{ "id": "epz32tfs06", "slug": "mr-vampire", "title": "Mr. Vampire (僵尸先生)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.vampire-and-werewolf-films", "label": "Vampire and werewolf films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.vampire-and-werewolf-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Mr. Vampire (僵尸先生, Geung si sin sang; Taiwan title 暫時停止呼吸) is a 1985 Ricky Lau Hong Kong horror comedy produced by Sammo Hung, starring Lam Ching-ying as a Taoist priest fighting a hopping jiangshi, which launched the 1980s jiangshi film wave.", "snippet": "Mr. Vampire (僵尸先生, Geung si sin sang; Taiwan title 暫時停止呼吸) is a 1985 Ricky Lau Hong Kong horror comedy produced by Sammo Hung, starring Lam Ching-ying as a Taoist priest fighting a hopping jiangshi, which launched the 1980s jiangshi film wave.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.vampire-and-werewolf-films", "markdown": "# Mr. Vampire (僵尸先生)\n\n**Mr. Vampire** (殭屍先生; also known as *Geung si sin sang*, in Taiwan as *暫時停止呼吸*, \"Hold Your Breath\", and in Japan as *霊幻道士*) is a 1985 Hong Kong horror comedy directed by Ricky Lau (劉觀偉) in which a Taoist priest and his two bumbling disciples battle a reanimated hopping corpse, the jiangshi (殭屍), that has risen from a poorly sited grave.[1](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/info/) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/mr-vampire) • [3](https://www.seedhub.cc/movies/116574/) Produced by Sammo Hung for Golden Harvest and Bo Ho, it became one of the five highest-grossing Hong Kong films of 1985 and set off the jiangshi film wave that dominated Hong Kong horror comedy for the rest of the decade.[4](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/2026/fantasy/pe-event-2026-fantasy-fs-film09.html) • [5](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/100_Must_See_Booklet.pdf)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | 僵尸先生 / 殭屍先生 (*Mr. Vampire*; also *Mr. Stiff Corpse*, *靈幻道士*)[1](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/info/) |\n| Release | Hong Kong, 7 November 1985; Cantonese, color, 98 minutes[1](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/info/) • [6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/2026/andrew-lau-wai-keung/pe-event-2026-andrew-lau-wai-keung-fs-film02.html) |\n| Key personnel | Director Ricky Lau; producer Sammo Hung; screenplay Szeto Cheuk-hon; production companies Golden Harvest and Bo Ho[5](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/100_Must_See_Booklet.pdf) |\n| Principal cast | Lam Ching-ying (Master Gau / 九叔), Ricky Hui (Man Choi / 文才), Chin Siu-ho (Chou / 秋生), Moon Lee (Ting-Ting), Pauline Wong (Jade), Huang Ha (Mr. Yam), Yuen Wah (the Vampire)[5](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/100_Must_See_Booklet.pdf) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/mr-vampire) |\n| Box office | About HK$20 million in Hong Kong, a figure no film of the same genre has surpassed, according to a 1905.com retrospective[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/) |\n| Genre impact | Ranked among the five highest-grossing Hong Kong films of 1985; more than 100 jiangshi films followed in Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1986 and 1991[4](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/2026/fantasy/pe-event-2026-fantasy-fs-film09.html) • [7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/) |\n| Recognition | Won Best Movie Music and was named one of the Ten Chinese Films at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards (1986), with nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and others[8](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00371020) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set in the early Republican era. The wealthy squire Mr. Yam (任老爺, played by Huang Ha) is told that his father's grave, buried twenty years earlier on a site obtained through coercion, must be exhumed and reburied to benefit his descendants. He hires the local Maoshan priest Master Gau (九叔, Lam Ching-ying) and Gau's two disciples, Man Choi (文才, Ricky Hui) and Chou (秋生, Chin Siu-ho), to carry out the reburial.[8](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00371020) • [9](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fMkr40089371)\n\nOn the day of exhumation Gau finds the corpse uncorrupted after twenty years and grows suspicious; the earlier feng shui master, resentful at being forced off the site, had botched the burial deliberately. The corpse is moved to the local mortuary temple (義莊) for safekeeping, but it transforms into a jiangshi and kills Mr. Yam. When Gau warns that both father and son are now vampires, the skeptical security captain Wai (樓南光) locks him up as a superstition-monger. That night the corpses rise; Gau destroys Mr. Yam, but the elder vampire escapes, and Man Choi is wounded protecting Yam's daughter Ting-Ting (李賽鳳). Chou, meanwhile, is bewitched by the beautiful ghost Jade (小玉, Pauline Wong), and Man Choi is bitten by the vampire and infected; eating rice porridge mixed with ordinary rice instead of the glutinous rice that counters corpse poison compromises the remedy and he slowly turns into a vampire.[9](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fMkr40089371) • [1](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/info/) • [16](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fmkr40089371/)\n\n## The jiangshi and its rules\n\nThe jiangshi of [Chinese folklore](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-folklore) is a reanimated, stiff corpse that hops after its victims to drain their life force, or qi; folklore dating to the [Qing dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/qing-dynasty) describes it, and Hong Kong cinema dresses it in the formal robes of that dynasty.[10](https://time.com/7094422/best-vampire-movies/) • [11](https://artreview.com/mr-vampire-fear-and-laughter-in-hong-kong/) The Hong Kong Film Archive notes that the film blends Chinese and Western elements, combining the legend of corpse-driving in western Hunan (湘西趕屍) with Western vampire and zombie motifs.[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/2026/andrew-lau-wai-keung/pe-event-2026-andrew-lau-wai-keung-fs-film02.html)\n\nThe film codified the countermeasures that later jiangshi films reused: holding one's breath so the blind vampire cannot detect a victim, glutinous rice to draw out corpse poison, and the ink line (墨斗線) used to restrain the corpse.[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/2026/andrew-lau-wai-keung/pe-event-2026-andrew-lau-wai-keung-fs-film02.html) Critics have noted that the film plays fast and loose with its monsters, mixing vampire, zombie, and ghost conventions freely; consistency was not a priority in Hong Kong horror of this era.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mr_vampire)\n\n## Production\n\nLam Ching-ying served as both the film's lead and its action director, drawing on his years with [Sammo Hung](https://www.edgepedia.org/sammo-hung)'s stunt team, where he had worked as a supporting actor and action choreographer on films such as *Encounters of the Spooky Kind* (1980).[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/2026/andrew-lau-wai-keung/pe-event-2026-andrew-lau-wai-keung-fs-film02.html) • [13](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/LAM-Ching-ying_c.pdf) Sammo Hung had brought the jiangshi to the screen five years earlier in *Encounters of the Spooky Kind*, a kung fu horror comedy in which Hung comically evades a hopping corpse, but it was *Mr. Vampire*, which Hung produced, that established jiangshi as a genre of its own.[10](https://time.com/7094422/best-vampire-movies/)\n\nThe film also made a reputation for its young second cinematographer. Andrew Lau (劉偉強), then 25, had been working as an assistant when his teacher, cinematographer Ao Chih-chun (敖志君), left the production for another job; Lau took over. For the \"ghost bride\" sequence, in which the ghost Jade drifts from a sedan chair onto a bicycle, he used three generators and more than a hundred lights to illuminate an entire forest, combined slow motion and wire work (吊威也), and set the scene to a children's chorus singing the interlude \"鬼新娘\". The sequence created the romantic human-ghost pairing of Chin Siu-ho and Pauline Wong and made Lau's name in the industry.[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/2026/andrew-lau-wai-keung/pe-event-2026-andrew-lau-wai-keung-fs-film02.html)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film was an unexpected hit in Taiwan, which prompted an immediate Hong Kong release, where it ranked among the five highest-grossing films of 1985.[4](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/2026/fantasy/pe-event-2026-fantasy-fs-film09.html) At the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1986 it won Best Movie Music and placement among the Ten Chinese Films, and was nominated for Best Film, Best Director (Ricky Lau), Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Lam Ching-ying and Wu Ma), Best New Performer, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Action Choreography, and Best Film Song.[8](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00371020) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 86% Tomatometer from 7 critics and an 87% audience score from more than 2,500 ratings.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mr_vampire)\n\nIts commercial success set off the jiangshi boom of the 1980s. Between 1986 and 1991 more than 100 supernatural films involving jiangshi were made in Hong Kong and Taiwan, none of which matched the original's box office.[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/) Lam Ching-ying's Master Gau fixed the \"demon-vanquishing Taoist priest\" (除妖道長) as a stock figure; he reprised the persona in *Mr. Vampire II* (1986), *Mr. Vampire III* (1987), and the television series *Vampire Expert* (殭屍道長, 1995 and 1996).[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/2026/andrew-lau-wai-keung/pe-event-2026-andrew-lau-wai-keung-fs-film02.html) • [13](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/LAM-Ching-ying_c.pdf) The Hong Kong Film Archive named the film one of its \"100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies\", and later Hong Kong horror such as *Rigor Mortis* (2013) and *Vampire Cleanup Department* (2017) inherited its blend of comedy and horror.[14](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/ProFolio/Profolio-99_C-25012022.pdf) • [15](https://cup.cuhk.edu.hk/image/catalog/journal/jpreview/HKS_4.2_4_A4-Man_en_3.pdf)\n\n## References\n\n1. [僵尸先生 (1985) 详细资料, 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/info/)\n2. [Mr. Vampire (1985), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/mr-vampire)\n3. [僵尸先生 殭屍先生, SeedHub](https://www.seedhub.cc/movies/116574/)\n4. [Mr. Vampire, Hong Kong Film Archive screening notes](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/2026/fantasy/pe-event-2026-fantasy-fs-film09.html)\n5. [100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies booklet, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/100_Must_See_Booklet.pdf)\n6. [僵尸先生, 香港电影资料馆 (劉偉強 program notes)](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/2026/andrew-lau-wai-keung/pe-event-2026-andrew-lau-wai-keung-fs-film02.html)\n7. [僵尸先生 Mr. Vampire (1985), 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/382011/)\n8. [殭屍先生 Mr. Vampire, LiTV 立視線上影視](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00371020)\n9. [殭屍先生 Mr Vampire, 開眼電影網](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fMkr40089371)\n10. [The Best Vampire Movies of All Time, TIME](https://time.com/7094422/best-vampire-movies/)\n11. [Mr. Vampire: Fear and Laughter in Hong Kong, ArtReview Asia](https://artreview.com/mr-vampire-fear-and-laughter-in-hong-kong/)\n12. [Mr. Vampire, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mr_vampire)\n13. [香港影人小傳檢索：林正英, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/LAM-Ching-ying_c.pdf)\n14. [Profolio 99, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/ProFolio/Profolio-99_C-25012022.pdf)\n15. [Hong Kong Studies Vol. 4, No. 2, Chinese University of Hong Kong Press](https://cup.cuhk.edu.hk/image/catalog/journal/jpreview/HKS_4.2_4_A4-Man_en_3.pdf)\n16. [app2.atmovies.com.tw](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fmkr40089371/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Vampire and werewolf films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-vampire", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-vampire.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Mr. Vampire (僵尸先生)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-vampire. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Mr. Vampire (僵尸先生)](https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-vampire)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-vampire](https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-vampire). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Mr. Vampire (僵尸先生)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-vampire. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Mr." }