand, Cheung really does a great job with his part. The story and many of the visual effects are stunning, but some of the corpse effects are more gross than frightening. What makes this movie scary is the storyline, not the effects, and it does have some scary moments. The screenplay is wonderful, so far as I can tell. As often happens with Hong Kong movies, the subtitles do a lot to undermine a good screenplay. Some of them are simply awful.
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Summary: Classic example of another branch of Hong Kong Cinema
Review: Derived from Chinese legends and folklore, it's something different from modern Hong Kong action movies about gangsters and guns. Intense action is mixed with moments of whimsical humor and romance. Expect to see a lot of flowing robes and ghosts (yeah!) flying through the air. Very entertaining. Just goes to show that falling in love and fighting for your woman is a timeless theme in any culture. Leslie Cheung is fantastic - he's a bumbling naif who transforms into a stud at all the right moments, and Joey Wong is a genuine babe who's beautiful enough to go to hell and back for.
Rating:
Summary: A Chinese Ghost Story
Review: Forget 'The Matrix', 'Spawn' or 'Naked Lunch'! This is THE best fantasy movie ever made! Filled with beautiful female ghosts, destruction, love, art, beautiful theme songs, etc... American does NOT have the ability to make movies like this! GET IT!
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