Rating: 
Summary: HAHAHA 100% TRASH MOVIE!!!
Review: HAHAHAHA!!
This is one of the funniest movie I've haver seen! But this is not a good thing. It is 100% trash movie. Its effects are the worst in the movie history. The caracters are stupid. This is garbage. The story is even worst. The worst of all is the Swordsman's mustache. My little brother could do something more real. Really, this is a MUST NOT see. It takes 90 minutes of suffering. It looks like 10 years!!! This one is really terrible... This is a proof that sometimes people can really SCREW EVERYTHING UP. Sucks big time!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie; what's up with Media Asia's DVDs? Help!
Review: Has anyone but I had trouble with accessing the Langue section of the Menu on Media Asia DVDs? I returned one, thinking it was defective. However, any DVD I own from Media Asia is the same: It seems as if it's entering the menu and then just "bounces" me back to the main menu! The rest of the menus are fine; only the Language is this way. Thanks. Scangemi@ohpny.com
Rating:
Summary: This movie SUCKS
Review: I don't get the rave reviews. This is nothing more than a chinese b-movie: poor acting, laughable "monsters" & effects, minimum plot. I'm sorry that I bought this DVD, which I did based on the reviews on this sight. Oh well.
Rating: 
Summary: A must-see if you want to fully enjoy Chinese Ghost Story II
Review: I saw Chinese Ghosty Story II before Chinese Ghost Story, and there's a marked difference between the two. Unfortunately, there are several important plot points from the two movies that join them in a way that makes both better (including a song that takes on a whole new meaning when you realize it's sung by two different characters in each movie). Chinese Ghost Story is not as wacky or enthralling as its sequel, with less special effects and a more uneven rhythm. The plot, in short, is about Ning Tsei-Shen, a tax collector, falling in love with a ghost, Nieh Hsiao-Tsing, who is kept by a, uh, "tree hag." The tree hag uses her to kill unwitting male mortals. One particularly weird point is that the tree hag can transform into a gigantic tongue, which shoves itself down men's throats in Alien-esque fashion. Upon doing so, the victim's life force is sucked out. So in essence, the tree hag gives one serious French kiss. I've since read elsewhere that Sam Raimi took inspiration from this film for Evil Dead, a connection I made on my own. The animated trees, the grasping tentacles, the perspective from the demon's point of view, and even the tree hag's shout that she'll "swallow your chi!" - yep, Sam saw this movie and loved it. Ghost life is different than typical European ghost folklore. In Chinese Ghost Story, ghosts are more like faeries. They have lives, get married, argue, have relatives, etc. In this case, Nieh Hsiao-Tsing is torn by her role of luring men to their doom and her affection for the hapless tax collector. Worse, she is promised to some unspeakable evil guy in hell. Our fearless protagonist stumbles into this plot because his tax records are rained on, thus leaving him without any means of getting paid for his hard work. Broke and desperate, Ning Tsei-Shen can only afford to stay in a haunted temple to stay out of the rain. Chinese Ghost Story is like an Asian version of Romeo and Juliet, down to the help friar -- in this case, a crazy monk who happens to enjoy the presence of spirits more than living people. Although we don't get much perspective on Ning Tsei-Shen's life prior to the story, Nieh Hsiao-Tsing's back-story is fleshed out. She has sisters, all of whom were murdered and left without a proper burial ritual. As ghosts, they serve a weird tree demon who is actually a man dressed in drag. This is an ongoing theme throughout both movies - demons always look like men, but dress and sound like women. It's strangely effective in making the demons seem immediately wrong, even in their supposedly mortal forms. The struggle here is not to reunite the two lovers - that's understood to be an impossible task. Instead, it's a race to put Nieh Hsiao-Tsing to rest before she is married to the Unspeakable Evil. A final burial means the ghost also has a chance at being reincarnated as opposed to roaming the Earth or being married in hell. In comparison to the other two fates, reincarnation sounds a lot better. Of course, things don't go that smoothly. Nieh Hsiao-Tsing is kidnapped, and the dynamic duo of bumbling tax collector and crotchety monk pursue her right into hell. The action propels itself along so quickly that things become confusing - I picked up a lot on second viewing because the characters shout or react so quickly to Hell, which is a murky place. Between the three protagonists, they manage to defeat Hell's minions, an axe-wielding general, and the big bad himself. Ning Tsei-Shen looks over his shoulder and his ghostly love is gone. Next we see him giving her a proper burial. Then Ning Tsei-Shen points - we can only assume at a rainbow in the distance that we see in the next scene - and the tax collector and the monk ride off into the distance. POOF! The end. To say the ending is jarring is an understatement. The director's style definitely matured in the second movie. This first movie is an excellent set up for the sequel, but on its own it seems like a pastiche of ideas and concepts that were never fully executed. A must-see if you want to fully enjoy Chinese Ghost Story II.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best visual spectacles in the flicks!
Review: I saw this movie almost seven years ago at an arthouse theater in Greenwich Village.Since then I have seen it three additional times and I can't wait to buy the video! It was then and remains now one of the most visually stunning and beautiful films I have ever seen (import or domestic!). Not to mention the action, the humor, the romance, and the mile long tongue! Do yourself a favor and BUY THIS MOVIE!!It is a thing of beauty and will last a lifetime.
Rating:
Summary: MAKES A GOOD HALLOWEEN FILM AND IT HAS JOEY WONG IN IT
Review: Leslie Cheung plays a man (which is a bit of an oxymoron) staying in an abandoned temple haunted by a lovely kind hearted ghost (the exquisite Joey Wong) who is forced to use her ABUNDANT feminine charm to seduce, lead, and then feed men to the flesh eating demon that controls her. Things go wrong when she falls in love with L. Cheung (each to their own, I guess, but I think Joey could have done better) and tries to save him from the fate of her other victims. Needless to say, things get a little sticky at this point. This film is the first of three in a series and personally speaking, I enjoyed III the most, but this one is still worth watching. It's actually pretty creepy, there's a little more action than CGSIII although maybe a little less than CGSII, the special effects are a lot of fun, albeit a little out of date, and the end, while a little sad, isn't tragic for a once, which is usually the case in most Hong Kong films.
Rating:
Summary: A Love Stronger Than Death
Review: Movie Summary: A young tax collector named Tsei-Shen is forced to stay in the old almost abandoned Lan Ro temple while making his rounds. There he meets a Taoist monk/master swordsman/ghost buster who is the only other human staying at the temple. He also meets a very beautiful young woman, Nieh Hsiao-Tsing, whom he falls in love with. Although she resists at first, the woman falls in love with Tsei-Shen as well. This complicates things because she is a ghost and has been ordered to delete Tsei-Shen and take his soul. My Opinion: At first I had a hard time with the poor English subtitles and strange story. But then I was pulled into the love story and began to understand what was going on. Some of the small things that happen in the beginning are a bit confusing but I think this is mostly due to the cultural differences and poor subtitles. I ended up liking the movie very much. It has horror, action, and romance all very well mixed up into an entertaining package. The special effects are quite good. The plot is very filled out as well. The Taoist monk is a very cool character and you can’t help but fall in love with the maiden ghost Nieh Hsiao-Tsing. DVD Quality: Non anamorphic, no English language sound track, poor English subtitles What You Should Do: Rent it. Don’t buy this edition, wait for a new version that has an anamorphic transfer. This movie is what I would consider a fairly hard core Hong Kong film. You need to be into this type of film to enjoy it. If you are into this genre you should definitely see it and also check out The Bride With The White Hair.
Rating:
Summary: Dialog in Mandarin but songs in Cantonese
Review: My major complaint with the DVD version of "A Chinese Ghost Story" is that if you select the Mandarin language track, the songs remain in Cantonese. The Mandarin language VHS and VCD versions of "A Chinese Ghost Story" have the songs in Mandarin, making the language sound consistent. Because of the language inconsistency, I give the DVD version four stars instead of five.
Rating:
Summary: great cinematography lousy subtitles
Review: Out of all the people who could translate the chinese into english, why couldn't they have found someone who actually could? I am really easy to please when it comes to interpreted dialouge, & I find most of the faux pas in the hong kong /kung fu genre amusing and even appealing for the most part. I felt that I was really being short changed in this movie. There is obviously quite a bit going on in the story line that never makes it to the subtitles. What little actually does is often mis-spelled (i.e. the "spocky" temple) or just poorly translated... for instance saying "She dangerous" instead of "she is in danger." Surely a better job could have been done for the english speaking audience, before this was offered to us for sale. I only wish I could find a better transcription to read along while watching this movie. Although there are many appealing things about this movie the lousy translation knocks it down to barely 3 stars in my opinion. I believe it could easily gain at least another star if a better translator were employed.
Rating:
Summary: Suberb!!!
Review: Perhaps one of the best oriental movies I have ever seen. Some may say that the film is lacking in a few areas, but the plot combined with director's magic touch blew me away. After seeing the movie I could not give it anything less than a full rating. The atmospere of the film is unique, at times sad, exciting and romantic, with the rare comical undertone throughtout the movie. The special effects might not be as good as the current modern hollywood superhit movie standard, but unlike most new movies which use special effects just to blantly impress the viewer and fill space, the effects of this movie enhance and complement the atmospere and the plot perfectly. A trully moving film.
| 
