When a vampire ruins a vampire movie Ni hao! Now is the time to tell you about the fourth part of the franchise 'Mr. Vampire' - 'Mr. Vampire 4' or, as will be in the original, 'Uncle Vampire'. It is not clear, however, why it is 'Uncle' as the vampire in the film is not anyone's relative. But let’s get a better look at it!
The first half of the film does not contain a hint of the thrash that will happen at the end. Anthony Chan, who has already appeared in the first part of “Mr. Vampire” & #39, again appears on the screen, and in the same role, and if in the first part his character is shown only at the beginning and end, without having a significant impact on the plot, here he is one of the main characters. And, to confess honestly, he managed not to hit the dirt with his face and effectively reveal his hero - an eccentric Taoist who loves his disciple with a strange love, then telling him ' You never tire of surprising me' then trying to beat him with the hands of his vampires. His image is spectacularly complemented by Wu Ma, who played a Buddhist monk, a neighbor of the Taoist. These two formed just a chic duet, which is very expensive to see, just like yin and yang. You can endlessly watch how they are cutely competing, not recognizing each other’s religions, throwing food and even sending spoils at each other. Perfect!
But then Jiang-shi appears in the film... and ruins everything. In fact, this is the first film about Jiang Shi, in which Jiang Shi destroys the entire idyll. I think the movie would have been much better without him. All these catch-ups, breaking furniture, hide-and-seek we’ve seen in previous installments of the franchise, and director Ricky Lau had absolutely nothing to add to the film. Yes, Chinese mother, in this film, even most vampires and vampires do not look like, they are too smart for a jumping corpse and poorly made up. And oh, these greasy jokes - a Taoist student grabs a Buddhist assistant by the chest, then vampires ... It looks miserable and out of place, and not even funny. But the other thing that makes me happy about this movie is that it's a good love story. You follow the development of the relationships of the assistants of the main characters like your own. Of course, at first everything will go awry, but over time the girl will get used to him, forgive for rudeness and they will even have romantic feelings. At least someone in this movie will be fine.
Bottom line: only the first half of the film is watchable, with the appearance of a coffin with a vampire on the stage, I strongly recommend turning off the film. This could have made a good comedy, but Golden Harvest decided otherwise, turning a promising film into a mediocre comedy horror. Turn it off after the first half. It's all for your own good. You can thank me later.
5 out of 10