Funny Ghost (1989) User Reviews

Sandra Ng couldn't save this schlock

[eddax · 4/10 · 16 February 2010]

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, I thought, as the movie started. Because of the popularity of horror comedies... or rather, "horror" comedies, in the 80's, Hong Kong mass-produced them so hard that storyline was frequently the least important factor. As long as there was a way to tie in cheap jokes and "funny" ghosts.

The movie starts off without the ghost, thankfully, and it's just Sandra Ng sassing it up with some girlfriends. I love her but this is not one of her better works. It's fine for a while, thanks to her comedic genius, but then the whole stupid spiel about the ghost comes in and like a genie in a bottle, it lets her enact a whole bunch of well, really stupid fantasy sequences (as evidenced by the poster). The whole movie is a downhill ride, unfortunately.

More goofy, nonsensical stuff.

[OllieSuave-007 · 5/10 · 12 September 2017]

This is a typical Hong Kong ghost comedy with more goofy, nonsensical stuff than comic genius. Not much scary elements here - just plenty of ghost and tricks with the occasional funny acting and thrilling rides. It seemed much of the characters in the film suffers from bad luck in the hands of a genie in the bottle or some type.

Lots of A-list actors in this film including Sandra Ng, Billy Lau, Alvina Kong and Wu Fung, but not an exciting or amusing film overall.

Grade D+

"Blessed that we are possessed by Bruce Lee."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 12 February 2019]

Continuing with ICM's HK/China/ Taiwan challenge, I decided to dig into the bottom of the pile of Hong Kong titles waiting to be viewed. Intrigued by slim plot details I found of this Horror/Comedy mix,I got set to find out how bloody the ghost is.

The plot:

Penniless friends Yue and Ngoh try to kill themselves by jumping in front of cars. Falling to get hit by a car, Yue decides to climb up a building to jump off. In the building, underworld thug Boss Hung gets two urns, one containing the ghost of a pregnant woman pregnant who was raped and murdered and the other a ghost of her unborn fetus. Getting into a fight with his henchmen, Hung drops the urn containing the ghostly woman from the window and it lands in Yue's hands, who experiences a ghostly turn.

View on the film:

Opening the urns of black Comedy, the screenplay by Chun-Wai Lau & Jeffrey Lau uses the oily grotesque Horror of the ghostly pregnant woman to give the zany group Comedy antics a bad-taste atmosphere, as the group beat the ghost up with red underwear and they each use the ghostly urns as a genie to punch out and kill/bring back to life others who want to get their hands on the riches. Whilst it is not given a serious slant, the writers focus on black Comedy gives the horror urns a creepy vibe that entraps the group to actually work as a team, and leads to a wonderful sting which takes the chills over the cliff edge. Spending the majority of his credits doing stunt work for Hollywood and Hong Kong blockbusters, director Cheung-Yan Yuen is joined by cinematographer Yuen Kai Chan and displays his eye for choreographing action in comedy set-pieces of scatter-gun whip-pans following each person throw the urn around, as they awaken the bloody ghost.