Encounters of the Spooky Kind
Hong Kong film poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese鬼打鬼
Simplified Chinese鬼打鬼
Directed bySammo Hung
Written bySammo Hung
Huang Ying
Produced byChan Pui-wah
Raymond Chow
Lau Chi-chong
StarringSammo Hung
Wong Ha
Dick Wei
Lam Ching-ying
Wu Ma
CinematographyLee Yau-tong
Ng Cho-wah
Edited byPeter Cheung
Music byFrankie Chan
Production
company
Bo Ho Films Co Ltd
Distributed byGolden Harvest
Release date
  • 24 December 1980 (1980-12-24)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK$5.675 million

Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Chinese: 鬼打鬼) is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts comedy horror film directed by and starring Sammo Hung, who also wrote the film with Huang Ying, and produced by Hung's production company Bo Ho Film Company.[1] Released as Spooky Encounters in the United States and also known as Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind,[2] the latter title more blatantly mimicking the title of the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Encounters of the Spooky Kind was the progenitor of the jiangshi film genre and one of Hong Kong's first action horror comedies.[3]

In the film, a man is targeted for killing by his wife's lover. The lover employs a witch, who unleashes jiangshi, vampires, and spirits against the husband. The attacks are countered by a rival sorcerer, who takes the husband as his disciple. The events escalate to a battle between the sorcerers.

The film was followed by a stand-alone sequel starring Hung and Lam Ching-ying, Encounters of the Spooky Kind II (also known as Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind 2) in 1990, which has no relation to Encounters of the Spooky Kind.[4] A soft reboot directed by Dick Wei was filmed in 2016.[5]

Plot

The film starts with Bold Cheung having a nightmare about two ghosts, an elder and the young adult, first in a wine jar and then as a human. Cheung narrowly escapes the two ghosts, but they still pursue him.

Bold Cheung is challenged to spend the night in an abandoned house where he must peel an apple in front of a mirror. If he breaks the skin then something bad will happen. Upholding his mantle as the boldest, he accepts the challenge. However, that night whilst peeling the apple, his friend trick him. Whilst scolding his friend for the prank, a real ghost appears and snatches Cheung's friend away. The ghost reaches for Cheung but he cuts its hand off and then quickly shattering the mirror, causing the house to collapse.

The next day Cheung overhears a story about a promiscuous wife from a sweet tofu seller (who admits that something similar happened to him and his wife); he goes to his home to check on his wife and finds two peeping toms outside his door. He scolds them, causing his wife and employer, Master Tam, to hear. Tam escapes but leaves his shoe which Cheung finds and confronts his wife with. His wife pulls a tantrum and makes Cheung feel guilty.

Master Tam is worried Cheung will find out about the affair so he hires a Mao Shan witch, Chin Hoi, to get rid of him. When Chin mentions this to his junior disciple, Priest Tsui, Tsui gets angry stating that it is against the rules of their sect to harm others and is then kicked out by Chin. Cheung is tricked into spending the night in a temple, but he encounters Tsui who tells him that he must sleep on the roof. Cheung does so. A coffin in the temple opens and a jiangshi, a hopping corpse, begins looking for him but he is safe. Chin gives up when he cannot find Cheung (he is controlling the jiangshi) just as Cheung falls down. Chin and the cadaver look for Cheung again. He hides under the coffin but is found, the two fight but by this time the sun was rising so Chin had to move the corpse back into the coffin.

Cheung is tricked into spending another night in the temple. Again he meets Tsui who tells him to collect fifty chicken eggs to throw into the coffin. If he runs out of eggs he must throw dog's blood over the jiangshi. However, the egg seller puts in ten duck eggs. That night Cheung throws in eggs when the coffin begins to open and it works. However, when he throws a duck egg inside, the corpse escapes so Cheung throws the dog's blood onto it which sends Chin flying into Tam's roof severing his control of the jiangshi.

Cheung goes back to town but an Inspector arrests him for murdering his wife even though it is a set-up. Cheung is thrown in prison but escapes by pretending to be sick, he beats up the guards and runs into a forest where he trips over a coffin exposing the corpse within. As Cheung sleeps, it comes to life and mimics his actions before an evil force causes it to attack and chase him. Whilst on the run from the corpse, Cheung bumps into the Inspector and his men. The jiangshi collapses onto the Inspector, giving Cheung time to escape.

Cheung meets up with Tsui who wants to take Cheung as his disciple. As they stop to eat, the Inspector shows up and sends his men after Cheung. Chin is also there and manipulates Cheung's right arm to beat up the people around him and himself. Tsui stops him in a sword fight, and Chin escapes. To help Cheung, Tsui uses his magic to manipulate the Inspector's men to fight the Inspector whilst he and Cheung escape.

Tsui initiates Cheung as his disciple at an abandoned Taoist altar drawing talismans onto Cheung’s body. He also gives Cheung his undergarment as protection. Meanwhile Chin sends a vampire after Tsui and Cheung but they defeat it and Tsui uses his magic to force the corpse to tell them where Chin was hiding. They then go to Tam's house to challenge Chin. Both sorcerers use magic to instill spirits into their disciples. Cheung is possessed by the monkey god and Chin’s disciple by the Dragon Taming Arhat. The two possessed apprentices fight with Cheung winning.

Chin then forces Master Tam to be possessed with the spirit of Lu Dong Bin but Cheung who is possessed by Hong Hai Er kills him. Then the two sorcerers unleash their magic on each other and Tsui is badly injured with Chin’s sorcery because he gave his magic undergarment to Cheung. Just as it looks like Chin will win,Cheung cuts the legs off his altar. This causes Chin to lose balance, giving Tsui a chance to hit him with magical fire, Chin is set ablaze and falls off his altar to burn to death. However, Tsui is badly hurt by Chin's magic and he too falls off his altar dead. Cheung's wife steps forward in all the madness and tries to convince Cheung that Tam was about to rape her. However, Cheung is not deceived and he punches her over and over again, then throws her.

Cast

  • Sammo Hung – Bold Cheung[6]
  • Chung Fat – Priest Tsui[6]
  • Lam Ching-ying – Inspector[6]
  • Jonny Chan – Priest Chin Hoi[6]
  • To Siu-ming – Ah To / Ah dooh / Cocky[6]
  • Huang Ha – Master Tam (as Wong Ha)[6]
  • Dick Wei – Master Lok[6]
  • Cheung Ging-boh – Uncle Fok[6]
  • Tai Bo – Adviser Lau[6]
  • Yuen Miu – Ah To's friend / Prison Guard (2 roles)[6]
  • Pang Yun-cheung – Ah To's friend[6]
  • Wellson Chin – Police officer[6]
  • Ng Min-kan – Police officer[6]
  • Leung Suet-mei – Cheung's wife[6]
  • Billy Chan – Cheung's friend[6]
  • Fung Ging-man – Peeping Tom[6]
  • Ho Pak-kwong – Peeping Tom[6]
  • Yuen Biao – Vampire[6]
  • Lau Chau-sang – Guard[6]
  • Wu Ma – Ah Chiu Fa Kau[6]
  • Billy Chan – Driver[6]

Box office

Encounters of the Spooky Kind grossed $5,675,626.00 HKD at the Hong Kong box office.[7] It ran in Hong Kong theatres from 24 December 1980 to 8 January 1981.[8]

Home media

VHS

Release date Country Classification Publisher Format Language Subtitles Notes Ref.
September 1998 France Unknown HK Video PAL Cantonese French [9]
12 October 1999 United States R Tai Seng Entertainment NTSC Cantonese English [10]
24 January 2000 United Kingdom 15 Hong Kong Legends PAL Cantonese English [11]
12 November 2001 United Kingdom 15 Hong Kong Legends PAL English (dubbed) None [12]

VCD

Release date Country Classification Publisher Format Language Subtitles Notes Ref.
1 April 2000 Hong Kong N/A Mega Star (HK) NTSC Cantonese English, Traditional Chinese [13]
6 March 2009 Hong Kong N/A Joy Sales (HK) NTSC Cantonese English, Traditional Chinese Digitally remastered edition, 2 VCDs [13]

DVD

Release date Country Classification Publisher Format Region Language Sound Subtitles Notes Ref.
1 September 2000 Hong Kong N/A Deltamac (HK) NTSC 3 & 6 Cantonese, Mandarin Unknown English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese Name on box Spooky Encounters [14]
14 November 2000 United States Not Rated Tai Seng Video NTSC 1 Cantonese, English Unknown English [15]
12 November 2001 United Kingdom 15 Hong Kong Legends PAL 2 Cantonese, English (dubbed) Dolby Digital 2.0 English Digitally remastered edition [16]
3 February 2005 France Unknown HK Video PAL 2 Cantonese Unknown French Box set includes Spooky Encounters 1 & 2 under the name Chinese Exorcist 1 & 2 [17]
25 February 2005 Korea N/A Spectrum DVD NTSC 3 Cantonese Unknown English, Korean Name on box Spooky Encounters [18]
5 April 2005 United States R 20th Century Fox NTSC 1 Cantonese, English Dolby Digital 5.1 & DTS English Name on box Spooky Encounters [19]
25 May 2006 Japan N/A Universal Pictures Japan NTSC 2 Cantonese Unknown Japanese Name on box Spooky Encounters, digitally remastered edition [20]
7 May 2008 Australia, New Zealand M Magna Pacific PAL 4 Cantonese, English (dubbed) Dolby Digital 2.0 English Digitally remastered [21]
2 December 2009 Hong Kong N/A Joy Sales (HK) NTSC ALL Cantonese, Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese Name on box Spooky Encounters, digitally remastered [22]
25 December 2012 United Kingdom N/A Cine-Asia PAL 2 Cantonese, English (dubbed) Dolby Digital 2.0 English Special collectors' edition, digitally remastered [23]

Blu-ray

Release date Country Classification Publisher Format Region Language Sound Subtitles Notes Ref.
20 November 2012 Hong Kong N/A Kam & Ronson Enterprises Co. Ltd. NTSC A Cantonese, Mandarin 6.1, 7.1, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital EX / THX Surround EX English, Traditional Chinese [24]
21 June 2021 United Kingdom N/A Eureka Classics - B Cantonese, English DTS-HD 2.0, DTS-HD 5.1 English [25]

References

  1. ↑ "Gui da gui (1980)". imdb.com. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "Release dates forGui da gui". imdb.com. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  3. ↑ Hudson, Dave (2009). Draculas, Vampires, and Other Undead Forms. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-8108-6923-3.
  4. ↑ "Gui yao gui". imdb.com. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  5. ↑ "新鬼打鬼". Hong Kong Movie Database. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 List of cast "Gui da gui (1980)". imdb.com. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980)". hkcinemagic.com. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  8. ↑ "鬼打鬼 Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980)". hkmdb.com. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  9. ↑ "Chinese Exorcist". hkvideo.fr. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  10. ↑ Encounters of the Spooky Kind [VHS] (1980). ASIN 6305131287.
  11. ↑ "Encounters of the Spooky Kind [VHS]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  12. ↑ "Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Dubbed) [VHS]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  13. 1 2 "Encounter of the Spooky Kind VCD". yesasia.com. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  14. ↑ "Spooky Encounters DVD Region 3, 6". yesasia.com. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  15. ↑ Encounter of the Spooky Kind [1980] (REGION 1) (NTSC). ASIN 6306098941.
  16. ↑ "Encounters of the Spooky Kind [DVD]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  17. ↑ "CHINESE THE EXORCIST – 1980". hkvideo.fr. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  18. ↑ "Spooky Encounters DTS (Korean Version) DVD Region 3". yesasia.com. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  19. ↑ "Spooky Encounters". Amazon. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  20. ↑ "Spooky Encounters Digitally Remastered Edition (Japan Version) DVD Region 2". yesasia.com. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  21. ↑ "Encounters of the Spooky Kind". fishpond.com.au. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  22. ↑ "Spooky Encounters (DVD) (Joy Sales Version) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All". yesasia.com. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  23. ↑ "Encounters of the Spooky Kind [DVD]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  24. ↑ "Spooky Encounters (1980) (Blu-ray) (Hong Kong Version) Blu-ray Region A". yesasia.com. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  25. ↑ "Encounter of the Spooky Kind | Eureka".
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