Yin ji

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Kung-Fu From Beyond The Grave; before launching into my critique, here's a breakdown of my ratings:

Story - 1.25 Direction - 1.00 Pace - 1.25 Acting - 1.00 Enjoyment - 1.25

TOTAL - 5.75 out of 10

This film is a case of hit and miss, which is an immense shame as it could have been a massive hit. The story is superb, and the introductory narration fully sets the scene. We are in China during their season when the dead can walk the Earth. Our hero learns his father's death was murder and sets out for vengeance. Being the dead's season, there are ghosts and spirits aplenty, which weave in beautifully with the black magic elements. There is very little to fault in this tale, so I won't. Still, there are places where it could have been stronger, hence the lower score.

It's the direction that lets the film down the most. At the start, everything runs smoothly. The fight scene in the alleyway is wonderfully choreographed and filmed. So much so that it has become a quick favourite. Unfortunately, everything after this becomes less pleasing. Most of the fight scenes hereafter are at nighttime, and it's too dark to see them clearly. The darkness is a dreadful thing for two reasons. As a martial arts fan, I need to see the action. The second tragic reason is that I know the time and skill these actors put into these scenes - the wasted time and effort. Even though the director tries to make them exciting in the same manner as the well-lit segments, it's messy and confusing. Another disappointment is the special effects, especially the magical ones. These are created by painting on the negative. They could have been done using a double exposure as with the ghosts, which worked superbly. It may have been better than what we received, which appears poor.

The actors and actresses appear on par with similar movies and being dubbed it's hard to rate their performances. Though I will say that I enjoyed the film, and the cast didn't spoil it in any way.

Kung Fu From Beyond The Grave is not the best ghostly martial arts film, but it isn't the worst. And even though most of the fights are hard to see, the film is entertaining and enjoyable. Therefore, I recommend it to horror fans who like martial arts and mythology. Who knows, it might be a film I find myself returning to in the future.

Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror and Holding Out For A Hero lists to see where I ranked Kung Fu From Beyond The Grave.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Back in 1986, I saw Kung Fu Zombie, which is my opinion one of the best kung fu movies of all times....billy chong's character of Pang Fung was funny, witty, and, above all, excellent in his fighting techniques.

It was also in 1986 when I saw the trailers to Kung Fu From Beyond the Grave (also starring billy chong). Just having seen Kung Fu Zombie, I thought it would be just as good. Zombies and billy chong...what a great combination.

I didn't find Kung Fu From Beyond the Grave until 2003. This was the biggest disappointment of my life. I had to order it from England. This movie was totally a waste of time. I don't blame the characters...I blame the director. There was nothing special about the fight scenes. The "zombies" were just plain stupid. I was actually embarrassed watching it with my brother, after hyping it up so much all these years! One semi-funny scene was when the wizard calls Dracula to save him. Aside from that, the movie fell flat on its face!!

Maybe I shouldn't be to harsh to Kung Fu From beyond the Grave. I was expecting it to live up to the cleverness and wittiness of Kung Fu Zombie, which is clearly didn't. This movie was a run-of-the-mill kung fu movie. When it was finished, I literally threw the tape in the trash. It was just that awful...

So according to the movie's narrator, the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar is the Yin month. During this month ghosts are free to roam the earth (for 30 days). Mid-month occurs the Ghost Festival in which paper money is burned and tributes are left to appease the dead.

It is during this month that Billy Chong's ghost father (who apparently had six fingers on his right hand) comes back to tell him that he was murdered by Kam Tai Fu in the Yellow Dragon town and to avenge his death. The martial arts aspects of this movie are typical of the low budget movie. There are aspects of this movie that make it stand out from the rest. It is both comical, serious and most definitely entertaining. Other aspects would include the magic, ghosts and the inclusion of full frontal nudity during the sex scenes.

The movie has ghosts, bumbling drunk grave robbers, magicians, obscure magic rituals, a deadly powerful ghost of a bum, the scalping of dead people, an assault with face cloths, flying fireballs and a villain who threatens to sue our hero for slander.

Even though Kam Tai Fu is the villain, it is his lazy-eyed wizard that gets most of the screen time. We first meet him during his duel with a monk (the first of many crazy scenes). They charge each other with only their index and middle fingers drawn. They are floating towards each other and once they collide a giant explosion occurs. The wizard performs a ritual on Kam Tai Fu that will make him invulnerable. The ritual involves the wizard getting two hearts (the hearts must be from a young man and woman whom are both in orgasm), melting them down and them spitting the liquefied hearts at Kam Tai Fu. The wizard's greatest moment is when he pulls out a wad of paper money, burns it and invokes the aid of Count Dracula. You heard that right. Count Dracula makes an appearance and fights our hero (and the dead ghosts that Billy Chong recruits). There is also an equally impressive ritual in which the wizard scraps his chest with burning incense (ouch).

I highly recommend this movie for fans of the martial arts genre.

Shame that almost nobody seems to have seen this. This is worth going well out of your way for. If you like kung fu and you like the bizarre this is the movie for you. Billy Chong must enlist a gaggle of hopping dead assassins to get revenge for the death of his father. The boss of the villains is not particularly impressive, but his main henchman, an evil wizard, is one of the coolest villains I've ever seen, in or out of kung fu. This guy is smart as a whip, cunning as could be, powerful in magic, and a better kung fu fighter than even the hero. His magic is great, especially when he actually, out of the blue, summons the western Dracula to fight for him. Watch this movie, you'll be amazed that anything this wacko ever got made, and made well.

During a supernatural encounter, a young kung fu fighter learns that his deceased father was murdered by an evil tyrant, and expects to see his death avenged. Enlisting the aid of The Undead, said youth sets forth on his dangerous mission, armed with an ancient book which is allegedly a source of awesome magical power.

A truly bizarre and thoroughly disorienting treat for lovers of all things weird, Yin ji presents ghost, zombies, and vampires in thrilling kung fu action. You could ask for more? 'course not.

A worthwhile oddity, and technically more professional than it really ought to be.

5.5/10