# The Dead and the Deadly (人吓人)
**The Dead and the Deadly** (人吓人) is a 1982 Hong Kong supernatural kung-fu comedy directed by Wu Ma (午马), produced and co-written by [Sammo Hung](https://www.edgepedia.org/sammo-hung) (洪金宝), and starring Sammo Hung, Wu Ma, Lam Ching-ying (林正英), and Cherie Chung (钟楚红).[1](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/) • [2](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink) It was produced by Golden Harvest (嘉禾) and released in Hong Kong on 22 December 1982.[2](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink) The story follows a man who fakes his own death to claim his family's fortune, is murdered for real by his co-conspirators, and returns as a ghost to enlist his best friend's help in taking revenge.[1](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Chinese title | 人吓人 (The Dead and the Deadly) |
| Release | 22 December 1982, Hong Kong; produced by Golden Harvest, production company Bo Ho Films (宝禾)[2](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Director / writers | Directed by Wu Ma; written by Sammo Hung and Barry Wong (黄炳耀); produced by Sammo Hung[1](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/) • [3](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-dead-and-the-deadly/) |
| Cast | Sammo Hung, Wu Ma, Lam Ching-ying, Cherie Chung, Chung Fat (钟发)[2](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Runtime | 1 hour 37 minutes per Apple TV and Rotten Tomatoes; 99 minutes per Hami Video and Baidu Baike[4](https://tv.apple.com/sg/movie/%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA/umc.cmc.6d67zabapliwymuzbhksu0yp5?l=zh) • [5](https://hamivideo.hinet.net/product/253655.do?cs=2) |
| Box office | HK$10.10 million by 12 January 1983, ranked eighth among Hong Kong films for the year[2](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Awards | Five nominations at the 3rd Hong Kong Film Awards (1984): Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Action Choreography[2](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Genre context | A companion piece to *Encounter of the Spooky Kind* (鬼打鬼, 1980), in the linghuan (spiritual/fantasy) kung-fu comedy wave of early 1980s Hong Kong cinema[6](https://hm.people.com.cn/n/2012/1116/c42272-19600351.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Ma Lun-cheung (马麟祥), played by Wu Ma, is the scion of a wealthy family who has squandered the estate and left town. His childhood friend Chu Hung-lei (朱宏利), nicknamed "Fat boy" and played by Sammo Hung, works in a paper-effigy shop and remains loyal to him.[4](https://tv.apple.com/sg/movie/%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA/umc.cmc.6d67zabapliwymuzbhksu0yp5?l=zh) • [1](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/)
Ma fakes his own death so that his pregnant "widow" can claim the family fortune, but his co-conspirators learn the inheritance will go to the unborn child and kill him for real.[1](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/) • [7](https://www.thebigmoviehouse.com/2022/11/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982.html) Chu grows suspicious when the body is carried home by outsiders, hides in the funeral hall disguised as one of the paper effigies, and examines the corpse, finding no wounds.[5](https://hamivideo.hinet.net/product/253655.do?cs=2) • [4](https://tv.apple.com/sg/movie/%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA/umc.cmc.6d67zabapliwymuzbhksu0yp5?l=zh)
After Ma is murdered, his ghost persuades Chu to lend him his body so the two can take revenge on the killers. The scheme costs Chu his own life: his soul is driven out of his body by evil magic, and he becomes a ghost himself.[4](https://tv.apple.com/sg/movie/%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA/umc.cmc.6d67zabapliwymuzbhksu0yp5?l=zh) The final act centers on Chu's fiancée Ah Wan (阿云), played by Cherie Chung, who marries a live rooster in a ritual to enter the Chu household and, with the help of the elderly Taoist priest (Lam Ching-ying), battles demons and the underworld escorts on the night of Chu's returning spirit to win his resurrection.[4](https://tv.apple.com/sg/movie/%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA/umc.cmc.6d67zabapliwymuzbhksu0yp5?l=zh) Reviewers have noted that this ending, centered on a woman's love and bravery, gives the film a sincerity unusual for its genre.[8](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2022/11/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/)
## Production and genre context
The film belongs to the linghuan gongfu pian (灵幻功夫片, "spiritual kung-fu film") wave that Sammo Hung started with *Encounter of the Spooky Kind* (鬼打鬼, 1980), which mixed martial arts, comedy, and Chinese folk supernatural beliefs such as Maoshan magic and hopping vampires.[6](https://hm.people.com.cn/n/2012/1116/c42272-19600351.html) • [9](https://news.cjn.cn/wz/200608/t172768_1.htm) A People's Daily overseas edition feature described *The Dead and the Deadly* as the sister piece to *Encounter of the Spooky Kind*, with Sammo Hung's loyal, righteous hero and Cherie Chung's steadfast heroine, and a message that "people are scarier than ghosts".[6](https://hm.people.com.cn/n/2012/1116/c42272-19600351.html)
Wu Ma directed the film and also played Ma Lun-cheung. In a 2003 interview he said that audiences knew him best for this ghost film, in which he played Sammo's good friend who is assassinated, becomes a ghost, and joins the living in revenge.[10](https://yule.sohu.com/2003/11/15/63/article215616392.shtml) The supernatural effects combine cel animation, in-camera effects, and wirework.[1](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/)
Unlike most films from Sammo Hung's regular troupe, the martial arts content is limited; the film concentrates on comedic set pieces, [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese) wordplay, and supernatural shenanigans, with the smattering of kung fu that does appear handled by the Hung troupe's action team.[1](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/) • [3](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-dead-and-the-deadly/)
## Reception
The film earned HK$10.10 million at the Hong Kong box office by 12 January 1983, ranking eighth for the year, a commercial result that Chinese-language film histories describe as a win for Golden Harvest against the dominant comedy studio [Cinema City](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinema-city) that season.[2](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink) At the 3rd Hong Kong Film Awards in 1984 it received five nominations: Best Film, Best Director (Wu Ma), Best Actor (Sammo Hung), Best Screenplay (Sammo Hung and Barry Wong), and Best Action Choreography (Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching-ying, and Chin Yuet-sang).[2](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a Tomatometer score of 54 percent from two critic reviews, with more than 250 audience ratings on the Popcornmeter.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dead_and_the_deadly) Critics writing around the 2022 restoration described it as a bizarre comedy-horror hybrid that relies on Cantonese-style repartee rather than action, and praised Sammo Hung's comedic performance.[1](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/) Far East Films called it possibly Wu Ma's best directed feature, while noting that his films can lack cohesiveness and become confusing.[3](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-dead-and-the-deadly/)
## Home video and restoration
Eureka [Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment) released the film on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2022, sourced from a new 2K restoration presented at the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, with Cantonese theatrical and home-video mono mixes, an English dub, two audio commentaries, and a 2016 Udine Film Festival interview and Q&A with Sammo Hung.[7](https://www.thebigmoviehouse.com/2022/11/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982.html) Reviewers of the disc noted that the restoration's color rendering flatters the film's stylized, Argento-like palette.[7](https://www.thebigmoviehouse.com/2022/11/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982.html)
## References
1. [The Dead and the Deadly (1982), STARBURST Magazine review by Jacob Walker](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/)
2. [《人吓人》(1982年午马执导电影), Baidu Baike](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%8B/5147?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
3. [The Dead And The Deadly (1982) Review, Far East Films](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-dead-and-the-deadly/)
4. [《人吓人》, Apple TV (Singapore)](https://tv.apple.com/sg/movie/%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%93%E4%BA%BA/umc.cmc.6d67zabapliwymuzbhksu0yp5?l=zh)
5. [《人嚇人》線上看, Hami Video](https://hamivideo.hinet.net/product/253655.do?cs=2)
6. [香港鬼片影展报道, 人民日报海外版 (2012)](https://hm.people.com.cn/n/2012/1116/c42272-19600351.html)
7. [Import Corner: The Dead and the Deadly (1982) (Eureka!) Blu-ray Review, The Big Movie House](https://www.thebigmoviehouse.com/2022/11/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982.html)
8. [The Dead and the Deadly [1982], Horror Cult Films](https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2022/11/the-dead-and-the-deadly-1982/)
9. [惊声尖叫——香港恐怖片发展史大盘点, 长江网 (2006)](https://news.cjn.cn/wz/200608/t172768_1.htm)
10. [拍电影百部 午马见证香港电影兴衰, 搜狐娱乐 (2003)](https://yule.sohu.com/2003/11/15/63/article215616392.shtml)
11. [The Dead and the Deadly, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dead_and_the_deadly)
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*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) › Comedy horror films › 20th-century comedy horror films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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