The Occupant

Rating:
Summary: quite funny
Review: Although this movie was made in the 80's and therefore looks rather dated, it's still quite funny. The star of this show, however, should be Raymond Wong. While Chow Yun-fat and Sally Yeh are if not always good, then at least competent, they don't really have the meaty roles here. Raymond Wong plays the desperate loser who's trying to get Sally Yeh in bed with him and his antics are quite funny. In between all that, they meet a ghost that haunts the apartment that Sally lives in. While the main plot is not earth shatteringly original, the actors' perfomances more than make up for it. And the pacing is actually quite good, you never feel like it's lagging. It's an above average light hearted comedy, nothing more, nothing less.

Rating:
Summary: Nice mix of comedy and horror
Review: Chow and Yeh, future costars of John Woo's "The Killer", and Raymond Wong, one of Hong Kong's top movie clowns at the time, help achieve a nice mix of romantic comedy, farce, and horror. The romantic comedy is no Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, the screwball farce is no Marx Brothers, the horror subplot is no Exorcist. But the film manages to please, if not impress, the viewer, since it tries hard to be amiable, without any sex or violence that characterize many HK films. Even the horror sequences are fairly tame (but not at all ineffective). It's worth collecting for fans of Chow or HK films in general since good-quality videos for foreign films (speaking to US customers), especially HK films, are sometimes hard to get.

Rating:
Summary: Nice mix of comedy and horror
Review: Chow and Yeh, future costars of John Woo's "The Killer", and Raymond Wong, one of Hong Kong's top movie clowns at the time, help achieve a nice mix of romantic comedy, farce, and horror. The romantic comedy is no Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, the screwball farce is no Marx Brothers, the horror subplot is no Exorcist. But the film manages to please, if not impress, the viewer, since it tries hard to be amiable, without any sex or violence that characterize many HK films. Even the horror sequences are fairly tame (but not at all ineffective). It's worth collecting for fans of Chow or HK films in general since good-quality videos for foreign films (speaking to US customers), especially HK films, are sometimes hard to get.

Rating:
Summary: one of the most pleasant suprises i've seen in awhile.
Review: This film really shocked me. I recieved it in a bundle of Chow Yun Fat DVd's I purchased. I only knew two of the titles. This one worried me, I was scared I may have paid for a really crappy CYF film.

I was however pleasantly suprised. I'm not usually a fan of HK comedy (too much slapstick). But this film held up, really funny comedy (raymond wong is particularly funny, his scenes trying to woo Sally Yeh as chow yun fat tries as well are very funny), and good horror. Many scenes were pretty scary (especially those dealing with a dead security guard).

A few problems, overly cheesy (one animation scene particularly was a howl), and an horribly cheesy conclusion. Otherwise, good HK fare

Rating:
Summary: fun stuff
Review: This is the third time I've tried to review this film. Previous attempts have landed up in a cyberspace black hole it seems. And I really did keet my comments strictly on the film only till this attempt. :-)

At any rate, enough of that. This film was made in the 80s and looks dated but don't let this deter you. It's still good. It's a fun little film about a woman photographer from Canada(Sally Yeh) who is doing a little research on superstitions. She rents the wrong apartment and runs into some ghostly problems. Along the way she meets Chow Yun Fat and Raymond Wong who are both interested in her.

Now, this film isn't a horror film, it's actually a comedy and a fairly screwball one. Sally Yeh and Chow Yun Fat are good as usually. But the true star of this film is Raymond Wong. His performance as the desperate/loser/coward character is quite a hoot. The film isn't as good as Mr. Vampire but it's above average fare.

Rating:
Summary: fun stuff
Review: This is the third time I've tried to review this film. Previous attempts have landed up in a cyberspace black hole it seems. And I really did keet my comments strictly on the film only till this attempt. :-)

At any rate, enough of that. This film was made in the 80s and looks dated but don't let this deter you. It's still good. It's a fun little film about a woman photographer from Canada(Sally Yeh) who is doing a little research on superstitions. She rents the wrong apartment and runs into some ghostly problems. Along the way she meets Chow Yun Fat and Raymond Wong who are both interested in her.

Now, this film isn't a horror film, it's actually a comedy and a fairly screwball one. Sally Yeh and Chow Yun Fat are good as usually. But the true star of this film is Raymond Wong. His performance as the desperate/loser/coward character is quite a hoot. The film isn't as good as Mr. Vampire but it's above average fare.

Rating:
Summary: no HK classic but fun nonetheless
Review: well, The Occupant will never rank up there with the masterpieces of Tsui Hark, Wong Kar Wai, John Woo, Ringo Lam, Ronny Yu etc etc. but it is a good example of fun, light hearted HK comedy. it may look dated, the film was after all made in the 80's but the content has for the most part stood up to the test of time.

The Occupant is about a young woman (Sally Yeh) who is trying to write a book/thesis on chinese superstitions. So she arrives in HK and rents a really cheap apartment. In the meantime, she befriends Raymond Wong's shady salesman desperate for a little R&R and Chow Yun Fatt's cop. Well, her apartment is haunted by the spirit of a deceased singer, hence the cheap rent.

The film is not a horror story, it's a comedy. Most of the comic elements involve the two men trying to get the girl. Raymond Wong did a really good job. Chow is good as ever and Yeh looks as pretty as ever but this is Wong's film. Wong is a well known actor/producer/director(?) or films, mostly comedies in HK. He, himself, was the Chinese Ming vampire in the Happy Ghost series. So watch this for some light entertainment, it doesn't want you to analyse it or guess the ending or be blown away by spectacular photography. However, it is better than the average HK comedy (hence the 4 stars not 3.) And if you've seen some of the HK Chinese New Year films and enjoyed some of them, then know that this film is actually more enjoyable than quite a few of those in that category.

Oh, and if you enjoyed The Occupant than try Shogun and Little Kitchan, The Banquet and Eight Happiness if you can find them. And I know they are hard to get.